December i, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



89 



THE LATE LOUIS K. McCLYMONDS. 



LOUIS K, McCLYMONDS died on the evening of Novem- 

 ber 7, 1903, at his residence in South Orange, New Jer- 

 sey, from the effects of a stroke of apoplexy which he had sus- 

 tained just one week previous. Mr. McClymonds was born 

 June 12, 1850, at New Lisbon, Ohio, where his father, John Mc- 

 Clymonds, a native of Pennsvlvania, had settled about 1842, 

 and engaged in the banking business. About i860 Mr. Mc- 

 Clymonds removed with his family to Massillon, Ohio, and 

 assisted in organizing there the Union National Bank. In 1869 

 he removed to Cleveland, where, with Robert Hanna, he or- 

 ganized the Ohio National Bank — afterward the State National 

 Bank — Mr. Hanna serving as president and Mr. McClymonds 

 as cashier. Upon Mr. Hanna's death Mr. McClvmonds suc- 

 ceeded to the presidency and held the office until his retire- 

 ment from active business in 1887. 



Louis McClymonds acquired his education at Massillon dur- 

 ing the residence there of his family, being graduated from the 

 high school in 1868. He began his business career in 1871 as 

 bookkeeper and correspondent in the 

 Cleveland bank with which his father 

 was connected. Among the many busi- 

 ness enterprises with which the elder 

 McClymonds was connected at various 

 times was the Cleveland Rubber Co., a 

 manufacturing concern, which he as- 

 sisted in organizing in the early 70's, 

 and in which he retained an interest 

 until his death. The business had not 

 become extensive, however, and had 

 not proved very successful when, in 

 1873, Louis McClymonds purchased an 

 interest in it. He knew practically 

 nothing about the rubber business at 

 that time, but devoted himself closely 

 to mastering its details. There are 

 men still employed in the factory who 

 remember to have seen him many times 

 in the early days operating a mill. In 

 a few years he had obtained control 

 of the company and become its presi- 

 dent. He enlarged its plant and ex- 

 tended the business; he introduced 

 new methods and patented machinery for special work, and 

 made great progress in the trade generally. Mr. McClymonds 

 stated recently that when he assumed the management of the 

 Cleveland Rubber Co. their annual sales did not exceed $30,- 

 000 a year. Within twenty years their capital had been increased 

 to $650,000 and the volume of business proportionately. 



In 1881 Mr. McClymonds organized the Chicago Rubber 

 Works, incorporated in 1882 with $80,000 capital, which amount 

 was successively increased until it reached $250,000 in 1890. 

 Mr. McClymonds was president of the new company, and for 

 the next ten years he divided his time between Cleveland and 

 Chicago, active in the management of the two concerns. At 

 the time of the establishment of the Chicago factory Gilbert 

 W. Blanchard, who had been employed at Cleveland, was 

 placed in charge of the new enterprise, and continued in close 

 association with Mr. McClymonds up to the time of the retire- 

 ment of the latter from the rubber business. 



In 1892 these two rubber companies were combined with the 

 New York Belting and Packing Co.,;Li mi ted, and one or two other 

 concerns, under the name of the Mechanical Rubber Co., under 

 the managementof Mr. McClymonds, who at that time removed 



THE LATE LOUIS K. M'CLVMONOS 



his residence to New York. A more extensive combination re- 

 sulted in 1899, when the companies referred to were all includ- 

 ed in the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. In December, 

 1902, Mr. McClymonds resigned as a director, president, and 

 general manager of the Mechanical Rubber Co., and as a di- 

 rector and officer of the several allied companies, with the 

 idea that, having amassed a fortune, he would devote his re- 

 maining years to a life of leisure. He recently arranged for 

 the sale of his home at South Orange, and purchased " The 

 Knolls," one of the finest country estates in that region, and it 

 was while supervising the remodelling of his prospective home 

 that his final illness came. 



In addition to the services held at South Orange, New Jer- 

 sey, services were also held on November 11, at Massillon, 

 Ohio, where the body was placed temporarily in the Russell 

 family vault. The Rev. Dr. R. R. Bigger, pastor of the Pres- 

 byterian church at Massillon, and the Rev. Dr. J. W. Robins, 

 of the First Methodist Episcopal church, officiated. The pall- 

 bearers were C. M. Russell, Warren E. Russell, and Arvine 

 Wales, of Massillon ; T. F. Blanchard and E. B. Halliday, of 

 Chicago; M. I. Blanchard and R. S. 

 Pierce, of Cleveland; and John M. 

 Danner, of Canton, Ohio. 



Mr. McClymonds is survived by Mrs. 

 McClymonds, whom he married in 1875. 

 She was Miss Annie M. Russell, whose 

 father, Nahum S. Russell, was the 

 founder of the Russell Engineand Agri- 

 cultural Machine Works at Massillon. 

 The other immediate relatives are two 

 sisters — Misses Mary and Bertha Mc- 

 Clymonds — residents of Cleveland, and 

 a brother, Colonel J. W. McClymonds, 

 of Massillon. 



Mr. McClymonds's father, who did 

 not retire from business until 76 years 

 of age, was a man of great sagacity, 

 sound judgment, and high integrity, 

 and died possessing the esteem of all 

 who knew him, and his son manifested 

 the same qualities. In the management 

 of the rubber companies in which he 

 was interested, he was able and aggres- 

 sive. Writing of Mr. McClymonds in 

 the Cleveland Plain Dealer, James H. Kennedy says: "He 

 made friends in a quiet way, as he was in all ways a re- 

 served man, except to his intimates, and won the respect and 

 affection of them all. For years he lived in a pleasant home in 

 Audubon Park, in the northern part of New York city, and a 

 couple of years ago purchased a handsome place in South 

 Orange, New Jersey, which he was gradually fixing up to his 

 liking. He was passionately fond of outdoor life and surround- 

 ings, loved anything that suggested the farm ; was fond of 

 horses, and cows, and dogs. His purpose in locating in Orange 

 was that he could live more of this outdoor life, free to indulge 

 these tastes. He could well afford to, as he had accumulated a 

 large fortune in the years of his business life. He was a man 

 of fine personal qualities and leaves many mourning friends in 

 New York." 



Mr. McClymonds was the president of the Peerless Manufac- 

 turing Co. (Cleveland), incorporated in 1889 for the manufac- 

 ture of clothes wringers. In 1892 they commenced the man- 

 ufacture of bicycles, as a separate branch, still continuing the 

 manufacture of wringers. Both of these departments were 

 closed in 1900, and the manufacture of the De Dion automo- 



