The Odell Cider & Vinegar Company is a new institution in Atchison. A. Leo is manager, and $30,000.00 is invested in the plant and equipment here. This company pressed out over 200,00 bushels of apples in 1915, and made 650,000 gallons of vinegar. Forty men are employed during the pressing season, and over $30,000.00 a year is paid out for apples, which are converted into 150,000 gallons of vinegar, which is shipped to various points in the United States during 1915.
The Stevenson planing mill employs twelve men, with a payroll of about $10,000.00 a year and annual sales aggregating $27,000.00. S. R. Stevenson, who for many years was employed by the old Atchison Furniture Company, is at the head of this business. He settled in Atchison in 1865, and learned cabinet making with Dickinson & Company, of this city.
It would require a volume to properly elaborate upon the operations of the various commercial enterprises of Atchison. What has been given is the merest outline of the industrial activities here. The brief reference to the several business houses and manufacturing plants is made merely for the purpose of showing the character of the industrial life of the county.
In addition to those enumerated there are other jobbing and manufacturing interests operating, in some instances on as large a scale, and in other instances on a smaller scale, but which in themselves are just as important. Reference has not been made to the Klostermeier Hardware Company, one of the largest jobbers in hardware in northeastern Kansas, or to L. W. Voigt & Company, large shippers of fruit, vegetables and produce, or to Kean & Tucker, operating along the same line; neither has the James Poultry Company been mentioned, which is one of Atchison’s growing concerns. There are also manufacturers of cigars, brooms and barrels; large distributors of automobiles and automobile accessories, and candy manufacturers. The Railway Specialty Company, manufacturers of gasoline propelled railway track cars is making substantial progress. From a small beginning it has forged ahead, under the able management of Clive Hastings, until it has reached a point where it will soon take its place among the leading track car manufacturers of this country. Already the company has shipped its cars to foreign parts, and it has also supplied many of the large railroads of the United States with its cars. The Weiss Cornice Company is the latest arrival in Atchison. This company makes metal cornices, window frames and other builders’ fire-proof specialties. It recently moved here from Kansas City and is already a large employer of labor. The Washer Grain Company, established by Maj. S. H. Washer, does a large grain business, and is still managed by Major Washer, who recently passed his eightieth birthday. He is ably assisted by his son, W. R. Washer, who is also otherwise prominently identified with the commercial and shipping interests of the county.
Atchison also is a fine retail center, and draws trade from the surrounding territory for a distance of from fifty to seventy-five miles. It has fine dry goods stores, which carry the latest merchandise; good shoe stores, millinery shops, grocery and hardware stores and shops of all kinds, all of which are run by enterprising merchants. Atchison is a good town in which to live; a city of beautiful homes; fine paved and well lighted streets; a good water system and adequate street car service, and a fine, prosperous set of people. The future of Atchison, as a commercial center, is particularly bright, and it may look back with a justifiable pride to what has already been accomplished, and forward to a better day that is yet to come.
CHAPTER XXI.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS.
ATCHISON POSTOFFICE—COURT HOUSE—COUNTY HOSPITAL—YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION—STATE ORPHANS’ HOME—ATCHISON PUBLIC LIBRARY—ATCHISON HOSPITAL—MASONIC TEMPLE.
The first postoffice in Atchison opened in a small, one-story, stone building, on the south side of Commercial street, between Second and Third. The room was about 20×26 feet in dimensions, but large enough for the purpose for which it was intended at that time. The location of the postoffice was removed in 1856 to the store of Messrs. Woolfolk & Cabell, on the levee. During the war in Kansas, in August, the headquarters of the United States mail service were removed to the law office of P. P. Wilcox. From there the office was removed to a building on the north side of Commercial street, between Third and Fourth, and it was there that in July, 1882, the free delivery system was inaugurated in Atchison, which, with her money order department fully equipped the postoffice. A number of years later agitation was started for the erection of a new postoffice, and through the efforts of Senator Ingalls a site at the northeast corner of Seventh and Kansas avenue was purchased from Dr. Cochrane by the Government, and the contract was awarded for the erection of the postoffice June 24, 1892, at a cost of $61,703.17.
The names and terms of the postmasters of Atchison since the founding of the office are as follows: Robert S. Kelly, March 15, 1855; John H. Blasingham, December 20, 1855; Henry Addoms, July 28, 1857; John A. Martin, April 26, 1861; Benjamin B. Gale, March 5, 1874; John M. Price, February 6, 1879; Melleville C. Winegar, March 10, 1882; H. Clay Park, March 30, 1886; Solomon R. Washer, March 20, 1890; Edgar C. Post, June 7, 1894; James M. Chisham, June 3, 1898; William D. Casey, December 14, 1910; Louis C. Orr, December 29, 1914, who is postmaster in 1916.