Philadelphia, this company operates another divi-
sion in Allentown, Pennsylvania, known as the Le-
high Valley Paper House. By virtue of its combined
facilities, it is one of the largest distributors of paper
products in Pennsylvania.
The Andrews Paper House had a great many em-
ployees in the Armed Services. During the conflict,
approximately seventy-five per cent of its produc-
tion was devoted to the processing of technical
papers for government institutions. It is an active
and aggressive York commercial enterprise, giving
full cooperation to all civic activities, and has earned
a fine reputation for integrity as a permanent York
institution.
Present Warehouse Facilities.
t IT
THE J. E. BAKER COMPANY
Refractory Dolomite, Lime,
In 1889, John E. Baker leased quarries and kilns at
Wrightsville and operated them under the name of
Wrightsville Lime Company. In 1894, he leased sim-
ilar properties near Bainbridge, Pennsylvania, and
in 1896 he purchased properties in Conoy Township,
Lancaster County, which is now known as the Bill-
meyer Plant. From that time until 1903 he started
several other operations in Pennsylvania, Maryland
and West Virginia. The business grew rapidly, and
in 1904 it was incorporated under the name of J. E.
Baker Company.
During World War I, when Austrian Magnesite
was not available for the steel industry, J. E. Baker
Company was the first to begin production of dead
burned dolomite as a substitute for magnesite. This
material was put on the market under the name of
"Magdolite." A large amount of this product was
required during the war and in following years, and
in 1937 a modern plant was erected at Millersville,
Ohio, thus increasing the "Magdolite" production in
this country.
During World War II, the increased production of
"Magdolite" substantially helped the war effort.
Shortly after the death of John E. Baker, in 1941,
the company was reorganized under the name of
The J. E. Baker Company, whose operations include
the following: Billmeyer Plant, Lancaster County;
Thomasville Plant, York County, Pennsylvania; Edgar
Plant, York County, Pennsylvania; Blue Mount Plant,
Baltimore County, Maryland; Inwood Plant, Berkley
Crushed Stone and Coal
County, West Virginia; and Millersville Plant, San-
dusky County, Ohio. These plants produce such
products are refractory dolomite, pulverized lime-
stone, crushed stone, fluxing limestone, railroad
ballast, chemical and fluxing lime, and agricultural
lime.
Keystone Coal Company
Several financiers of York and Philadelphia pur-
chased mining properties in Meyersdale, Pennsyl-
vania, in 1847, and operated them until 1879 when
they were incorporated under the name of Keystone
Coal Company. John E. Baker was elected treasurer
and manager in 1907, at which time they opened
new coal fields at Mooween, Pennsylvania. Mr.
Baker succeeded George F. Baer as president of this
company in 1916 and continued in this office until
his death in 1941.
H. G. Bancroft started his business in 1912 and
now operates two stores, one in York at 33 South
Duke Street and one in Lancaster, with service fa-
cilities in both cities, and with distribution 1 - in Lan-
caster, York, Adams, Franklin and Fulton counties.
The Bancroft services include the sale of type-
%
writers, office equipment and furniture, and supplies
118
H. G. BANCROFT
Office Equipment and Supplies
for all types of business and industry throughout the
scope of their distribution.
Bancroft's Service Department is fully equipped
to take care of repairing of all makes of typewriters,
adding machines and mimeographs. Work is called
for and delivered, and repair loan machines fur-
nished, when available, without charge.
BARNHART'S BOOK STORE
Books, Stationery and Office Supplies
On August 20, 1899, Henry C. Barnhart purchased
this business from Crider and Brothers, located at
49 West Market Street. The business rapidly grew
and on August 15, 1915, Barnhart's moved to their
present location in the Rosenmiller Building. Consid-
erable modern improvements were made in 1942
with a new store front, new store fixtures, and ar-
rangements inside the store.
Barnhart's retail all types of books, stationery,
office supplies, greeting cards, games, personal sta-
tionery, social engraving and printing, etc.
At the death of Henry C. Barnhart, March 16, 1935,
the business was taken over by Helen L. Barnhart
and Arthur B. Thompson continuing the sale and dis-
tribution of the same and similar lines of supplies.
Through Barnhart's order department, any book
in print may be secured, usually within a few days'
time. Also rare books, now out of print, are located
through advertisements inserted in trade journals.
