May 31, 1894: A Rags to Riches Story, Union Manufacturing Company Incorporates

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

May 31, 1894: Taking advantage of the ready access of iron from the Boyertown mines and the success of the Colebrookdale Iron Works, a group of Boyertown investors has incorporated Union Manufacturing Company to produce iron castings, with local inventor John Sabold as its first president and manager. The business was vulnerable to economic fluctuations and did not prosper.

In 1910, the directors offered John Z. Harner, the foreman at a Kutztown foundry, the position of Superintendent. Before accepting the job, he visited the facility. “The plant looked very dingy, dirty and disorderly,” he wrote. It was apparently a challenge for him because he accepted the position with a salary of $1800 a year and five percent of all net profits, of which there were none because Harner invested all earnings in improvements to the machinery and buildings. The widow sashes were so rotten that the glass kept falling out; the walls were black from the smoke produced by the factory torches; the lighting was abysmal. He replaced all of the windows, gave the place a face lift, painted the walls white and installed electricity.

The original investors had not seen any profit, and their stock certificates were worthless when Harner took over. The company was deeply in debt. By 1920 Harner had paid off all of the indebtedness; and when he asked for a raise, the directors suggested that he buy their stock at the same price they had paid, $100 per share. He borrowed money from the Farmers’ National Bank (now M&T Bank) and took over as President.

Harner expanded the product line and began shipping items regularly into New England, the Midwest, Maryland, and occasionally as far away as Japan. Harner was very interested in antique stoves and made Franklin fireplaces for Carpenter’s Hall and the City Tavern in Philadelphia and the Old State House in Delaware. Their products were sold all over the country.

In the 1960’s, Union Manufacturing Company was America’s largest producer of cast iron antique reproductions. In addition, they produced industrial castings for customers throughout the United States and into Canada.

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