Town: Sioux City

In October, 1877, the merchants of Sioux City met and formed the Merchants Exchange, and the following officers were elected for the year: President, J.M. Bacon; Vice President, L.C. Sanborn; Secretary, E.H. Bucknam; Treasurer, A.C. Davies; Directors, H.L. Warner, H.A. Jandt, E.W. Rice, F.L. Goewey. During the year, the subject of cheap ferriage to Covington, the adjusting of railroad freights and the commercial interests of Sioux City in general, had the attention of the Exchange with marked success. They raised by voluntary subscriptions $1,929.60 during the year, and paid to secure cheap ferriage, $1,500. In October, 1878, the following officers … Read more

Among the manufacturing interests of the city, which can only be mentioned without giving any detailed account are: C.F. Hoyt’s Vinegar Works, employing five men; John Beck’s planing mill, fifteen men; A.J. Millard’s wood working shop, four men; Barker & Petty, barrel and butter tub factory, fourteen men; R. Seltzer’s brewery, eleven men; Franz & Co.’s brewery, thirteen men; City flouring mills steam, ten men; the Floyd flouring mills, water power, eight men; the brick yards of J. Rochele, Thomas Green and C.B. Woodley, the two latter having steam power, and altogether employing ninety men during the season; John Griffin’s … Read more

Foundry And Machine Shops The Sioux City Foundry and Machine Shop, is the pioneer manufacturing establishment of the city. Started in 1871, in a small way, and doing work only of the simplest kind, it has grown with the city, until now its buildings extend over several acres of ground, and its manufactures embrace everything in the different branches of the business, from the plain castings in iron and brass, to the building of heavy machinery for steamboats, saw mills, quartz mills, planing mills, etc. As the growth of the city and the wants of the trade demanded, new buildings … Read more

Sioux City, situated as it is, on the convex side of the Missouri River, on its first great bend north of Kansas City, the waters of that great river flow toward it from an almost due westerly course for 150 miles, when they turn southward, while smaller streams flow toward it from the north and east. Its location thus seems to have been designed by nature as the natural spot for the great metropolis of the Upper Missouri, and the commerce of this rapidly growing empire flows as naturally toward this point as the waters have for ages. The natural … Read more

The Board of Trade, has performed an important part in attracting many desirable manufacturers hither, and among the first brought here, through its influence, was the Sioux City Plow Company, an institution of which the city feels justly proud. In May, 1880, a stock company of practical mechanics was organized under the above name, and commenced the erection of a suitable building for the manufacture of plows, and in the following September the first plow was turned out. The next season, their goods were placed upon the market and immediately sprang into public favor; and though the works have a … Read more

The first steamboat came up the Missouri to Sioux City in the spring of 1856. The river route was then the only one open for the bringing in of heavy freight; and the material for a number of residences and business houses, and several stocks of goods came in on this first boat. With the settlement of the country around the city, came a demand from the military posts and mining camps further up the river, for any surplus produce marketed in the city, and orders for goods began to be sent down to Sioux City. The up-river business of … Read more