Barnhart's makes a specialty of obtaining the latest
in scientific and technical books for chemists, metal-
lurgists, machinists and other skilled workers. An un-
usually complete stock can be found on the shelves
ranging from beautifully illustrated volumes for chil-
dren to the latest best sellers.
Barnhart's gives expert fountain pen service.
BELL'S
Ladies' Apparel
In 1927, A. D. Cohn, at that time a resident buyer
in New York City for a group of department stores
located throughout the country, was convinced that
the opportunity had arrived for the establishment of
his own business.
He and Mrs. Cohn made a thorough survey of sev-
eral medium sized cities to determine which pre-
sented the best opportunity for a successful venture.
York was selected because it was progressive, its
industries were expanding rapidly and there was a
definite need for a ladies' apparel shop that could
compete in every way with stores in adjacent large
cities. Accordingly, a ladies' ready-to-wear shop was
opened in leased space at 13 West Market Street,
with a staff of three sales clerks. The trade name
selected for the new business was "BELL'S."
The original store was remodeled in 1931. The
space was doubled in 1937 and both interior and
exterior were remodeled in the most modern man-
ner. In 1941, the entire building was purchased to
provide increased facilities for the growing business.
Today, this retail establishment has a staff of over
fifty employees. It is a private enterprise, typical of
thousands in our nation that have grown and pros-
pered under the guidance of individuals.
Sales Room.
BELL'S stands as a tribute to the foresight, courage
and style acumen as applied to the needs of a com-
munity by its owners.
Original Store.
Present Store.
BLAW-KNOX COMPANY
Special Ordnance Division
The Special Ordnance Division of the Blaw-Knox
Company has been a member of the York com-
munity for about a year. The division, engaged in
the manufacture of mounts and mechanisms for the
Navy's versatile 40mm. antiaircraft Bofors gun, is
making an important contribution to the defense
program, of which the district can be very proud.
The now famous gun, which is carried by almost
every type of ship in service, fires a two-pound
shell from each barrel at the rate of 120 or better a
minute. That's what you call converting a cannon
into a machine gun! The projectile can reach two
miles into the air. A curtain of fire from these guns
enabled the USS South Dakota, in an epic engage-
ment, to bring down thirty-two Jap planes in thirty
minutes.
Bofors gun mounts and mechanisms were also
made by the Martins' Ferry Division of the Blaw-
Knox Company. Additional weapons of offense and
defense were made in the company's other plants.
As a matter of fact, the Blaw-Knox Company was en-
gaged practically 100 per cent in war work for the
duration. Among the tools of war it produced are
14-inch and 16-inch explosive shells, 1,000-lb. aerial
bombs, rockets and rocket equipment, torpedo launch-
ing equipment, cast armor for tanks, power piping
for various marine vessels, anchor chains, steel build-
ings and hangars, and secret electronic equipment.
Synthetic rubber plants were designed and erected.
Peacetime products of Blaw-Knox, which are now
used in the furtherance of the nation's war program,
include construction machinery, rolls and rolling mill
machinery, transmission and radio towers, open
hearth furnace equipment, process equipment for
chemical plants, heat resisting alloy furnace con-
veyors, steel and alloy castings, open flooring, and
clam-shell buckets, to mention but a few.
Heavy construction machinery, for instance, was
called to the Aleutians, the islands of the Pacific, the
deserts, the mountains, and the jungles of Africa and
Asia, and to the invasion of Europe, to play spec-
tacular roles in road building, airport construction,
fortification, and the housing of troops.
Because of the great variety of products and type
of equipment designed and fabricated by the com-
pany, it is often referred to as the "department store
of fabricated steel products."
The story of the company has been one of steady
growth since its organization under the name of the
Blaw Collapsible Steel Centering Company in 1906.
In 1917 it consolidated with the Knox Pressed and
Welded Steel Company and adopted the present
name. At the beginning the company manufactured
steel forms for general concrete construction and
water-cooled equipment for high temperature fur-
naces such as those used in the steel industry.
Active research continued to add new products,
and the scope of the company's business was further
extended by consolidation with other manufacturing
organizations, many of which were first operated as
subsidiaries. They later became units of the Blaw-
Knox Company, and are today known as: (1) the
Blaw-Knox Division, (2) the Pittsburgh Rolls Division,
(3) the Lewis Foundry & Machine Division, (4) the
Union Steel Castings Division, (5) the National Alloy
Steel Division, (6) the Power Piping Division, (7)
the Blaw-Knox Sprinkler Division, (8) the Blaw-Knox
Lubricator Division, (9) the Martins' Ferry Division,
(10) the Columbus Division, (11) the Special Ord-
nance Division, and (12) the White Glove Packaged
Fuel Division.
The company's first plant was located on the Alle-
gheny River, about ten miles from Pittsburgh, at
a town formerly called Hoboken, but now known
as Blawnox, named after the company, but spelled
without the k. The steel forms made there were used
in the building of the Panama Canal, the Soo locks,
the New York water supply system, the subways of
Philadelphia and Chicago, among many others.
These steel forms, incidentally, also served in the
construction of tunnels for the Pennsylvania Turn-
pike, and are today being employed in the construc-
tion of a water supply system for the City of Mexico.
From steel forms the company branched out into
the manufacture of other fabricated steel products,
>n
BLAW-KNOX COMPANY
Special Ordnance Division
too numerous to list in their entirety. The knowledge
gained from this diversification stood the company
in good stead when it went into the production of
many military items. The company was an experi-
enced producer of the type the nation needed while
girding itself for war. A single example will show
how this experience was put to use.
Civilized man, both in peace and war, is com-
pletely and utterly dependent upon rubber and rub-
ber products. One can therefore readily understand
in what a predicament our country found itself when
the Japanese overran the rubber plantations of the
Far East. At that time the nation had a rubber stock-
pile which would have sufficed for a year and a half
under normal conditions it was greatly inadequate
for the pressing needs of war. Something had to be
done, and done quickly.
The leaders of the rubber industry were forced into
the production of synthetic rubber, a product still in
the laboratory stage. Blaw-Knox was commissioned
to furnish the fundamental and functional engineer-
ing designs for a standard Copolymer rubber proc-
essing plant. The suggestions made by Blaw-Knox
were adopted, and the company was eventually
chosen as the prime contractor for the erection of a
number of synthetic rubber plants. These are now
in full operation, providing the nation with much of
the rubber on which the wheels of war travel.
This brings up the important position held by the
Blaw-Knox Company in the chemical processing
field. A department of the Blaw-Knox Division, known
as the process equipment department, has served to
provide many technological advances to industry.
It is an unusual engineering organization consisting
of men who have made outstanding records of ac-
complishment in chemical, mechanical, electrical,
metallurgical, structural, and architectural engineer-
ing. They form a smooth-working organization cap-
able of handling the problems encountered in the
design and construction of process plants and equip-
ment, regardless of size and condition.
They combine to form a group, under one respon-
sibility, for the design, fabrication, and integration
of complete plants or equipment for such processes
as distillation, gas absorption, solvent extraction, sol-
vent recovery, heat transfer, furnacing, cracking,
kilning and calcining, polymerization, evaporation,
crystallization, drying, mixing and stirring, organic
synthesis, emulsification, impregnating and gas
cleaning.
The process equipment department makes absorb-
ers, agitators, autoclaves, distilling columns, con-
densers and kettles of various kinds, dehydrating
equipment, dryers, fractionating equipment, heat ex-
changers, kilns, stills, and A.S.M.E. code vessels.
In construction equipment, the company is known
for its manufacture of batchers, bulk cement plants,
concrete spreading machines, concrete finishing ma-
chines, forms, hoppers, sheepsfoot tamping rollers,
snow plows, and truck mixers.
The clam-shell buckets made by Blaw-Knox in-
clude two-line, three-line, and four-line direct-reeved
types, and also two-line hook-on buckets, coal buck-
ets, pulpwood grapples, and incinerator buckets.
The Lewis Foundry & Machine Division makes
many types of mills, such as bar mills, blooming
mills, merchant mills, slabbing mills, in addition to
pinions, gears, saws, shears, and drives. The Power
Piping Division not only makes prefabricated power
piping, but also functional hangers and vibration
eliminators.
At the Union Steel Castings Division one finds rail-
road and locomotive castings, rolling mill and steel
plant castings, plus industrial castings.
The company has had a long and brilliant history
in the manufacture of rolls and rolling mill machin-
ery. In this current year the Pittsburgh Rolls Division
of the Blaw-Knox Company is celebrating its sev-
enty-fifth anniversary as a manufacturer of many of
the rolls used the world over in the production of
ferrous and non-ferrous sheet and shapes.
