Remembering Conshohocken and West Conshohocken by Jack Coll Read Free Book Online Page B

Schuylkill River. The John Wood Manufacturing Company would later expand and occupy the site.
    Niessen manufactured oil products and lubrications for the textile industries. He called his company Quaker Oil Products. By 1927, Emil Niessen had moved the company to its present location, an old glass factory on the border of Conshohocken and Whitemarsh Township along East Hector Street. As the nation was headed into a depression, an offer came to sell the company. Mr. Niessen was only too happy to sell to brothers D.J. and L. Osmond Benoliel, while Niessen retained part ownership. By 1930, the firm incorporated as Quaker Chemical Products Company and consisted of twenty employees, including laborers, two chemists and nine office employees. The nation felt the full impact of the Depression by the end of 1930. Many local factories were working four-day workweeks, but Quaker Chemical Products Company managed to go over $200,000 in sales for the year.
    Over the next twenty years, Quaker expanded, opening plants in Wilmington, Chicago and Detroit. The postwar years helped stimulate Quaker’s business with the growing automobile industry and the popularity of household appliances. By 1953, Quaker Chemical had posted more than $10 million in sales.
    In April 1951, a massive explosion at Quaker set the company back but not out. The explosion caused a fire that gutted most of the main production plant, causing more than $400,000 in damages. The employees worked around the clock to rebuild the plant in something of a record time. Company executives were pleased when the production lines were back in full force and not a single customer was lost.
    Today, the Quaker Chemical Company is still headquartered in Conshohocken, with regional headquarter locations in China, Brazil, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro and the Netherlands. From $200,000 in sales back in 1930 to a $581.6 million company today, Quaker continues its commitment to excellence for its customers.
    Quaker Chemical treated its customers the way it has treated the Conshohocken community for more than ninety years. Along with the Walker brothers, the Benoliel family contributed much to the building and maintenance of the Conshohocken Fellowship House. Peter Benoliel, chairman of the board for many years, took a keen interest in the Fellowship House and the development of Conshohocken’s youngsters, participating in many events throughout the years. The Quaker Chemical Company has never failed to support Conshohocken, and Quaker is currently helping many communities not only throughout this country but around the world as well.
A LAN C. H ALE , A LMOST A C ENTURY
    The story of Hale Pumps of Conshohocken can be traced to Wayne, Pennsylvania. In 1906, the Radnor Fire Company purchased a new state-of-the-art motorized fire pumper, the first in America. Radnor firefighters Jan Wendell and Charlie Young would often take the horseless fire carriage to the Hale Knox Motor Company garage for repairs. Alan C. Hale, who owned the garage, was also an active firefighter with the Radnor squad. Hale shared a common interest with Wendell and Young to make firefighting equipment more efficient, especially the horseless carriage and its pumping capacity of water to extinguish fires.
    The three dedicated firefighters developed an interest in the new motorized fire carriage and strongly believed improvements could be made on both the truck and pump that would provide better fire protection to the community. The three men formed a partnership and set up shop at the Hale Knox garage, making fire engine pumps. The company would be known as the Hale Motor Company.
    By 1914, a military conflict was raging overseas, and before it was over the conflict would become known as World War I and involve most of the world’s great powers. In that same year, the three partners came up with a new pump for firefighting called Young Giant and, shortly thereafter, got its first test. The bronze body pump was