CHAPTER XVI.
Pg. 50

Land Entries Between 1855 and 1860

     Manufacturing in Union County had been moved from the homes to small individually owned concerns by the time the Civil War was over.  During the following forty years an even greater change took place.  Building was one of the leading industries so that saw mills, brick kilns, etc., came into being.
     By this time flour was manufactured by steam and roller mills and lime was manufactured from our large limestone deposits.  To take care of the barrelling of lime and flour, a cooperage plant was in operation.
     In 1856 David Davie and Daniel Goodman were operating the largest and most extensive mills in this part of the state, The Flora Temple mills.  This mill changed hands several times during the ensuing years.  Other mills were in operation during this period which manufactured less than 100 barrels of flour per day.
     In 1856 Jessie Lentz and James DeWitt built an extensive wagon, plow and repair shop in Anna where they manufactured and repaired wagons, plows and farm implements.  Later on the Willoughby-Segar wagon and repair shop was in business, also the Stokes Company.  since horses were used for farm work these were among the leading businesses of the county.  In 1879, J. W. Dandridge started a saddle and harness factory here.  These business were of great importance in the community until the decade following 1910 when motor driven vehicles replaced the older types of conveyances, etc.
     R. B. Stinson carried on an extensive barrel factory near the railroad into Anna where he employed 30 men and manufactured 50,000 barrels per year and other packages for shipping fruit and vegetables.  Later names connected with box factories were F. P. Anderson and James Wood.  At present three such factories are operating in the county, the Randall L. Lawrence Box Factory in Cobden; the H. A. DuBois Box Mill in Cobden, and the Fruit Growers Package Company in Jonesboro.
     The firm of Finch and Shick manufactured lime for commercial purposes manufacturing as much as 300 barrels per day.  In 1879 Hunsaker and Richardson, Edwards and Carmack and J. E. Lufkin all had lime kilns.
     In 1859, the Kirkpatrick Brothers had a pottery where they manufactured all kinds of stoneware, tiles, vases, pottery and fire brick.  There has never been a pottery in Union County since the death of W. Kirkpatrick who was an artist in this line of work.  No person sufficiently skilled in this art to carry on the work has come to the locality since that pottery has gone out of existence.
     M. M. Henderson and Son began a cotton gin in 1866 but there was not sufficient need for this plant to enable it to stay in business so it was later changed to a planing mill.
     From 1865 to 1875, F. A. Childs and Bro. had a drain tile factory in operation.
     Unlike today with our large packing house centers, the local supply of meat was killed and cured within the community.  Since the Anna State Hospital was located in Union County, the demand for meat was large and the largest dealer in this industry was M. V. Ussery.  During the year July 1881 to July 1882, he slaughtered _42 beeves, 156 sheep and 56 hogs and purchased 150 dressed hogs which he resold.  He sold 32,000 pounds of hides from these animals.
     While the same general industries, namely agriculture and its subsidiary enterprises still exist since 1900, many changes in manufacturing have come into being.
     With the use of more machinery and less hand work in manufacturing, most of these industries have become concentrated into industrial centers and finished products shipped into Union County to be sold.
     The Green Brick Yard was probably the last industry of its kind in the community and it was discontinued because they could not manufacture their products cheaply enough to compete with larger manufacturers.
     As mentioned before, manufacturers of fruit packages have become jobbers or retailers buying their stock from manufacturers in other centers.
     Packing companies have moved to larger places and meat is distributed to local dealers by these large companies.
     Clothing is bought in industrial centers by our retail merchants of various products.  Of these only five, the Defiance Box Co., W. P. Messler & Co., Bruchhauser Bros. T. A. Carlile, and the St. Louis Stone and Lime Co, valued their machinery at over $1,000.
     Modern manufacturing has shown another change also, that of individual ownership to ownership by corporations or companies.
     The 1939 tax list shows that the small manufacturer has completely disappeared in the county and only six manufacturers whose personal property is assessed at from $2,000 to $35,000.  These are the Anna Quarries, the Fruit Growers Package Company of Jonesboro Shoe Company, the Phoenix Flour Mills and the Atlas Powder Company.
     The Anna Quarries has grown to large proportions since the beginning of the better road program in Illinois.  It manufactures crushed rock, lime and building stone made from a very high grade of limestone of which there is a large deposit where the plant is located.
     While there were several mills in the county in the past, the only one remaining is the Phoenix Flour Mills.  It is interesting to consider that much flour and feed is shipped into Union County for consumption from mills as far away as Minneapolis and Kansas City.
     The Atlas Powder Company is located in the northwest part of the county near Wolf Lake.  It is located in this spot because of its isolation rather than any other reason.  It manufactures explosives used mainly in mining and all materials used in its products are shipped into the plant to be mixed.  None are produced locally.  Most of the people of the village of Wolf Lake earn a livelihood at this plant and its employees are probably the highest paid people in the county due to the hazards of the work and the skill necessary to produce the powder, etc.
     The international Shoe Company is located in Anna, Illinois.  It was placed here when the community raised funds to provide a building for the company.  Five hundred people are employed here and few of them work less than eleven months each year.  The salaries are in keeping with those of other such industries but it can be generally stated that each of the five hundred empolyees earns a living wage which is in keeping with the general standard of living of the county.  During 1940 an addition to the factory is to be completed which will employ an additional 150 persons.
     During the World War period kaolin was taken from the Mt. Glen area in large quantities and shipped to users in other parts of the country.  Since that time a small amount of clay has been shipped away but now plans are complete for the kaolin mill which will refine the clay which will in turn be sold to manufacturers of rubber tires, pottery, stoneware, whitewash, high grade tile, paper filling and coating, linoleum, oil cloth, paint of all kinds, cement, fire bricks, foundries, steel manufacturing, asbestos, enameling, and other clay products.  Large deposits of the highest grade of kaolin clay are available in this area and the company expects to install a $75,000 plant which will employ about fifty people.
     In 1939 the Vulcan Heel Co. put a factory in Anna which employs an average of seventy-five persons annually in much the same manner the International Shoe Company employs its help.
     There are still natural resources in the county which are not in use such as silica, fluorspar, possibly oil and many building materials.