BIO: Delos Eugene HIBNER, Clearfield County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Sally Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/1picts/swoope/swoope.htm _____________________________________________________________ From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr., Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 527 & 528. _____________________________________________________________ DELOS EUGENE HIBNER, a representative business man of DuBois, Pa., a member of the Hibner-Hoover Hardware Company of this borough, has resided here since 1873. He was born at Tioga Center, N. Y., December 10, 1863, the youngest of a family of fifteen children, eleven of whom grew to maturity. His parents were John E. and Catherine (Barr) Hibner. John E. Hibner was born in Germany, where he learned the shoemaking trade. He came to America in early manhood and shortly afterward opened a shoe shop at Williamsport, Pa. His trade was largely among the lumber men and they paid well and promptly for the substantial and well made footwear he sold, but in the panic of 1872 he lost his best customers and finally was forced to close out his business there. In looking around for a means of livelihood he and his capable wife decided that the opening of a boarding house at DuBois, where John DuBois, through his activities was bringing many workmen to that place, would be a wise undertaking, and so it proved. They started that business in 1873 and continued it as long as it seemed a satisfactory enterprise. John E. Hibner lived to be eighty years of age, but his wife died when aged sixty-six years. Delos Eugene Hibner was quite small when his parents came to Pennsylvania and he remembers how small a village was DuBois when they came here. The houses were few and scattered, no railroad yet touched the place and the schoolhouse he attended was two miles distant from his home. In 1875 he entered the employ of John DuBois, the founder of the place, and in 1877 accepted a position as clerk with the firm of Long & Brady, hardware merchants. In 1882 he bought a third interest in the store and has continued in the hardware line until present. A few years later he became associated with Long & Brady as a partner and subsequent changes came about. Mr. Long was succeeded by M. W. Wise, who, in turn, was succeeded by W. S. Hollister and about the same time, Mr. Brady was succeeded by N. L. Hoover, Mr. Hibner's present partner. In 1890 D. E. Hibner and N. L. Hoover sold out their interests to Jesse Dale, but in 1892 they repurchased the store from Mr. Dale and have continued to be associated ever since. The store at that time was situated on the present site of the DuBois National Bank, on the corner of Long Avenue and Brady Street. They then bought the building at No. 12 N. Brady Street, from the Turnbach Hardware Company and after disposing of the Turnbach stock, rented the building to Harry Christman who conducted a furniture store here for a short time. In 1902 the Hibner-Hoover Hardware Company was incorporated, with a capital stock of $100,000. In 1907 they added two more stories to the three-story building on N. Brady Street and moved their stock to this location in the latter part of the same year. They occupy five floors and the basement and do a large business, its volume being steadily on the increase. The Hibner-Hoover Hardware Company are jobbers and retailers of heavy and shelf hardware, manufacturing tinners and coppersmiths, dealers in doors, sash and building material, buggies, wagons, surreys and harness, also farm machinery and paints and oils. The business enterprise of the firm was still further demonstrated when, in 1908 they bought out F. W. Prothero, a hardware merchant at No. 321 W. Long Ave. This store covers three floors with a double store room on the first floor. In addition, the firm makes use of five warerooms, affording space for careful storage. This is the largest business of its kind in Clearfield County. Mr. Hibner has additional business interests. He is treasurer and manager of the Vulcan Soot Cleaner Company, which was incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey, in 1905, with a capital stock of $500,000, and an issue of $200,000. They do business all over the United States. The main office and factory are located at DuBois, Pa., with additional offices at Boston, Mass., and Chicago, Ill. Mr. Hibner organized a company and built the first electric light plant at DuBois, in 1889, which was purchased in 1892, by the DuBois Electric Street Railway Company. On December 3, 1890, Mr. Hibner was married to Miss Frances O. Ellis, a daughter of J. B. Ellis, who for many years was a merchant at DuBois. Five children have been born to them: Frances Catherine, Helen Louise (died at age of 6 months); Eugene, Mary and Delos. Mr. and Mrs. Hibner are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he is a Democrat and has been a useful and loyal party man and was selected as the first candidate for congress after the organization of the Congressional District. He is identified with the Elks and the Masons. The family residence stands at No. 525 N. Brady Street, on the same site on which Mr. Hibner's father settled when the present thriving borough was but a little lumber hamlet on the outskirts of the forest.