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Thos. D. Murphy Co. Red Oak's Oldest Centennial
Industry
In 1888 two enterprising young men, Edmund B.
Osborne and Thos. D. Murphy, came to Red Oak and entered the
newspaper business, publishing one of the three newspapers in this
town of 3,000.
The new court house was
being built at this time and they decided to buy a woodcut of the
court house for their newspaper. This cut would be so
expensive that they felt they must make some further use of it and
they decided to make an advertising card with the cut of the court
house in the center. Then they sold the space around it to business
men of the town for advertising. It has never been determined just
who suggested putting the calendar pad beneath the picture, as some
of the advertisers claimed the honor of having made the suggestion.
Nevertheless, it was done so that people would leave the picture
hanging on their walls longer, which would be an advantage to the
advertiser. It was in this way that the first calendar with a
picture and advertising on it was sold.
They called their new business the Osborn-Murphy Company and were incorporated in 1891. Mr. Osborne did
most of the selling at first but soon added three or four men to his
sales force, one of whom was Mr. Bigelow, who later founded Brown
and Bigelow Company in St. Paul. Mr. Murphy took care of the
manufacturing and business end.
Some years later the partnership was
dissolved and Mr. Osborne bought out Mr. Murphy and very soon moved
the company to Newark, New Jersey.
In 1900 Mr. Murphy invited his
brother-in-law, William Cochrane, to join him in founding another
calendar company. The building which now houses the Express
Publishing Company was built and the new calendar business was
conducted in the same building with the newspaper.
The Thos. D. Murphy Company soon outgrew
its quarters and the present factory was built and occupied in 1905. Charles Murphy, brother of Thomas D. Murphy, was one of the first
pressmen and later purchasing agent and superintendent of the
factory.
In the depression of 1932 the
opportunity came for Mr. Cochrane, who continued as president and
general manager after the death of Mr. Murphy, to buy the Murphy
Company in exchange for his stock in the American Colortype Company,
which business had become associated with the Murphy Company some
years before. Business was at a low ebb and it was a great
gamble, but he took the chance and the Murphy Company remained in
Red Oak. After Mr. Cochrane's death in
1938, the business was conducted by his sons-in-law, Malcom D.
Lomas, J. Lyman Turner and John L. Crofts. In 1951 Malcom
and Anna Lomas, his eldest daughter and son-in-law, bought the
control of the business from the other heirs, who plan to conduct it along the lines that Mr. Murphy and Mr. Cochrane
followed, assisted by their faithful co-workers.
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Kerrihard Foundry To Ko-Z-Aire Products
The present Ko-Z-Aire furnace company had its
beginning in the early 1890's with the founding of the Kerrihard
company. The company was originally started by the late E.
W. Kerrihard's father. It was operated as a foundry, but
also produced many steel items.
In 1931 E. C. Knight purchased an interest in
the company, and upon the death of E. W. Kerrihard in 1936, Mr. Knight and W. O. Zaelke continued to operate the
foundry.
Mr. F. A. Kaven purchased an interest in the company in 1938
and became general manager. Under Mr. Kavan's management the
first Ko-Z-Aire heating units were manufactured.
After World War II the company changed its name
to Ko-Z-Aire Manufacturing Company, and in 1948 the company was
purchased jointly by two eastern corporations. The plant
continued operation under that ownership until 1951. It was then
sold to the present company, Ko-Z-Aire Products, Inc.
Ko-Z-Aire Products, Inc. is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Anchor Post Products, Inc. Baltimore, Md.
Presently the local plant manufactures more than
35 different models of furnaces with an annual production of 10,000
units.
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National Carbon Co. A New Industry
National Carbon Company is a Division of Union
Carbide and Carbon Corporation. The Corporation was
incorporated in 1917. National Carbon Company was incorporated in
1886. The original product made by National Carbine Company
was carbons for flame arcs for street lighting. The first
showing in the world of these was in the City of Cleveland in 1878.
National Carbon Company pioneered in the field of dry cell batteries
for flashlights and manufactured the first commercial dry cell in
1890. Through continuous research and development the Company has
grown steadily since its origin and today markets many well known
products varying from giant electrodes used in the manufacture of
steel and chemicals to small but powerful Eveready Batteries.
The Red Oak plant went into
production in June 1948. This plant manufactures Eveready Batteries
which are used in portable radios, hearing aides, and for many uses
by the United States Signal Corp, Air Force, Army, Navy, and Weather
Bureau.
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Farmers Mercantile,
Outgrowth of Red Oak's First Store
On January 29, 1918, the first
meeting of the board of directors of the Farmers Mercantile Company
was held by the stockholders of the company.
The officers of this corporation
were: President, J. A. Axelson; Vice-President, John Oliver;
Secretary-Treasure, Charles M. Barton. The directors
were M. O. Allen, F. M. Culver, John Oliver, Harry B. Turner,
and C. A. Youngberg, who named Sven Pherson, Jr. as
manager in 1918.
It was the decision of the
directors to buy the business of the Lane Implement Company, and to
rent the building across the west side of the square occupied by it,
then owned by J. S. Baxter. The C. H. Lane store
was the first in Red Oak, located on the corner now occupied by the
Houghton State Bank.
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