website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Established 1888
Moved to Watertown in 1901
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1888
COMPANY ESTABLISHED
10 31 WILL ESTABLISH BRANCH IN WATERTOWN
Watertown will shortly
have an increase in the number of its manufactory enterprises. The I. L. Henry Company of Waupun has decided
to locate a branch factory here. The
company manufactures paper boxes and enjoys an extensive trade. The old Ruesch
building on Water Street has been rented and is being remodeled so as to fit it for the requirements of the business. Employment will be given to a force of girls
in charge of an experienced forelady, and while for the present the company
does not expect to carry on the enterprise very extensively at this point, the
possibilities of the future are such as to warrant our citizens in extending to
the company every inducement and encouragement.
It is given out by Mr. Henry that if matters go well in the venture the
entire plant may eventually be transferred from Waupun to this city, in which
case about 300 hands would be required, one-quarter of whom would be men. The shipping facilities here are much more
adequate than at Waupun and altogether it would seem to be a better location
than the Prison city. WR
11 07 HENRY CO. TO BE ON N. WATER ST.
Work in the branch
paper box factory of the I. L. Henry Company on North Water Street was begun
last Wednesday. A force of seven is
employed, and this will be increased as soon as practicable. WR
1900
01 16 HENRY BOX FACTORY COMPLETING MOVE TO WATERTOWN
The I. L. Henry company, of Waupun, which
is desirous of removing to this city, is evidently appreciated at home, to judge
from the following paragraph which appeared in the last week's issue of The Waupun Times :
"The I. L. Henry box factory is now
completing the removal of the plant to Watertown, where it already has a branch
factory established. If the city of
Watertown will furnish a factory, the move is likely to be made. Better facilities for shipping and for
procuring labor are the incentives. It
is tough on Waupun, which has seen Mr. Henry's business venture grown from a
mere experiment to a substantial certainty, to have them taken away from here
in the height of their prosperity.
Doubtless the proprietors know their own business better than anyone
else, but if any inducement could be held out to Messrs. Henry and Prattt to remain in Waupun, the Business Men's Association
should lose no time in looking up the matter." WR
01 30 The first
regular Monday meeting of the Advancement Association was held in the city last
Tuesday, President Mulberger presiding. Routine business was transacted, after which
the proposed removal of the I.L. Henry Company’s box factory from Waupun to
this city was informally discussed. It
was decided to send the committee to Waupun to investigate matters relating to
this enterprise, President Mulberger, W. D. Sproesser, S. A. Hoffmann and L. Schempf being designated
as the committee. The gentlemen named
went to Waupun this morning and it is expected to be ready to report
shortly. WR
06 19 Last week
the Watertown Advancement Association closed the deal with the I. L. Henry
Company, of Waupun, whereby the latter will locate its entire interests in this
city. The terms of the agreement include
the erection of a three-story building, 50x150 feet, by the association for the
use of the company. The contract for
this has been let to Charles
Heunefeld and the work of excavating for the
foundations has begun. It is expected
that the building will be ready for occupancy about October 1. Considerable delay has been occasioned in
closing this deal because of the difficulty in securing a satisfactory site . . . . The actual delay was caused by the owner of a
certain tract of land situated at the foot of Lafayette Street, along the Chicago &
Northwestern’s railway, whose property was offered . .
