Michigan Pipe Company (1871-1956)
Location: Madison Ave., north of Woodside Ave., Bay City, MI.
1883 History. - Added Aug., 2009.
History of Bay County, Michigan - H.R. Page, 1883.
MICHIGAN PIPE COMPANY. _______
In 1871 the Northwestern Gas and Water Pipe Company was established in Bay City. The business of manufacturing wood pipe with the Wyckoff patent augur was first started in Chicago, by Thomas B. Farrington and J. F. Temple, and in 1869 a stock company was organized, and extensive works started here. In January, 1881, this company was succeeded by the Michigan Pipe Company. The officers are I. H. Hill, president; C. E. Jennison, vice-president; H. B. Smith, secretary and treasurer. These gentlemen are all well known citizens of Bay City, and the works are now doing a very extensive and successful business. The pipe which they manufacture is being used in nearly every state, and the past year they have been crowded to their utmost capacity to fill orders. They manufacture water pipe, steam pipe casing and gas pipe, also chain pumps and tubing. Their works cover about ten acres, and give employment to an average of fifty men. In the Spring of 1882 the present salt block was built. The well was sunk by the old Atlantic Salt Company, and was one of the first salt wells sunk here. This institution is now one of the important contributors to the prosperity and wealth of Bay City.
M.F. Wilcox, superintendent of the works, came to Bay City with the original company in 1871, and has held the position of superintendent every since. He is a native of Ohio, and has been engaged at some kind of mill work for the most part of his life. He was with the company at Three Oaks, Mich. He is a very competent man, and when the present company was organized the managers gladly retained him in the place he had filled so many years.
A. A. Archer, engineer at the Michigan Pipe Works, came to Bay City with the Northwestern Gas and Water Pipe Company, having been in their employ at Three Oaks. He is a native of Oneida Co., N. Y. When thirteen years of age he shipped aboard a whaling ship, and for nine years followed sailing, visiting nearly every part of the world. In 1859 he returned to his native land, and in 1862 went into the service, where he remained two years, as Captain of Company C, One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio Volunteers. In 1871 he settled in Bay City, and has held his present position since the works first started. He has a wife and three children.
Additional Notes:
1918 - “The Michigan Pipe Co., Bay City, Mich., has manufactured wooden pipes since 1869. In 1880 this company acquired the right to manufacture Wyckoff pipes. It now makes pipes, 2 to 48 ins. in diameter and 8 ft. long, of well-seasoned white pine or tamarack. The pipes are wound spirally under heavy tension by machinery, either with galvanized steel wire or with flat bands. The wire-wound pipes are used for heads up to 350 ft.: [Water Supply Engineering - 1918]
