GEORGE C. TOWLE: An Incomplete Biography

May 5, 2023

Much of this is a work in progress, and the edit function will be put to test, but I’m getting it started so that there is a framework of a story, and a place to vest Towle information within the “New” Forum…

…an incomplete biography because the story will end years before he retires from active employment, but particularly incomplete because it (at present) will not answer the key questions of interest to the collectors association: precisely what was it that induced George Towle’s move to Lancaster, and what acquaintance, associations and arrangements were causal to his efforts there?

Born in State of Maine, the Towle family moved to Massachusettes at some point in the 1880’s. The two brothers who entered the field of electricity, George Carroll Towle and John William Towle, were born respectively 20 Jul 1868 and 20 Jun 1870. The family had some type of connection with Hyde Park MA, where coincidentally or not, a couple of other Towles were listed as also being machinists— I’ve not yet found written record of where George and John boarded at Hyde Park when working in Boston…

first edit/correction: One account states that Gustavus A. Towle of Hartland, Somerset Co. ME moved to Lowell MA roughly 1880.

He may have done that, but the first Directory listing I've located is in Hyde Park MA, and it's an interesting one because it clearly indicates his employment, itself of interest as well...

At this time, George C. is sixteen, going on seventeen years of age.

S.Z. Leslie also hailed from Hartland, that's no coincidence...

George C. Towle’s first patents were for bicycle items, and typewriter improvements, and those subjects align completely with the pursuits of his employer, ambitious Albert Augustus Pope the Bicycle King, a man who possibly inspired Towle to venture into the field of manufacture (for a while)...

first edit/correction: and now we know such inspiration may also have originated closer to home...

at the Pope Manufacturing Co. and The Municipal Signal Co.— the second company, speculatively, a candidate for the brothers’ introduction to electricity… Their formal education, at this moment, is a bit of a mystery.

By 1889 (so, during 1888) George was joined by brother John in the listings.

George alone appears in the Boston Directories of 1890 & 1891;

by that time John has taken a somewhat independent course, as will soon be shown.

George C. Towle married late ’87

and had started his family by the time his brother left Pope, and whether these facts were part of the decision to live in Hyde Park— quite a distance from his workplace— is not yet determined, and is a reason I was casting about for Towles residing in Hyde Park, and for a family connection to influence his choice to live at that distance.

What happened is that John W. Towle obtained other employment, and a future and career, away from the Pope organization. He shows in Mohawk Valley of NY newspaper clippings 1894 & 1895, which state a link with the General Electric Co.

A far better summary of his work history was rendered in his own words, on an application to the Institution of Electrical Engineers…

As you can see, he remained in Europe another decade plus,

and that is where we will leave John W. Towle

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Before going back to George C. Towle and Boston, it should be revealed that he, as well as his brother, received peer recognition:

I’ll have to pick up the thread again, with George moving into the field of Transit……..

Edited May 13, 2023 by Steve Rockwell

May 6, 2023

This next period of time, leading up to his Lancaster days, is the major focus and hope for further discovery…

1896 Lancaster Directory

Besides G.C. Towle, the other players are Hubley of Lancaster, the toymaker, Blickenderfer who was a founder in Lancaster for many years, G.A. Towle, George’s father who by that time was involved in Scale Manufacture in Lowell MA, and James P. Williams of NY, developer of the motors and a very successful agent on behalf of the company…

In 1899 Towle is listed with a residential address,

and as electrician with the Company,

but it seems that he's in a process of being disentangled with the organization, and by the 1900 census his family is back in Lowell MA...

The Towle name still rings on in Lancaster for several years,

but eventually it becomes subsumed in the Stauffer-owned and -controlled company...

Edited May 8, 2023 by Steve Rockwell

May 8, 2023

John Forney Stauffer passed in May of 03 which eventually led to his son Charles Stauffer taking the CEO position and reformation of George C. Towle Mfg. Co. to the Fidelity Electric company later in 03. This would be a heads-up fan motors for the 03 season would have high probability of being tagged under the Towle name. Fan motors for the 04 season would sport the Fidelity Electric Co. name.

May 13, 2023

No supportive documentation turned up for his stay in Upper Michigan…

1 Oct 1905 Syracuse Herald

1907

I don’t know if it can be said to be ironic that Towle spent years in Dayton and Springfield OH, cities with active fanmaking industries, since Towle seems to have never gone back to that sort of manufacture after Lancaster…

In the 1920s he represented and was involved in a variety of ventures, but his involvement in the world of fan production was ended, so Towle’s story can logically be concluded at that point.

Summing up, as that Electric Railway Journal stated so aptly, he became, through his training, a railway man, who took a five year hiatus in manufacturing 1895-1899.....

Edited May 13, 2023 by Steve Rockwell

May 15, 2023

Mr. Rockwell (to the best of my knowledge) and I "so far" cannot connect the dots between a connection with J. P. Williams and George C. Towle 1893+ that eventually led them to the Lancaster, PA. factory at 34 East Chestnut Street and Williams opening sales office in NY . Can you? How about it, Jeff Lumsden?