HARDWOOD RECORD 



35 



The Chicago Machinery Exchange 



Twentj-four jears ago there landed in 

 ( liicago a young st-hool boy, Waldemar 

 tiiertsen, fresh from his native town of 

 Bergen, Norway. He was without funds or 

 friends, and as his preliminary scholastic and 

 practical training had not rendered him pro- 

 ficient along any specific line, he was un- 

 duly handicapped in starting his career, 

 which has culminated in the foremost rank in 

 the woodworking machinery trade. 



Mr. Giertsen 's first employment was with 

 a stove factory on Milwaukee avenue, Chi- 

 cago, where he performed the disagreeable 

 task of cleaning stoves. So great, however, 

 was his observation and power of absorp- 

 tion and so keen his mind that advance was 

 certain from the start. His record shows a 

 steady progress from the menial labors which 

 he performed at fir.st to a responsible posi- 

 tion with the old firm of J. A. Fay & Co. at 

 their Chicago branch, which was later ac- 

 quired by Manning, Maxwell & Moore. For 

 eleven years Mr. Giertsen served this firm 

 faithfully, studying and improving along 

 many lines. 



In the course of time the unusual ability 

 of the man asserted itself in a desire for 

 independence and further advancement. Hav- 

 ing interested a friend on July 1, 1900, the 

 old Chicago Machinery Exchange was ac- 

 quired. The original store was located at 

 the present site of the business and occu- 

 pied one floor, with dimensions of 40x75 feet. 

 When Mr. Giertsen purchased this business 

 it consisted merely of a trade in various 

 kinds of second-hand machinery, and his first 

 move was to dispose of all the old stock 

 and replace it with up-to-date woodworking 

 machines of the best types. It has been 

 the policy of the firm to handle only this 

 line of stock ever since. 



So successful was the undertaking that in 

 the second year the space in the rear of the 

 store was added and the storage capacity 

 doubled. With the increased floor space and 

 greater facilities for handling the ever-in- 

 creasing trade, it was not long before fur- 

 ther addition was necessary, and three years 

 after another floor, equal in size to the com- 

 bined space before used, was added to the 

 establishment, and one year later the third 

 floor of the building was acquired. The 

 exchange now occupies the entire building 

 shown in the accompanying illustration and 

 has become so crowded within the last few 

 years that it has become imperative to still 

 further enlarge. Mr. Giertsen has acquired 

 a tract of land on Washington boulevard 

 near Ann street, 100x200 feet, where he 

 will erect a modern three-story building of 

 mill construction, having 60,000 square feet of 

 floor space, which is three times that at pres- 

 ent occupied. The structure and equipment 

 will be modern throughout, and every facility 

 which will increase the ability of the concern 

 to handle its trade will be installed. 



The remarkable success of the Chicago 



Machinery Exchange is undoubtedly due to 

 the quality of the goods handled. Only those 

 firms making a specialty of woodworking 

 machinery of various types are represented 

 on the selling list, and only the most ap- 

 proved types of machinery are handled. The 

 entire Chicago trade of such firms as Baxter 

 I). AVhitney & Son, Hermance Machine Com- 

 pany, Greaves, Klusman & Co., McDonough 

 Manufacturing Company, Porter Machinery 

 Coni]iany, Beach Manufacturing Company, 

 Crescent Machine Works and the West Side 

 Iron Works is handled through the teles 

 force of the Chicago Machinery Exchange. 

 The quality of the goods manufactured by 

 these concerns is widely known, and in this 

 way Mr. Giertsen is enabled to furnish his 

 trade with strictly high-class machines 

 adapted precisely to the particular line of 

 work %vhich they will be required to perform. 

 He keeps a full line, with duplicates, of all 

 the patterns of the various firms represented. 

 At times, in selling new, improved ma- 

 chines, it is necessary to take as part pay- 

 ment smaller models, which are reconstructed 

 and sold as second-hand articles. 



Besides his connection with the Chicago 

 Exchange, Mr. Giertsen owns a controlling in- 

 terest in the Hermance Machine Company, 

 and has invested thousands of dollars in im- 

 proving the types of woodworking machinery. 

 He has applied his observations in many 

 ways to enable the machinery producers to 

 furnish styles which will most thoroughly 

 satisfy users of woodworking machinery, and 

 has at present various machines, with special 

 appliances or of special pattern, manufac- 



tured by different concerns which he repre- 

 sents, bearing the name of the Chiago Ma- 

 chinery Exchange. Among these special types 

 are pony planers, double cut-off saws and 

 band saws, shapers, jointers and swing saws. 



The present plnnt of the Chicago Ma- 

 chinci-y Exchange is operated entirely by elec- 

 tric power, as will also be the case in the 

 new quarters. There is an extensive machine 

 shop in connection in which twelve men find 

 steady emplojTnent. The entire working 

 force comprises thirty-five men, and upon 

 moving to new quarters it will be increased 

 to fifty. Three experienced machinery sales- 

 men work constantly in various consuming 

 sections, and this force, as well as all the 

 other departments, w^ill be materially in- 

 creased upon moving into the new building. 



With the backing of the concerns it repre- 

 sents, the standing of none of which will 

 be questioned for a minute, and the un- 

 equalled facilities for prompt delivery and 

 intelligent installation, the purchase of wood- 

 working machinery through the Chicago Ma- 

 chinery Exchange offers attracti%-e induce- 

 ments. The firm can be reached at the pres- 

 ent address, 159-161 North Canal street, Chi- 

 cago, until January 1 next, when it will move 

 to the new quarters as before designated. 



The large planing mill of the Great Southern 

 Lumber Company at Bogalusa, La., which was 

 recently destroyed by Are, will be immediately 

 rebuilt by that concern. Active preparations 

 were made directly after the destruction of the 

 plant and inijiiiries were sent to the various 

 woodworking machinery concerns for specifica- 

 tions on the re,juh-cd outfit. The Berlin Machine 

 Works, through Its New Orleans office, in charge 

 of Eugene Donnolly. secured the contract for the 

 entire equipment, and will at once proceed to 

 fill the order. 



HE.\nQIiARTi:KS OF THE CriICAGO 



CANAL STUEE' 



MACHINEIiY 

 T, CHICAGO. 



EXCHANGE 



NORTH 



