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Portrait
and Biographical Record of Effingham, Jasper and Richland Counties Illinois,Containing Biographical Sketches of
Prominent and Representative Citizens, Governors of the State, and the Presidents of the United States.
(Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1887), p. 195.
Transcribed by Judy Rosella Edwards.
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THE EFFINGHAM
CANNING & WOOD PACKAGE COMPANY is an important industry of Effingham, Ill. It was established in 1889, and
in November of the same year was incorporated. Its officers are: Hon. Benson Wood, President; Edward Austin,
Vice-President and Secretary; and Frank G. Austin, Manager. The following-named gentlemen constitute its Board
of Directors: Hon. Benson Wood, Edward Austin, Calvin Austin,
Charles E. Austin, William Dyke and Frank G. Austin. The working capital employed is between $50,000 and $75,000.
The
canning of tomatoes forms the staple of the business. When the business was opened and the product of the factory
put upon the market, the company found competition close and sales difficult, but by the third season the superior
quality of the goods turned out won such favor that the orders have many times exceeded the capacity of the works,
so that the business has proved a success, far beyond the most sanguine hopes of its proprietors. The building
is two hundred feet in length by an average of ninety feet in width, and is two stories high, with basement. The
structure is frame, standing on solid stone and brick walls, is substantially built and is conveniently arranged
for the business it is designed for. A large boiler and small engine are in use.
In
addition to the putting up of the large quantity of tomatoes already mentioned, the company prepares and cans a
large quantity of string beans, and for the season of 1893 are prepared to can green corn extensively. They have
also recently engaged in the preparation of mince-meat, which is sold in wooden buckets. Although this branch of
the business is new, this class of goods is rapidly growing in favor, especially at home, where many of the company's
patrons have had an opportunity to observe how scrupulously neat is everything pertaining to its manufacture, and
that only the best of ingredients enter into its composition.
This company has recently opened in the capacious basement of their factory an extensive porkpacking establishment,
which they design operating during the winter and early spring, thus making use of the large capital that would
otherwise he idle during the non-working and non-shipping season of the canning business. The employes of the canning
works are mostly women and girls, and the number in the busy season is in the neighborhood of three hundred. The
plant is situated near the line of the Vandalia Railroad, in the eastern part of the city of Effingham, where Fayette
Avenue intersects that railway. It is complete in its appointments and uses the most improved modern machinery
in the line of its work. Everything about the establishment denotes extreme order and neatness.
Portrait and Biographical Record of Effingham, Jasper and
Richland Counties Illinois, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Governors
of the State, and the Presidents of the United States. (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1887), p. 581. Transcribed by
Judy Rosella Edwards.
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