The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-07-13
HOUSES ARE VERY SCARCE
Story of Kenosha's Boom Proves of
Special Interest to Writers for Big
Trade Journals They Declare 1t Is
Unparalleled Anywhere in U. S.

IF you really want to know what
these prosperous times, don't walk up
and down Main street, but walk into
the news stand and buy some OF the
trade papers. That Kenosha is being
watched with greatest interest by the
manufacturing world, is shown by the
space that is being given "Kenosha s
Boom in these journals. An automo-
bile journal of national circulation has
lot to say of Kenosha in recent is
sue. Here is the way one of its experts
tells the story Of Kenosha and, its real
business revival:
"This enterprising city, virtually a
suburb of Chicago, is today boom
town hardly rivaled by the powder cen
tiers of the east or the mining camps
of the west as they were during the
gold rush. A veritable windfall of
prosperity has descended upon it. Ke-
nosha thrills with the knowledge that
it is destined to be one Of the most i'm
portant industrial communities Of the
middle west
Phenomenally good times have hit
Kenosha with life-sized bang. Where,
two years ago, the Associated Charities
of the town had its hands full caring
for the families of idle workmen, today
there exists a condition verging on la
Dor famine. If man is out of work
in Kenosha, it is because he has too
many shekels to worry or is incapaci-
tated by illness.
The wonderful expansion of Kenosha
is due entirely to an unprecedented
period of activity Of its big industries,
and among the huge factories within
its confines are several that are world
famous in their lines.
The Simmons Manufacturing Com
pany, the world Is biggest metal bed
factory; The Thomas B. Jeffrey Com
pany, famous as maker of high class
automobiles and motor trucks; the N.
R. Allen & Sons Co., America s biggest
tannery; the Chicago Kenosha Hosiery
Co.; the Cooper Underwear Co., and the
American Brass Co., are the leaders in
a group of Kenosha concerns that are
adding thousands of workrnen to their
forces, and millions of dollars in new
plant equipment, to keep pace with the
tremendous business boom.
New families are literally pouring
into the city, gobbling up new homes
faster than they can be erected. Build
ing operations are being pushed on
every side, and the various concerns
are Offering special inducements to at
tract and hold the kind of labor best
suited to their needs.
One of the chief contributing factors
In Kenosha s bid for fame is The Thos.
B. Jeffery Company Always one Of
the biggest employers of labor in the
community, the business of the Jeffrey
Company has justified the employment
of just double its former working force
AID the installation of hundreds of
thousands of dollars worth of new ma
chinery and shop equipment.
The sales of the Jeffrey organization,
one OF the pioneer automobile concerns
Of the country, have multiplied ire
mendously in the last ten months. Off
clals of the company announce that the
demand for Jeffrey cars has been treb-
lee and that the production has been
more than doubled.
At the present time two big new
buildings are being rushed to compile
ton, representing a notable expansion
OF plant that already occupies 101
acres of ground area and 26 acres of
floor space. Both structures will be I'M
excelled from the standpoint of modern
equipment and sanitation. One is to be
five stories high, built of steel and con-
crete. In it will be built Jeffrey bodies.
The other will be a foundry 125 by 600
feet.
Almost every day sees the arrival of
additional machinery for the Jeffrey
shops. Huge devices that seem almost
human in the rapid, exquisitely accu-
rate way they turn out car parts are
vastly increasing the speed and de-
pendability of output. The shipping
platforms are constantly feeding the
finished products into long strings of
freight cars.
The greatest month in its history was
experienced by the Jeffrey Company in
May. Cars sold and shipped during
the period eclipsed the previous month 3
record by more than fifty per cent.
That figure will be exceeded, it is an
nounced, this month.
The Jeffrey Company undoubtedly
owes its present affluence to the pres
tige it built up during its twenty eight
years of manufacturing activity before