WI BIO - Kenosha Co - N. R. ALLEN's Sons Company 
The City of Kenosha and Kenosha County, WI. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 
1916, Vol II, pp 29-30

Kenosha, WI, has reason to be proud of many of its industrial and 
manufacturing enterprises, prominent among which is that conducted by the N. 
R. Allen's Sons Company, operating the largest individual tanning industry in 
the world. The tanning business had its inception in 1856, when F. W. LYMAN, 
under the firm name of Freeman & Porter, opened a small tannery on Jerome 
Creek, just south of the present site of Kemper Hall. This tannery was 
destroyed by fire. Nathan R. ALLEN and Levi GRANT afterward opened a tannery 
in the north part of town. The start of the present large establishment was 
made by Nathan R. ALLEN and William H. SMITH, Mr. SMITH retiring from the 
firm at that time. William H. SMITH, upon entering into partnership with 
Nathan R. ALLEN in the tannery, established at Rockford [Winnebago County], 
IL, as a part of the business of the firm, a factory and salesroom for the 
manufacture and sale of farm and buggy harness, using the greater part of the 
leather tanned in Kenosha, WI. After continuing with Mr. ALLEN for 
several years, William H. SMITH proposed to dissolve the partnership of Allen 
& Smith, the latter taking the harness factory at Rockford, IL, which was at 
that time the more profitable end of the business, and Nathan R. ALLEN 
retaining the tannery at Kenosha, WI. His plant consisted of a small frame 
building on the east bank of Pike Creek, a few rods south of the present 
Grand Avenue [renamed 52nd Street] bridge. Nathan R. ALLEN was not a 
practical tanner. He was an excellent business man of the old school, honest 
to a fault, always willing to give value received and of the type of business 
men "whose word is as good as their bond."

Charles W. ALLEN, eldest son of Nathan R. ALLEN, had entered the business, 
when a young man as a beam hand, starting in at the first process of 
preparing the hides for the vats and working his way through the tanyard and 
harness currying shops until he became a journeyman. After a long service as 
a workman in his father's shops, Charles W. ALLEN was taken into the business 
as a partner in 1869, and the firm became N. R. Allen & Son. About 10 years 
later N. R. ALLEN, Jr., was admitted as a partner, at which time the firm 
style of N. R. Allen & Sons was assumed, the relationship being thus 
continued until it was dissolved 20 Apr 1890, by the death of Nathan R. 
ALLEN, Sr.

At that time Charles W. ALLEN and N. R. ALLEN, Jr. formed a partnership under 
the firm name of N. R. Allen's Sons and purchased from the other heirs their 
interest in the estate of their father in the tanning business. From 20 Apr 
1890 until 01 Aug 1905, under the firm name of N. R. Allen's Sons, the 
business was carried on with renewed vigor and upon larger lines. On 02 Feb 
1890, the plant was almost entirely destroyed by fire, the power house and one 
other small building along remaining. Adjoining the tannery on the east 
stood the old Pennoyer Sanitarium, which with the exception of one [p 30] 
small cottage was also burned to the ground. Shortly before the death of N. 
R. ALLEN, Sr., the Pennoyer property was sold to the Messrs. ALLEN, and from 
a small beginning, with less than an acre of ground space, the development 
has continued until the plant today covers about 11 and a half acres, with a 
floor space, including vat area, of 675,000 square feet, while the various 
buildings are from three to 5 stories in height. There are 28 buildings in 
all, and with one exception all are of mill construction, while throughout 
the sprinkler system has been established. The machinery is operated by 
electric power which is manufactured by a steam plant of 20 boilers, 
developing 5,000 horsepower. They employ on an average of 1,000 men and 
utilize domestic packer hides, making heavy sole leather and harness and 
saddlery leather. They have an entire tannery devoted to making sole leather 
strips, used mostly for repair work. They operate a hide department which 
purchases annually over a million hides. Their manufacturing department is 
actuated by the fixed purpose of always producing the best sole leather 
strip, while their selling department gives its entire time, attention and 
service to the wants of customers, actuated by a policy of fair and equitable 
treatment to all. The company maintains a uniformity of stock due to 
standard and unvarying selections to which strips must conform to be placed 
in the grade indicated by the label. The excellence of the manufactured 
product makes their output a standard of comparison. They sell to the 
jobbers and large manufacturers, and the plant has a capacity of 4,000 sides 
of leather per day, or 25 million pounds of finished leather per year. The 
present [1916] officers of the company are Edward C. THIERS, President [see 
his Kenosha County, WI, biography]; A. H. MOORE, Vice President and General 
Manager; M. B. KETCHAM, Secretary and Treasurer [see his Kenosha County, WI, 
biography]; E. H. AMORY, Superintendent [see the Kenosha County, WI, 
biography of Eugene H. AMORY]; and Thomas DONLEY, Vice President and hide 
buyer [see the combined Kenosha County, WI, biographies of Thomas and Thomas 
C. DONLEY]. These men are all well trained through long experience for the 
duties which devolve upon them, and their force and resourcefulness are 
indicated in the fact that the business maintains its place as the leader in 
its line among all the establishments of the world.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly