The Mack Manufacturing Company Hancock County, WV ********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ********************************************************************** Submitted by: Valerie Crook The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 249 Hancock County THE MACK MANUFACTURING COMPANY. There is no doubt but that concentration along any one line is pro- ductive of the best results. The man or the corporation who scatter their energies, trying first one line and then another, waste their forces and time, and when they even- tually settle down to something definite have neither the opportunity nor the vitality to develop properly. Espe- cially has his been true during recent years, when com- petition has become so strenuous as to demand undivided attention to one given avenue of activity. The men who thus apply themselves not only increase their own material holdings, but by providing employment for many become important factors in the economic world. In this con- nection mention is made of the Mack Manufacturing Com- pany, whose extensive operations in the New Cumberland community of Hancock County have been confined to a given line of production, the manufacture of brick. The general offices of the Mack Manufacturing Company are located at Wheeling, in the old German National Bank Building, sixth floor, where are found the rooms of the operating head and the board of directors. The five plants in Hancock County are all located within a space of eight miles, these being the Crescent, Aetna, Union and Rocky Side, above New Cumberland on the Ohio River, devoted to the manufacture of brick; and the Sligo, three miles south of New Cumberland, the output of which is sewer pipe and paving brick. The present Crescent plant was formerly the Copper and Middle Clifton, owned by Atkin- son, Porter & Company, the product of which, common building brick, was sent by flat-boats down the Ohio River until several years ago. The Upper Clifton Plant was formerly owned by Smith, Porter & Company, who at one time controlled all the Clifton plants, and these plants were eventually consolidated into the Crescent. The Aetna was owned formerly by the Moneypenny interests, and then sold to the John Porter Company, in connection with the Eagle, which was later dismantled, the Union and the Rocky Side. The John Porter Company bought the Smith, Porter & Company interests, and then sold out to the Mack interests of Philadelphia, the business at that time adopting the style of the Mack Manufacturing Company. The Sligo Plant had also been owned by the John Porter Company. The Mack Manufacturing Company in its various plants has a daily capacity of 300,000 paving brick, made of shale and fire clay. There are 400 men on the pay-roll, which approximates $50,000 normally per month, and of these 400 men about 125 are used in the mining of the clay and shale. In all, the plants cover ten acres, while the company owns several hundred acres outright and the mineral rights to many more acres, so that the future insures an adequate supply of clay, shale and coal. The latter lies on top of the clay and is taken out at the same time. Sales are made direct to customers throughout West Virginia, in the New England States and North Carolina. George O. Bowles, general superintendent of the plants of the Mack Manufacturing Company, was born in Belmont County, Ohio, and as a young man adopted the vocation of teaching in the public schools. Later he pursued a busi- ness course at the Elliott Business College, Wheeling, and in 1904 became an employe in the offices of his present company under S. G. Gaillard, then manager of the concern, and former assistant to the president of the Norfolk & Western Railway. His industry, ability and fidelity were recognized by Mr. Gaillard, who advanced him to the posi- tion of his assistant, and in 1914 Mr. Bowles was made superintendent of the plants, a position which he has re- tained to the present. His work has been satisfactory to his superiors, and perhaps much of his success lies in the fact that his relations with the employes have always been of the friendliest character. Many of these old-time employes own homes and other property of their own, and the plant has experienced no labor troubles. Mr. Bowles married Miss Katherine Robertson, daughter of Rev. A. W. Robertson, formerly an attorney and prose- cutor of Hancock County, and later a minister, but now an invalid and retired at New Cumberland. Mr. and Mrs. Bowles are the parents of two children: George 0., Jr., who is attending the New Cumberland High School; and Ruth.