The White Glove Fuel Division is the company's
latest venture into a field heretofore untouched. This
division is operating a plant in Philadelphia for the
production of a fuel made from high-grade anthra-
cite and bituminous fines. These fines, formerly un-
usable, are bonded together into three-inch cubes
and packaged in sixes. They do away with the at-
tendant dirt of the coal shovel, for each package,
wrapper and all, can be thrown directly into the fire.
THE BON-TON DEPARTMENT STORE
S. Grumbacher & Son
In March, 1898, Max Grumbacher started this busi-
ness as a small one-room millinery and dry goods
store at 36 West Market Street, moving to the present
location on Market and Beaver Streets in 1912, where
a new building was erected.
In 1921, the store was further enlarged by the pur-
chase of adjoining property, which added about sixty
per cent more floor space. In 1940 the first floor was
completely modernized, and in 1941 air conditioning
was installed.
In 1942, the Gilbert Planing Mill was bought to
provide extra space for warehousing, and that same
year complete modernization of the second floor was
accomplished. This new warehouse, located at West
Mason and Park Alley, contains 20,295 square feet
of floor space.
Upon the death of the founder. Max Grumbacher,
in 1933, the business was continued by his widow,
Daisy A. Grumbacher, and in 1936 a partnership
was formed consisting of Daisy A. Grumbacher and
two sons, Max and Richard.
The Bon-Ton is one of York's modern and complete
department stores, with basement, main floor, bal-
and post-office substation on the balcony. All the
cony, second floor and third floor, large tea room
on the balcony, and substation on the balcony. All
Entrance to The Bon-Ton's Ready-to-Wear Department,
Second Floor
facilities which have made modern department stores
successful are included in its operations.
Over half of The Bon-Ton's Basement is devoted to
a modern "Bargain Basement" where you will find
THE BON-TON DEPARTMENT STORE
S. Grumbacher & Son
The Bon-Ton's Main Floor
budget-priced apparel, sportswear, men's and boys'
furnishings, hosiery, lingerie, domestics, shoes and
millinery. This has become a very popular shopping
center for thrifty Yorkers. The Bon-Ton's three Credit
Plans ... "Charga-Plate," "Budget Plan," and
"Coupon Credit Plan" . . . are extensively used
in the Bargain Basement, as well as throughout the
entire store.
A popular meeting-place for busy Yorkers
The Bon-Ton Tea-Room is healthfully air conditioned
and has seating accommodations for over 250 people.
Both fountain and waitress service are available.
The Bon-Ton Tea-Room specializes in daily lunch-
eons, salads and sandwiches . . . menus are
changed daily. Many business people have lunch at
The Bon-Ton every day and shoppers like to stop in
the tea-room when shopping, because it is conve-
niently located on the balcony, near the elevator.
The Bon-Ton's Modern Bargain Basemen/
The Bon-Ton's Spacious Tea-Room
JOSEPH BLACK & SONS COMPANY, INC
Bachelors' Friend Hosiery
Main Office and Planf
Two million dollars' worth of men's staple half-
hose is the annual production of loseph Black & Sons
Company, Inc., one of the largest producers of men's
half-hose in the country.
From a modest beginning back in 1890, when the
company was founded by Joseph Black, Sr., it has
gradually expanded and improved its manufac-
turing facilities to produce this annual volume of
Knitting Department
men's hose. National distribution of Bachelors' Friend
Hosiery, the firm's major product, is effected through
a limited number of selected wholesale houses by
James Jamison Company, sales agents. New York
City.
Throughout World War II, seventy-five per cent
of the company's production was absorbed by the
Army and Navy.
Department
Boarding Department
Finishing Department.
It A
BRANDT-HENRY MFG. CO., INC
"Henry Master Freezers'
The Brandt-Henry Mfg. Co., Inc., was founded in
1936 by Joseph T. Henry, S. Gertrude Henry, J. Tyson
Henry, and Paul W. Henry for the development and
manufacture of special machinery and quantity pro-
duction parts machined and assembled. The "Henry
Master Freezers," which is a continuous freezing
unit, is also manufactured by the Brandt-Henry Mfg.
Co., Inc.
Under J. Tyson Henry, as president, the company
continually expanded each year. New equipment
was installed and better methods adapted to pro-
duce more and better products. In September, 1944,
Paul W. Henry was made president and general
manager of the corporation. During World War II it
produced one hundred per cent Army and Navy
ordnance work. It has gained high efficiency ratings
in both production and mechanical fields, and for
all types of ordnance parts. Work is done for com-
panies in all sections of the country on the latest
type of equipment, including milling machines,
lathes, grinders, drill presses, filing machines, cut-off
machines, burring equipment and keyseating and
shaper work.
Brandt-Henry is also the distributor for many me-
chanical products.
BROOKS HOTEL
40 South George Street
One hundred pleasant medium-priced rooms, each
with outside exposure, one-third of which are air
conditioned by York for the comfort of guests, are
the basic facilities of the Brooks Hotel, owned and
operated by George W. Brown.
This hotel was established in 1914. It has enjoyed
a normal growth and many guests have returned
year after year to enjoy its quiet, peaceful atmos-
phere and the cordial hospitality of its management
and staff.
For the past thirteen years, the Brooks Hotel has
been the headquarters of the Tramerick Club, one of
York's oldest and most successful social organiza-
tions. It is also the meeting place of the York County
Republican and Democratic Clubs, trade union lo-
cals, and numerous patriotic organizations.
To coincide with the expected rapid increase in
both pleasure and commercial travel after V-J Day,
the Brooks Hotel has developed extensive post-war
remodeling plans. These include the installation of
additional air conditioning units, improving show-
ers with glass and tile construction, completion of
weather stripping on all windows and doors, bet-
ter lighting, new furniture, and the installation of
Martin-Parry wall panelling in the balance of the
hotel's public space.
The leadership of hotels in promoting progressive
living in a community is well established. The Brooks
will maintain this leadership in York with improved
facilities, consistent with the needs of its guests.
COCHRANE BRASS FOUNDRY
Brass, Bronze, Copper and Aluminum Castings
John H. Cochrane started his foundry with six em-
ployees on Sixth Avenue in 1921. He built his pres-
ent plant at Ogontz and Prospect Streets in 1926 and
now has fifty-five employees. Bronze, brass, copper
and aluminum castings are made to customers' pat-
terns and specifications in sizes from one ounce to
one-half ton in bronze and one ounce to fifty pounds
in aluminum.
His customers cover the eastern area of the United
States in the machine tool, hand tool and portable
tool industries. This plant is typical of the many small
but very important and successful individualized
industries in the York area.
1 -t r
BRANDT-WARNER MANUFACTURING CO.
"Bilt-Well" and "Foreman" Axle Shafts
Brandt-Warner Manufacturing Company started
in 1921 from an idea an idea of service. In those
days, the breaking of axle shafts in both passenger-
cars and trucks was a frequent occurrence and the
owner often had to wait weeks in order to get ser-
vice from the factory. Two young men, Brandt and
Warner, graduates of the York High School, who
had served their apprenticeships with local manu-
facturing companies, undertook to manufacture axle
shafts for all cars and trucks and to carry them in
stock so they would be available immediately for
service calls.
The beginning was very modest as they set up in
business in a two-car garage and had at first just
three machines as their entire equipment. Steel was
purchased in small lots and the distribution of the
product was limited. The business was incorporated
February 9, 1922, as the Brandt- Warner Manufactur-
ing Company, and several new stockholders, with
additional capital, came into the organization. The
Road and a modern, daylight type factory building
erected on this site. The new plant was designed for
labor-saving line production and many additional
modern, fast machine tools were added. At this time,
a forging shop to produce rolled, hammered and
upset forgings was added. This new division of the
company enabled them to produce all types of forg-
ings that are used in the manufacture of axle shafts
so that the plant was made entirely self-contained
and able to meet all competitive cost conditions. The
company had now become a coordinated unit in that
it could take the steel in billet form and then through
the consecutive processes of forging, heat-treating
and machining, furnish the product complete and
ready for the market.
In 1939, the company added to its distribution by
the purchase of the axle shaft business of W. D.
Foreman, of Chicago, 111., who had been an impor-
tant competitor. "Foreman" Axle Shafts are now
made in this local plant under their own trademark
new corporation early ran into financial difficulties
and a reorganization with new financing and new
management was effected.
It was recognized that the use of alloy steels, until
then unknown for axle shaft use, would reduce the
frequent failures in axle shafts and the management
adopted the use of these finer and more costly steels.