Fort Wayne Business History: Every Company in the Record, Oldest First

Bourie & Peltier's store

By 1830 – 1830s

Founded: In business by 1830, when John B. Bourie's trading house stood across Columbia Street from Zenas Henderson's store. John W. Dawson, describing the town as he found it in 1838, records that "Captain Bourie and John B. Peltier had a fine store northwest of Calhoun and Columbia."

Founders: John B. Bourie and John B. Peltier, French traders of the Maumee valley.

What it did: A general store and trading house of the fur-trade-era Columbia Street row.

Fate: No closing date is recorded; the firm belongs to the trading generation displaced by the canal-era merchants.

Sources:

1. John W. Dawson, Charcoal Sketches of Old Times in Fort Wayne (1872), the 1838 view of the town.

Fort Wayne Gas Light Company

1853 – succeeded by later gas companies

Founded: Fort Wayne's gas works began 1 March 1853, lighting interiors first; street lights followed from 1857 where property owners bore the cost.

What it did: Manufactured and distributed gas for light and heat; gas was piped in from Ohio fields from 1857, and Fort Wayne was known as a "gas town." Artificial (manufactured) gas followed as the natural supply failed.

Course: The gas business continued under successor companies — the Fort Wayne Gas Co. of the 1900 directory among them. The later consolidation of Fort Wayne gas service into Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) is documented in the completion entry in this section, below.

Sources:

1. Visit Fort Wayne, "Explore Science Central through a Historic Lens" (gas company began 1 March 1853; street lights 1857).
2. R. L. Polk, Fort Wayne Directory 1900 (Fort Wayne Gas Co.).

Merchants National Bank

1865 – 1874

Founded: Chartered 1 May 1865, at the northwest corner of Berry and Calhoun streets. President: Peter P. Bailey.

What it did: Commercial banking through the post-Civil War decade.

Fate: Discontinued in 1874 (Griswold).

Sources:

1. B. J. Griswold, The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Vol. I (1917), part 53.

Olds' Wagon Works

Incorporated 1882

Founded: Incorporated in 1882 with capital of $200,000. H. G. Olds, president; W. H. Olds, vice-president and treasurer.

Founders: The Olds family — H. G. Olds appears across this record as president of the Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light Company in 1881 and as an officer of the First National Bank's organising generation.

What it did: Manufactured wagons and wagon gear at works on the south side of Murray Street between Calhoun and Lafayette streets — one of the vehicle plants that made Fort Wayne a wagon-building town before it was a truck town.

Fate: Its later course is documented only to the 1900 directory listing.

Sources:

1. R. L. Polk, Fort Wayne Directory, 1900 — Olds Wagon Works entry: incorporated 1882, capital $200,000, officers, Murray Street works.

Rub-No-More Company

Acquired 1892 – sold to Procter & Gamble 1926

Founded: A Fort Wayne soap works, struggling when Gustav Berghoff acquired it in 1892 and built it into a prosperous enterprise. The company's founding before Berghoff is not dated in this record.

Founder (proprietor): Gustav Berghoff, of the Berghoff brewing family.

What it did: Made Rub-No-More naptha soap, yellow naptha soap, soap flakes, washing powder and Spotless Cleanser — a national laundry-soap brand from a Fort Wayne plant.

Fate: Facing thinner profits and national competition, Berghoff sold the company's rights, trademarks and formulas to Procter & Gamble in December 1926 for $325,000, retaining ownership of the building and grounds; P&G manufactured the line under its own label for several more years.

Sources:

1. ACGSI, "R Named Places in Allen County" — Rub-No-More Company (Berghoff acquisition 1892; products; the 1926 P&G sale, $325,000, building retained).

Wayne Shoe Company

In business by 1900

Founded: Listed in the 1900 Polk directory's classified pages as a wholesale boots-and-shoes house at 19 East Columbia Street, alongside W. L. Carnahan Co. The firm's founding year is not fixed in this record.

People: Robert Millard, of Moellering Bros & Millard, was the company's secretary and treasurer (1905 directory). A Wayne Shoe Manufacturing Co. also appears in the 1908 directory — whether the wholesale house and the manufacturer were one firm or two is not established here.

What it did: Wholesale boots and shoes in the Columbia Street wholesale row.

Sources:

1. R. L. Polk, Fort Wayne Directory, 1900, classified business directory — "Boots and Shoes—Wholesale: Wayne Shoe Co, 19 E Columbia."
2. R. L. Polk, Fort Wayne Directory, 1905 and 1908 — Millard's secretary-treasurership; the Wayne Shoe Mfg Co. listing.

American Art Textile Company (H. I. Pollak)

Incorporated 1918

Founded: Incorporated 7 December 1918 with capital stock of $500,000; works at 920 Osage Street. Officers in the 1923 directory: H. I. Pollak, president; Fred Zollars, vice-president; G. F. Schauer, secretary; Harry Hilgemann, treasurer.

Founder: H. I. Pollak — the "Pollak" of the Fort Wayne business record; a chauffeur's listing in the same directory ("chfr H Pollak") shows the household scale of the enterprise.

What it did: Textile manufacture — "art textiles" (decorative woven fabrics) — one of the cluster of Fort Wayne mills alongside the knitting and hosiery firms.

Fate: Not established.

Sources:

1. R. L. Polk, Fort Wayne Directory, 1923, incorporated institutions list — American Art Textile Co, 920 Osage, incorporated 7 December 1918, capital $500,000, officers.

Fort Wayne Hardware & Sporting Goods Company

In business by 1923

Founded: At 612 Calhoun Street in the 1923 directory's incorporated-institutions list; E. J. Rosenberger, vice-president; Oscar W. Schiefer, secretary-treasurer. (This Calhoun Street house is the documented hardware firm of the "Wayne Hardware" name pattern.)

What it did: Retail hardware and sporting goods in the downtown shopping district.

Sources:

1. R. L. Polk, Fort Wayne Directory, 1923 — Fort Wayne Hardware & Sporting Goods Co, 612 Calhoun, officers.

Seyfert's (Seyfert Foods)

1934 – 2018

Founded: Charles H. Seyfert cooked his first batch of potato chips on 20 August 1934 at 450 East Wallace Street, Fort Wayne.

Founder: Charles H. Seyfert.

What it did: Potato chips — Seyfert's became the hometown chip of Fort Wayne and a regional snack brand across the Midwest.

Course: Borden acquired the company in 1982; Heath Acquisition Corporation bought it in 1994; Troyer Potato Products acquired it in 2001.

Fate: Seyfert's ceased operations on 20 August 2018 — exactly eighty-four years after the first batch.

Sources:

1. ACGSI, Fort Wayne places (Seyfert's) — first batch 20 August 1934, 450 East Wallace; Borden 1982; Heath 1994; Troyer 2001; closure 20 August 2018.