Detroit Michigan
Wayne County
Business & Manufacturing
Photo of Wayne County Home Savings contributed by Paul Petosky
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Chalmers Motor Company
In 1907 Hugh Chalmers, the president of the National Cash Register Company, became a partner in a firm producing the Thomas-Detroit automobile. Within a year, Chalmers had bought half of E.R. Thomas's stock and became president of the company, which he renamed the Chalmers-Detroit Motor Company. Chalmers produced very popular cars, with production rates hitting 20,000 units in 1915, but by the 1920s the auto industry was facing financial difficulties due to over-expansion and recession. In 1922 Chalmers was taken over by Maxwell, a former competitor that had become a Chrysler subsidiary.
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The Scotten, Dillon Company of Detroit was founded in 1856 and flourished when the Civil War created a demand for packaged tobacco and inexpensive smoking accessories. They produced smoking and chewing tobacco under several brand names as well as producing and packaging tobacco for other makers.
The Union Made label on the bottom edge of the pouch (not shown) references the Tobacco Workers Union being affilated with the AFL-CIO. That helps to date this bag as being made after 1955, as that is when the AFL and CIO officially merged.
Contributed by Paul Petosky
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Of all Detroit tobacco entrepreneurs, two stand out -- Daniel Scotten and John J. Bagley. Scotten started in the tobacco business in 1852 as a 33-year-old apprentice to Detroit tobacconist Isaac Miller. Sleeping at the shop and saving his money, Scotten eventually was able to finance his own enterprise which he opened to his eventual good fortune just before the Civil War.
Scotten moved his enterprise to a large factory on West Fort Street in the latter half of the 19th century, when its name was changed to the Scotten-Dillon Company to reflect the addition of a corporate partner. By the 1890s the company had 1200 employees, a weekly payroll of $8,000, and $4 million in annual sales.
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