By: Stan Jordan
This fine picture is a blown up shot from the Erhart Collection. I am really glad to get it and I will tell you what I know about that factory and that area.
This factory was on the east side of Antwerp on the north side of Canal Street about across from where Pudge Kennedy lives.
The first factory in Antwerp was the Antwerp Furnace. It was started about 1864 because of all the timber in the area was burned to make charcoal for their smelter.
This Hub & Spoke Factory was started in 1872. That was the first factory owned and operated by Antwerp people. Doering, Hill, Harris and Gordon. It was a very successful operation and had about 50 employees. In the year of 1890 they shipped out 120 car loads of their products to different locations.
They owned about 2 square miles of timberland to the south and they built a tramway to get the logs into the canal. This factory was in good shape till the timber was all gone about 1895.
If you look at the picture it shows a little barricade to hold the logs under control because that is the tow path right here in front and the canal.
Just off to the right and out of the picture is the Oar Factory. It made oars for boats and canoes. It opened in the 1880’s.
Then just to the east of that, was the small canal and narrow gauge railroad track to the furnace which was over north by the railroad and which later was US 24.
By the time I was 5 and moved to East Canal Street all the buildings and debris was gone and that was a corn field, farmed by Tom Reeb.
See ya!
