1500 Eastwood Avenue - Artura Photo Paper Company

Artura Photo Paper box

Lot 12 Cornfield's Addition

Walter B. and Mary S. Page bought lots 9, 12, 14, 28 and 29 for $4,500 from Charles B. Cornfield on May 10, 1889.

Herbert Henry Davenport bought lot 12 from the Pages for $700 on January 1, 1904.

Dr. Lewis M. Early and Melville Arlington "Arlie" Yauch purchased lot 12 on October 13, 1904 for $5,000 including a mortgage for $2,000.

Early and Yauch sold the property for $5,000 to their newly incorporated company on May 5, 1905. The Artura Photo Paper Company was incorporated on April 19, 1905.

In 1904, Yauch lived at 203 North Garfield Avenue. Early lived at 108 North 20th Street.

Business was a great success and the photo paper factory needed room to expand. The company purchased lots 8-11 (between their original location and Taylor Avenue) in 1907. 1500 Eastwood Avenue was the address of the factory. On lot eight, there was a house with the address of 50 Taylor Avenue which remained and is the subject of its own blog entry.

Another partner in the Artura business was Schuyler Colfax. Page six of the Society section of the  March 22, 1908 Ohio State Journal reports, "Work on Factory - Work on the new plant of the Artura Photo Paper company to be erected on Eastwood avenue, was begun yesterday morning. The building will be 30 x 120 feet, and two stories high. A power plant will be erected in addition to the factory building."

Dr. Early was behind this short lived Nash automobile dealership opened in
early 1910 at 177 South High Street. It was bankrupt by 1912.

Artura was bought by Eastman Kodak in 1909 for $1.25 million. At the time it was reported that the factory employed 150 people and has 33 salesmen on the road. Kodak manufactured Artura brand products until 1924.

An extensive biography of Yauck appears in the Encyclopedia of biography of New York, Volume 7, "Yauck, Melville Arlington, Inventive Artist.

When Melville A. Yauck, of Rochester, passed from earthly view, that city lost an upright, talented citizen, and the photographic world a man who had contributed largely to its development. When he produced Artura paper he delivered the professional photographer from the bondage of sunlight and made one of the most important and permanently valuable contributions to the materials used in the art of photography. He was a man of strong character and high principles, possessing pleasing personal qualities that endeared him to a wide circle of friends. He was a close observer and clear thinker, having an infinite capacity for painstaking, exacting labor. Sterling was his character, very fine grained, with the tenderness and sweetness of a woman, yet with a strong will and determined spirit that never yielded to failure. After years of toil his dreams were realized, and at his beautiful home at the corner of East avenue and Arnold Park, presided over by his wife, a woman of personality equally charming, he was enjoying the rewards of success when stricken with a fatal illness that quickly ended his earthly career.

Melville A. "Arlie" Yauck

Mr. Yauck was of German descent, son of Rev. Martin and Melvina (Althen) Yauck. Rev. Martin Yauck was born near Schwenningen, a village of Wurttemberg, Germany, circle of the Black Forest, at the source of the Neckar river, August 27, 1845. When a lad of tender years he was brought to the United States by his parents, spending his youth in Rochester, where he obtained his preparatory education. He then entered Northwestern College, Naperville, Illinois, and in 1870 was ordained a minister of the Evangelical Association at Lafargeville, Jefferson county, New York. From that time until he received the Divine approval, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," on December 17, 1885, he was engaged in ministerial work, having stated pastorates. For four years prior to 1870 he had been preaching under lesser authority, serving on the Mohawk, Jefferson, and Oneida circuits in New York during the years 1866-67-68 and 69. In the last named year he was preaching at West Sand Lake and was there stationed after his ordination in 1870. In 1871 and until 1873 he was stationed at Dunkirk Mission; in 1874 at Lockport; in 1875 until 1877 at Utica Mission; in 1878 until 1880 at Albany; in 1881 at Herkimer; in 1882 and 1883 at St. Paul's Church, Buffalo. In 1884 his health failed and he was without an appointment until his death. He was one of the originators of the illustrated Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments, a lithograph in ten colors, which hangs in thousands of homes throughout the United States. The original painting, two feet six inches by three feet eight inches, may be seen in the Sunday-school room of Calvary Evangelical Church, in Rochester. Rev. Martin Yauck married Melvina, daughter of Philip and Christina Althen. She was born at Lyons, New York, March 6, 1849, died at Rochester, March 21, 1915. They were the parents of four children, Melville Arlington, William Percival, deceased; Edwin C, vice-president of the Haloid Company, of Rochester; and Agnes, died in infancy.

Melville Arlington Yauck was born at West Sand Lake, New York, May 16, 1870, died at Rochester, February 18, 1914. He was educated in public schools, but the death of his father in 1885 compelled him to leave school and to begin his own battle of life. He early developed decided artistic talent and when thrown upon his own resources began learning the art of engraving on wood. He did not long continue his first efforts, however, as he made the acquaintance of W.J. Lee, a photographer of Rochester, and entered his employ. This was in the day of wet plates and collodion papers, when the photographer coated his paper early in the morning of the day he intended using it. But a spirit of investigation and experiment had been developed, and after learning the rudiments of the art young Mr. Yauck became filled with an enthusiasm for research and experiment that never forsook him and that was finally to result in the discovery of one of the greatest gifts that has ever been bestowed upon the photographic profession. Where ever he lived he had a little dark room, and there he spent every spare hour, mastering by self study the chemistry of photography and the various processes by which pictures are made by that art. After attaining a degree of proficiency that made his services valuable he went to Michigan, where he was employed in a studio, thence to Cleveland, where he conducted a photographic supply business and did finishing for amateurs. In 1890 he located in Albany, New York, where, until 1894, he conducted a studio. He then formed a connection with the Baker Art Galleries, of Columbus, Ohio, one of the leading studios of the United States.

While there he painted special backgrounds for a series of art figure photographs that was copyrighted and had a very large sale. From his first days in the studio he had been interested in tinting photographs, and with his great natural talent it was inevitable that as he progressed in art he should develop into a portrait and landscape painter. His work attracted much attention and favorable comment at the exhibitions held by the art clubs of which he was a member. Among notable canvases that bear the imprint of his genius is a portrait of President McKinley, that hangs in the State Capitol at Columbus, Ohio.

At different times during his career Mr. Yauck had seen collodion and gelatine printing-out papers made successfully and marketed. In using these papers, however, the photographer was dependent on bright daylight to do his printing, and Mr. Yauck reasoned that if a paper that would yield equally good results could be produced, one that would print by artificial light, fame and fortune awaited the inventor of such a paper. It was not a new thought, as many scientific men were endeavoring to work out the problem. During the years Mr. Yauck was with the Baker Art Galleries he spent his evenings and far into the small hours of the morning in his laboratory at his home making emulsions, having in his wife an able, valued assistant. In fact, it was her help, her confidence in ultimate success, and her encouragement that lightened the many disappointments he endured and that held him to persevering effort. Finally the goal was won and their work was crowned with success by the perfecting of a paper that would print by artificial light and faithfully reproduce all the gradations in a negative, yielding as soft and perfect a print as the daylight printing papers. This paper he named "Artura," and to make and market it he organized the Artura Photo Paper Company of Columbus, Ohio.

Photo-Era Magazine, April 1914

Many were the obstacles and discouragements that yet beset his path, not the least of which was the prejudice and conservatism of professional photographers. But this, too, in time, was overcome, and the paper became very popular and reached an immense sale, supplanting to a large extent the printing-out papers that up to that time had been in use. In the fall of 1909 the Artura Photo Paper Company was sold to the Eastman Kodak Company, and Mr. Yauck returned to Rochester to supervise the manufacture of Artura paper. For five years thereafter he lived to enjoy the legitimate fruits of his long years of toil and in the beautiful home now occupied by his widow he catered to the demands of his artistic nature to the fullest extent. The hospitality of his home was unbounded, and with a grace and charm possessed by host and hostess alike, their friends were made welcome.

Mr. Yauck married, June 16, 1889, Minerva Florence, daughter of George Yeldhan, of Geneva, Ohio. To them one son was born, Daniel Althen Yauck, who married Adelaide Parnell, of Rochester.

Clipping from the Rome (NY)
Daily Sentinel, February 3, 1912.

A 1912 issue of Studio Light magazine reports, "We regret to announce the death of Dr. L. M. Early at his home in Columbus, Ohio, June 13th.

"Dr. Early was one of the pioneers in experimental work with the X-ray, and it was in the beginning of this work, when the safeguards now used by operators were unknown, that he received X-ray burns on his hands. These burns destroyed the tissues to such an extent that physicians were unable to check the gradual destroying influences of that force, which, in milder form, has since been of such great benefit to mankind.

"Dr. Early became known to the photographic world through his association with Mr. M. A. Yauck, who had discovered a new photographic paper emulsion of very fine quality. After these two had worked together for five years, Mr. Schuyler Colfax became associated with them, and the Artura Photo Paper Co. gradually grew to be one of the great photographic manufacturing concerns of the country.

"With the sale of the Artura Company, Mr. Yauck and Mr. Colfax became associated with the Eastman Kodak Co., while Dr. Early retired from business and devoted his entire time and efforts to the search for a cure, but without avail.

"Dr. Early was a prince among men and a martyr to science. He was beloved by all who knew him and his friends were legion."

In 1911, the Artura Photo Paper Company sold lots 8-12 to Frank S. Noble of Rochester, New York. Noble sold lots 8-12 to the Eastman Kodak Company on April 9, 1917. On December 30, 1919 Kodak sold the property to the Snyder-Chaffee Company of Columbus for $25,000.

Postcard circa 1910-1919 featuring The famous Snyder Chaffee Chocolate Shop.

Snyder, Chafee and Company was a chocolatier with a shop at 47 North High Street. They operated a retail chocolate shop in downtown Columbus at least from the 1880s until sometime in the 1920s, perhaps longer. The firm also manufactured chocolates and other confections wholesaling them to other retailers. An 1889 History of the State of Ohio indicated the firm had 73 employees in 1887.

The reverse of the postcard showing the interior of the Snyder Chaffee Chocolate Shop says that Snyder Chaffee confections were made in a factory located at 29-39 West Gay Street "that's clean as a 'pink.'"

In 1918, Clarence W. Amore, bookkeeper for Snyder, Chaffee & Company was living at 50 Taylor Avenue.

Box from 1898 for Snyder Chaffee Cough Drops

The 1925 City Directory lists the Central Storage and Transfer Company, owned by Elmer C. Richardson, at 1500 Eastwood Avenue. The John Brehmer Company, Malberger and Sons, Proprietors - upholsterers and furniture repairers, antique furniture bought and sold, 1502-1504 Eastwood Avenue. The 1928 City Directory lists H.G. Pierce, contractor, living at 1500 Eastwood Avenue.

Snyder-Chaffee transferred the property to The North Side Land and Improvement Company on July 1, 1930. North Side lost the property to Sheriff's Sale and it was transferred to The Capital Investment Company in 1932.

I could not trace the ownership of the property from 1932 through 1946. I could find no transfer from the Capital Investment Company.

In 1940, Alvan Tallmadge of 63 Parkwood Avenue is listed in the City Directory under "Sash, Windows, Doors and Trim" at 1500 Eastwood Avenue. In 1941 he is listed as is listed as a civil engineer and also a "sash dealer" at a new address 1502 Eastwood Avenue.

In March 1946, Overland Realty Company sold the property to Union Building and Savings Company. In April 1946, Ritter bought the property from Union Building and Savings Company. In 1956 the storage firm was known as the Atlas Eastwood Storage Co.

Ira died February 9, 1956. The property was transferred to his widow and son, Dorothy T. and John S. Ritter on November 18, 1957. On March 3, 1958 they sold lots 9-12 to the Atlas Eastwood Storage Company. Dorothy continued to live at 50 Taylor Avenue, and she married Dana H. Walser before 1959 and they sold the house on lot eight to Atlas Moving and Storage on September 20, 1963. The Walsers moved to Perry County and divorced in August 1971.

On June 9, 1960, the Columbus Dispatch reported that twelve non-union truck drivers for Atlas Eastwood Storage Co. claimed that they were fired from their jobs and did not quit.

Atlas sold the property to the Board of Education on August 22, 1968. They would eventually demolish all the buildings on the property.