Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1916 — REHABILITATING MATCH FACTORY [ARTICLE]

REHABILITATING MATCH FACTORY

Columbia Furniture Co. Installing Machinery. WILL EMPLOY ABOUT 25 MEN At Start, Probably, and More Later , On—Reduction Plant Machinery Also Being Placed in Position. I . Rensselaer is soon to have a real, sure enough factory. Messrs. Loy and Besser, who secured the old match factory buildings and grounds some time ago, have been busy for several months in putting the buildings in shape and have lately secured a furniture factory for the large building. This factory will open up for business Monday morning next, Dr. Loy informs us. This company, of which Drs. Loy and Besser are members, is a Chicago concern that had outgrown its quarters there and Messrs. Loy and Besser induced them to come here. They will manufacture upholstered furniture, such as Turkish chairs and couches, and it is the intention to do all of the work here as soon as the necessary machinery and power is installed. About one-third of the ground floor of the big building has been covered with a wood floor and it is the intention to cover the balance as soon as possible. But this portion and the upper floor will enable them to start the upholstering at once. A carload of furniture in “knocked down” form has been received and upholsterers will start to work Monday morning on this stock. Machinery is also being installed for making the chairs and couches here from the raw lumber, and Dr. Loy informs us that the company now has advance orders booked to keep the plant running for the next three months, and orders are coming in all the time. The upholsterers and foreman must be skilled men, and it is probable that ten or a dozen families will move here from Chicago within the next few months to work in this factory. It is the intention to use as much local labor as possible, however, and the company desires young men for apprenticeship. The entire big building must be

reglazed, as every window pane and sash had been broken out during the years it had stood idle This alone will cost several hundred dollars. The company will use electric power and the expense of extending the line out to the plant will be borne by them. A heating system must also be put in, and with the other machinery being installed they will soon have a good many thousand dollars invested there. The manufacture of these chairs and couches is not an experiment. The company has been in the bus*'ness for some time and have already made good. Messrs. Lov and Besser are certainly entitled to a whole lot of credit for doing alone and singlehanded what the entire commercial club had failed to do, and re believe every one in Rensselaer will extend to them hearty good wishes for the success of their undertakings.

Work on the reduction plant which had been delayed on account of inability to get the necessary machinery made and shipped, is also going on now*. This plant will occupy the smaller building on the northwest, and is entirely independent of the furniture factory. Many tons of machinery for this plant have arrived and is being placed in position. However, it will be some time yet before it is ready for operation. Dr. Loy says that there is absolutely no odors from a modern plant of this kind and that there is one o' these plants on the grounds at Purdue university, hut one would never know it from any odors, even from going into the building itself, all the odors being consumed in the furnace. , 1 This plant, when in operation, will gather up the bodies of dead animals that have died through disease or otherwise and make “tankage,” a stock food, and other byproducts from the carcasses. These reduction plants are under inspection of the state veterinary and are kept in a complete sanitary condition at all times.