. . But when the acceptance was tendered the
deed was not forthcoming. It was,
however, expected from day to day, until finally the season for building had
become so far advanced that it was imperative for the association to take some
decisive step, and they therefore submitted to the officers of the Henry
company a proposition for the Fifth Ward Improvement company whereby the latter
tendered a site of one acre, gratis, provided the factory was erected
thereon. This site is
located in the southwest corner of what’s is known as Straw’s plat in the Fifth
ward, and is, as Mr. Henry states, very favorably located as to territory from
which he secures his help, and also as to side-track facilities. WR
1901
02 20 HENRY CO. COMPLETES MOVE TO WATERTOWN
The officers
of the I. L. Henry Company and most of the concern’s expert help, as well as
quite a number of girl employees, removed [moved] here
last week and the new plant in the Fifth ward is now in smooth running
order. A certain grade of boxes will be
continued to be made at Waupun, where a small force is employed; but all the higher class products will be turned out at the main factory
here. The general offices in the company
are also located in Watertown. WR
06 14 FACTORY INSPECTED
Last
Wednesday afternoon a large number of the subscribers
of the building of the I. L. Henry Box Factory visited at the factory on
invitation of Mr. Henry and gave it a thorough inspection. They found it a bee-hive
of industry, and everything about the place indicating that it is a prosperous
institution, and one that is sure to grow.
Nearly every kind of paper box is made — jewelry boxes, confectionery
boxes, stationery boxes, etc. Fancy
celluloid boxes also manufactured. The
sample boxes in the sample room at the factory were the center of attraction to
the visitors. They had just been
completed for the full trade, and includes many new
and fancy decoration varieties. Over 100
hands are employed at present, and inside of a year the capacity will be
increased to about 200. The subscribers
to the factory building were well satisfied with what they saw,
and feel that they did well in giving financial encouragement to the
locating of the plant here. WG
08 09 WATER AT PLANT CONTAMINATED
Last week it
had been claimed that the water at the box factory was contaminated with
disease germs. The water in that section
of the city is taken from a dead end of the
waterworks and became stagnant, owing to not enough water being drawn off
to keep the water fresh, hence it was very warm for drinking purposes. Not being desirable for drinking purposes,
led to the supposition that it was contaminated. Health Commissioner J. M. Sleicher
had his attention called to it, and on examination said the water was stagnant
and unpalatable, but not dangerous to health.
Hereafter, however, the hydrant will be opened more frequently which
will give a fresh supply of water and make it more suitable for drinking
purposes. The water supply in this city
comes from one of the finest artesian wells in the world and there is no
possible way for it to be contaminated.
WG
1908
09 04 An order
from one firm for 1,500,000 paper boxes has been received by the I. L. Henry
Co. of this city. WG
09 11 Employees at Waukesha Beach. WG
1910
12 16 DEED GIVEN IRA L. HENRY CO.
On December 9, 1910, the
Watertown Advancement Association deeded the property occupied by the Ira L.
Henry Co. in the Fifth ward over to that company. Ten years ago the
Advancement Association advanced a bonus of $12,000 to the company when it
removed here from Waupun, and the company, as per agreement, has paid this
bonus back in ten annual installments.
The Ira L. Henry Co. has been a good paying investment to our citizens,
and it has also prospered here. We hope
its prosperity will continue. WG
1912
CHRISTMAS
BOXES
1913
LOGO
FEATURED IN AD
1916 Frank Pitterle, employee
1920
07 19 702
ELM STREET / Destroyed by fire in 1945
1921 Watertown High School Orbit
The Ira L.
Henry Company engaged in the manufacture of paper boxes on
In February,
1901, the company changed its location to Watertown, Wisconsin, which offered
better advantages in regard to shipping and to the
securing of employees. The company was
incorporated on
During the
last few years, the company specialized in the manufacture of high grade candy boxes, and its products also included
perfume and face powder boxes. The
greater proportion of its products are sold in the state of Wisconsin, although
the selling territory covers the Middle West, and a part of the eastern and southern
states. One shipment of candy boxes is
made each year to Fairbanks, Alaska, and is in transit several months.
A paper
candy box is principally made of board stock, such as chip, straw and news
board, and a cover paper. The board
stock is lined with either book or print paper, and then scored and
corner-cut. The scoring operation, which
dents the stock just enough to permit bending, determines the size of a
box. A plain box, which consists of a
box proper and a cover, is then stayed and covered with paper. The box proper is usually covered with plain
paper, while the cover is wrapped with a paper of better quality which usually
has the customer's name and design printed thereon. After the lace paper is attached to the box,
the cover is put on.
