The HORSE DRAWN Papers #3
T h e H A R N E S S S H O P
In a horse drawn world, two articles are vital. To ride a horse, a bridle and saddle is all but required. To harness the power a horse provides, a harness is required. In deference to Dr. Franklin Peques, Professor Emeritus of History at the Ohio State University, the good doctor often stated the greatest invention of the Mediaeval World was the stirrup. The stirrup allowed the knight to control his horse with his feet while wielding weapons with his hands.
Alexandria, incorporated by Alexander Devilbiss (Dee-ville-bis) had two fledgling cottage industries on its inception, the cooperage and the rope maker. The cooper made barrels, the most common shipping container of the day. The rope maker made hemp ropes which were vital to farm society, especially those with cattle. There was probably one or two who specialized in rope weaving allowing broken ropes to be repaired. As farms were cleared for and by the horse and plow, good, old-growth wood became readily available. Alexandria and St Alban's were wood-rich. As the wood supply dried up, the coopers moved on. The rope makers remained. Eventually, their business would expand into harness-making.
One of the first mentions of rope making in Alexandria is a rope factory built by Alexander Devilbiss in the back of Lot 20. Very early on, a rope bridge over the Raccoon Creek was made along what today is Tharp Road. This rope bridge was in existence in the early 1900s and is mentioned in The Buxton Journal. Then it was the South Road; today, it is SR 37.
An 1800s Alexandria farm and business family was the Boudinots. In 1866, Elisha Boudinot owned the farm northeast of Alexandria and by 1875, extended it to the highland along the east side of Mounts Road. Elisha also owned properties in Alexandria. These include the lot where the firehouse currently stands, although in 1866, there was a house there. He also owned the lot across the street. On this lot, there was a house on the west side of the lot and a harness shop on the east half of the lot. Elisha also owned a large house on the east side of North Liberty across from the current township garage.
Elisha Boudinot got his start growing hemp. With so much farmland devoted to staple crops - often with so much excess of grains that it was converted to whiskey and rye - Boudinot could afford to grow hemp and buy flour. Boudinot would dry the hemp and work it into fiber with which to weave rope. It is not clear if this led Boudinot into the leather business or if he stuck to rope, but we do know Boudinot & Oldham's merchant store offered custom shoes.
Then we have the record of L.S. Chadwick, the hardware merchant, who recalls "Mr. Blizzard and John Reid" as harness makers some time earlier.
The Blizzard family immigrated to Licking County from Pittsburgh at some time in the early 1800s. The 1840 Federal Census of St. Albans Township lists M. (Mervin) E. Blizzard, a single male between 20 and 29. By 1850, M. E. Blizzard, had married, moved to Monroe Township, and is raising a family with his wife Louise Reed. The couple would go on to have six children, none of whom remained in Alexandria. His occupation is "Saddler" as was his partner, John Reid. By 1870, M.E. Blizzard lived in Wauseon, county seat of Fulton County just a few miles south of Michigan, where he is a harness maker. John Reid (also spelled as Reed and Read) was married to Mary M. ________. In 1850, John and Mary had no children. By 1880, John and Mary had a 20-year-old son named Johnnie who worked as a store clerk. John was listed as a farmer.
By this time, Watson Davison was the wagonmaker and seemed to take over for Mr. Marandville who lived more or less across the street at 57 West Main. Through Alexandria family relationships far too lengthy for your patience, we come to Zola Rugg, who married into the Davison family. Zola was the daughter of Elijah 'Lige' Rugg. Lige was the older brother of Ephraim Rugg. We are more familiar with Ephraim by his company's name E.T. Rugg & Co. This company made harnesses in Alexandria.
It is also worthwhile to say that Alta Curtiss was employed by Rugg to sew harnesses. Alta lost her uninsured millinery business and everything she owned in the Great Fire of 1905.
The Newark Advocate tells us that Ephraim T. Rugg went into business sometime around 1880 when Ephraim was about 25 years old at the time. Some sources indicate that harness-making requires a four-year apprenticeship. This would have been the same time his kinsman, Watson Davison, opened his wagon-making shop. The locally produced monthly, Hearth and Home, has an 1881 advertisement for E.T. Rugg & Co., a grocery, clothing, and dry goods store downtown that also offered custom made shoes.
In 1900, The Johnstown Independent reported two bits of Alexandria news,
"It has been announced that the E. T. Rugg & Co. Halter Factory will be removed to Newark." - May 24, 1900
"The members of the firm that have organized the new halter factory in the village to take the place of the Rugg factory, met Monday evening and elected the following officers: Pres. L. C. Laycock, Treas. J. T. Reese, Sec. C. H. Thorpe. Land was also purchased from M. D. Shrader for building purposes." - July 12, 1900
Two years later, L. S. Chadwick would write in the 'Alexandria Edition" of the Johnstown Independant, on March 27, 1902,
The Alexandria Halter Manufacturing Company is a fine new plant, and the rattle of its looms and machinery is music to men and women and its daily shipment of halters and rope brings cattle, horses and mules to a standstill all over the country.
The Alexandria Halter Company was doing an excellent business as reported by Edith Irwin, correspondent for Alexandria in The Johnstown Independent in March 1926.
Rugg may have had the raw materials he needed to make harnesses, but the reason he moved, as reported in The Newark Advocate, was he needed access to the railroad. Alexandria was a stop on the Toledo & Ohio Central (T&OC) RR, but it wasn't enough. Rugg's Newark factory sat right beside the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad right-of-way that ran parallel Mt. Vernon Avenue (State Route 13) north out of town. This location gave Rugg the ability to have a siding that allowed the unloading of raw leather and loading railroad cars full of finished harnesses. Given the terrain, such a location in Alexandria would have been nearly impossible. What isn't stated is that Rugg had a larger labor pool on which to draw given his location in industrialized northwest Newark.
According to The Newark Advocate, by 1911, E.T. Rugg & Co. was considered to be the nation's largest halter maker. With the popularity of the automobile, and new leadership provided by Ephraim's nephew Howard Rugg, the Rugg company diversified into plumbing supplies and eventually lawnmowers. On the eve of World War II, lawnmowers were Rugg's leading line. However, lawnmowers were not a wartime priority and the Rugg Company changed production to land mines. Following the war, Rugg returned to the lawnmower business; his mowers were sold through several outlets including J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward, and Western Auto. In March 1970, the Rugg Company ceased production and closed the factory. A Rugg built lawnmower is on display at The Works in Newark.
Rugg's factory was located south of Sisal Street off Mt. Vernon Avenue. On the other side of Mt. Vernon Avenue is a brick side street, Rugg Avenue, that is lined with 100-year-old houses. Ephraim and Emma lived out their days in this prominent north Newark neighborhood. As for the company to replace Rugg's factory in 1900, these Alexandria businessmen must have seen a need to replace the Rugg factory. In a fit of irony, in the April 1915 edition of Harness: For Harness, Trunk, and Leather Goods Makers and Dealers, an advertisement appears on page 32 for the E.T. Rugg & Company's "Hold Fast" Halter. Below this advertisement is another for the Alexandria Halter Manufacturing Company. The company even had a catalog,
The Alexandria Halter Mfg. Company. of Alexandria, Ohio: Illustrated descriptive catalog of Five-Ring Leather Halters, Bridles, Rope, and Web Halters, Cow Ties, &c. The company state [sic] that it is their aim to keep their standard of quality well to the front, as their experience has been that the better class of goods are more satisfactory to all concerned. - The Iron Age, Volume 71, January 1, 1903
It is not known exactly when the Alexandria Halter Manufacturing Company went out of business. We do know the first car in Alexandria appeared in 1907. By then, steam engines were already at work threshing on Reese's farm. The horse and buggy days were rapidly ending, and far fewer harnesses would be needed.
Rugg Riding Lawn Mower from 1968.
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