Products of industry: Cape Girardeau County Manufacturing Census Schedules

The U. S. federal census began in 1790 and has been conducted every 10 years since. Its primary purpose is to apportion seats in the House of Representatives, but the Constitution directs the enumeration be conducted "in such Manner as [Congress] shall by Law direct." The framework of the census has allowed collecting of other information under this authority.

From 1850 to 1880, the census included schedules for, among other things, agriculture and manufacturing. We are indeed lucky the Missouri State Archives and the Missouri Historical Society have recently collaborated on getting these schedules scanned and made available on the Missouri Secretary of State website (www.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/census/pages/). This column will focus on manufacturing schedules.

Manufacturing schedules included businesses producing more than $500 in goods. Listed were capital investment, quantity and value of materials used, power sources, number of employees (men and women) and wages, and amount, kind and value of products. The 1850 schedule for Cape Girardeau County tallied 14 gristmills and sawmills, the largest being the steam-powered gristmill of Ignatius R. Wathen, which produced $30,000 worth of flour. The largest sawmill belonged to the partnership of Ingram & Mason, producing lumber valued at $22,000. The census listed eight tanneries, the largest operated by William E. McGuire, in which nine employees produced 3,000 sides of leather valued at $7,500. Rounding out the manufacturing were five wood yards, two shoemakers, brick maker Alfred Gann, who produced 400,000 bricks worth $1,600, and stonecutter Newton Richards, whose four employees produced 1,000 feet of marble worth $8,000.

Subsequent manufacturing censuses reflect economic expansion through 1880. The 1860 census shows nearly three times more businesses, including many partnerships. New business categories included four breweries, three blacksmiths, one carriage maker and two waggoneers, two wool carders, two coopers, two tinners and one furniture maker. Other manufactures included 17 millers, seven tanneries, six saddleries, three shoemakers and one brick maker.

By 1870, the manufacturing schedule for Cape Girardeau County ran for 28 pages. The level of detail in the census also expanded. For example, rather than listing the amount of lumber processed in sawmills, the enumerator tallied the amount of different types of wood (oak, poplar, walnut, etc.), and the product types included (boards, joist, etc.). The grand total of manufactures in the county exceeded $1 million in 1870.

The 1880 manufacturing census enumerated businesses in 10 different categories, of which Cape Girardeau County had eight. These included agricultural implements (Special Schedule 1), boots and shoes (3), leather (4), lumber and sawmills (5), brickyards and tile works (6), flour and grist mills (7), cheese, butter, and condensed milk factories (8), and slaughtering and meat packing (9).

The manufacturing schedules provide insight into the business history of the area and the economic expansion of the last half of the 19th century, a time of transition from cottage industries to modern industries, as well as information about the lives of local entrepreneurs. Previously unavailable, the information is now easy to find and use.