They are
packed in small quantities in bundles with wrapping paper. The bundles are placed in wooden cases, and
the boxes are then ready for shipment.
While most of the processes in the manufacture of paper boxes are
executed by machines, some boxes require very much hand work,
particularly those which have specialties such as ribbon straps and bows,
trimmed with gold or other special paper, padded top, hinge cover and drop
front, or other special construction to meet the requirements of certain
trades.
The death of
the president, Ira L. Henry, occurred in April, 1920.
The present
officers are:
F. J. Barnes ...... President
C. A. Skinner .....
Vice-President
E. A. Pratt ....... Secretary and Treasurer
1930s
1945, Fire, April 11
I. L. Henry Box Factory Fire, 04 11 1945
1940s
DISTANT VIEW, 702 Elm Street
1958
06 07 DELUXE CANDY BOXES
Cheesweet
Candy Co of Milwaukee placed an order for
100,000 deluxe candy boxes. WDT
1968
05 24 EXCELLENCE IN PACKAGING AWARD
Charles
T. Yeomans, president of the Ira L. Henry Company, announced today that the
company won an Excellence in Packaging Award for a box manufactured by his firm
for the Zeb Billings Music Company. The
awards presentation took place in Manchester, Vt. when the National Paper Box
Manufacturers Association met to observe its “Semi-Centennial” convention. The Ira L. Henry Company has been in
operation since 1888 and supplies rigid paper boxes for manufacturers,
department stores, gift centers and specialty stores. The rigid paper box industry makes billions
of rigid paper boxes each year and sales of this package form now reach the
half billion dollar point annually.
10 24 GRANDSON OF IRA L. HENRY
A
grandson of Ira L. Henry, founder of the Ira L. Henry Co. here, visited
Watertown over the weekend, along with his wife. They reside in Hayward. He is Philip Barnes who said this was his
first visit to Watertown where his grandfather was one of the prominent
business men at the turn of the century.
Mr. and Mrs. Barnes were guests at the home of Attorney and Mrs. Richard
Thauer and “saw the city” and visited many of the
interesting places here. They enjoyed
their visit and have now returned to Hayward where Mr. Barnes is a
carpenter. Among the places visited was
the new and modern Ira L. Henry Co. plant, which turns out paper boxes and
containers of all kinds, including many of elaborate design and appearance.
2010
08 04 CHARLES
YEOMANS, 1828-2010, former owner of Ira L. Henry Co.
Charles T. Yeomans, 93,
of Oconomowoc, formerly of Watertown, passed away on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, at
Shorehaven Health and Rehabilitation in Oconomowoc.
A memorial service will
be held on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Shorehaven Chapel in Oconomowoc with Chaplain
Mark Rydberg officiating. Family burial
has been held in Oak Hill
Cemetery in Watertown with Pastor John Kennedy of First Congregational
United Church of Christ officiating.
Charles was born on
Dec. 29, 1916, in Evanston, Ill., the son of Nathaniel and Edna (Perry)
Yeomans. On Oct. 11, 1952, he married
the former Marjorie Lois Luttman
and she preceded him in death on Aug. 22, 1999.
Charles had been the former owner
of the Ira L. Henry Company of Watertown.
He was a former city council member in Watertown and had served as a
trustee on the University Lake School Board.
Charles was a member of First Congregational United Church of Christ and
a former member of the Watertown Rotary and Toastmasters.
Survivors include his
daughters, Jean Yeomans of Janesville, Nancy (Todd) Behnke of Genesee and Ann
(Greg) Ploch of Sussex; grandchildren, Taylor,
Austin, Shelby and Nathaniel; a brother, Robert
(Charlotte) Yeomans of Door County; nieces, nephews, other relatives and
friends. He was further preceded in
death by a daughter, Katherine Yeomans; his parents; and a brother, David
Yeomans.
Cross-References:
John Slosson obit, 1905
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin