Steam In Transition: A History of the Nichols and Shepard Company and the Port Huron Engine and Thresher Company
(Page 6 of 9)
May/June 2001
Charles O. Olsen,
Facing growing financial instability, Port Huron authorized H.
W. Stevens who was a member of the Board of Directors, to journey
overseas to England in 1916. The purpose behind Stevens' voyage
was to persuade a wealthy friend originally from Port Huron, to
inject some badly needed cash into the sagging company. Because
England was in the midst of war, Stevens' request was politely
refused.20
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The following year, President A. E. West and Treasurer J. I.
Sullivan formally acknowledged that overall sales had diminished,
and the attempt to break into the gasoline tractor market had not
been realized, because of flaws with the tractor. Continued
marginal sales forced the company into receivership in 1920. With a
skeleton work force, the company managed to manufacture threshing
machines until 1925. The company met its unfortunate end in 1928
and liquidated its inventory, also.21
The demise of the Port Huron Steam Engine and Thresher Company
epitomized the transitional crises which faced all tractor
manufacturers between 1910 and the Great Depression. Nichols and
Shepard survived because they adapted to meet changes in the
market. Companies like Port Huron failed, because they did not
comprehend the market and/or produced inferior machines that
garnered unfavorable reputation. The impact of these companies in
their communities and relationships with their workers will be
scrutinized next.
The enterprising men behind these companies were highly revered
in their communities. Not only did these industrial entrepreneurs
bring jobs to their cities, they also contributed to hospitals,
social clubs and even fire departments through philanthropic
endowments. Even though the companies instituted a Pullman type
system in their employee relationships, they seemed to value their
laborers to a higher degree than the steel magnates of this time.
In the 1870s, the Nichols and Shepard Company devised an unusual
social club and began a modest profit sharing scheme. An all
employees social club came to fruition under the heading of the
'Vibrator Social Club.' Each November, for over 40 years,
workers and managers alike boarded a train in Battle Creek that
carried them to remote areas in upper northern Michigan, where they
engaged in hunting and fishing exploits. Bernice Lowe, wife of a
participant gave this description of the 1877 foray: 'Club
members paraded about with feathers in their in their caps as they
showed off the quarry of the expedition. Included were no less than
48 deer, 23 turkeys, untold number of geese and ducks, along with
an abundance of over a dozen species of fish. Members then
proceeded to cook their prize catches as friends and relatives
gathered to partake in this lavish banquet which was fit for a
king.'22 The Port Huron Company sponsored several
Sunday outings for their workers.
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