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18 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
over the field, he decided to take up the manufacture of electric light carbons,
recognizing the fact that this product was being used in every part of the globe
in connection with arc lighting. Early in the history of the Brush Electric Company
he spent much time in their carbon department and now returned to it with
renewed zest, becoming associated with W. W. Masters in the manufacture of
carbons, at what was then the Wilson avenue factory of the National Carbon Company.
Because of failing health Mr. Masters was anxious to retire and Mr. Lawrence
and his associates, Myron T. Herrick, James Parmlee and Webb C. Hayes,
became the owners of the entire business, which was organized and conducted under
the name of the National Carbon Company. The growth of the enterprise was
so rapid that it was soon found necessary to largely increase the capacity of the
plant, and in 1891 the company purchased one hundred and fifteen acres adjoining
the Lake Shore Railroad Company's right of way in the hamlet of Lakewood,
just west of the city limits of Cleveland. On this tract of land has since been
erected the largest carbon factory in the world, with an estimated capacity of
twenty million carbons per month. Mr. Lawrence not only bent his energies to
organization and management but also displayed great inventive capacity and a
genius for constructing machinery adapted to factory use. The present factory
gives visible evidence of the improvements and inventions that were made by him
within the past few years. The processes of manufacture have been radically
changed and the improvements instituted make this the most complete and thoroughly
equipped establishment of the kind on the face of the globe.
Mr. Lawrence seemed to be a man of unlimited capacities and powers, remaining
to the last years of his life the embodiment of indomitable perseverance and
energy. He was not only the president of the National Carbon Company but also
of the Brush Electric Company, the Sperry Electric Railway Company and of
various subordinate organizations, all occupying a prominent position among
Cleveland's manufactories. He was also one of the organizers of the Cleveland
Trust Company-—the first company of the kind in Ohio-—as he early recognized
the need of such an organization, and he served on its executive committee until
his death.
In 1863 Mr. Lawrence was married to Miss Harriet E. Collister, of Cleveland,
and unto them were born seven daughters. Mr. Lawrence, ever mindful of the
interests and welfare of his family, to whom he was most devoted, established a
beautiful summer home at Dover Bay, Ohio, and there Mrs. Lawrence still resides.
He was called to put aside the activities of life November 17, 1900, and in his
death Cleveland lost one who had contributed much to the commercial progress
of the city. His was a most commendable career, not only by reason of the splendid
success he achieved or owing to the fact that he instituted enterprises that afforded
employment to hundreds of workmen, but also because of the straightforward,
honorable business policy that he ever followed. His path was never strewn with
the wreck of other men's fortunes, for, on the contrary, his work was always along
constructive lines, stimulating general trade interests and thus proving of direct
benefit in the city's growth. Honored and esteemed by all, no man occupied a more
enviable positon in manufacturing and financial circles than Washington H.
Lawrence.
FRED LUZERNE HALL.
Fred Luzerne Hall, a man of large affairs and pronounced business activity,
is perhaps best known as the president of the International Security & Investment
Company of Cleveland. He is a son of John Y. and Florence Hall of Ashtabula
county, Ohio, where his birth occurred May 5, 1879. He comes of Revolutionary
stock, therefore representing one of the old families of the country,
and the branch to which he belongs has for an extended period been founded in
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