Chronicles of the Commercial Visible, Part VI of VI

Life After the Commercial Visible

In Parts I - V of Chronicles of the Commercial Visible we learned all about the life of the beautiful Commercial Visible typewriter, the life of her brother machine, the Index Visible typewriter, explored the lives of her multiple directors, and traced her various associated manufacturing companies and sales offices. As the title suggests, in Part VI, we will close out the story by discovering what became of Fiske and Peck after the Commercial Visible typewriter stopped being manufactured, and as a bonus, will peek into the life of the next generation of the Hallock family.

Fiske & Peck Realty

Continuing from 1912, the year that Alex Fiske stopped being associated with the Typewriter Clearing House Company, we find that Fiske and Peck had entered into some financial difficulties. Backtracking to 1906, the same year that Fiske and Peck were found to be directors of the Mercantile Manufacturing Company, and the same year multiple changes were made in the organization of the companies associated with the Commercial Visible, they had decided to form yet another business, diversifying their interests beyond typewriters: Fiske & Peck Realty. This was a real estate, building contracting, coal dealer, and insurance company located at 999 South Orange avenue, Newark, NJ, later incorporated in New Jersey in 1910 by Carlton Peck, Alex Fiske, and Alex’s wife, Jennie Fiske (“Sue to Recover”, 1913; Price & Lee, 1908; “In the World”, 1910).

Fast-forward again to 1912, the men had filed for voluntary bankruptcy for Fiske & Peck Realty while at least 50 mechanics that they had employed were asking for money (“Trustee in Bankruptcy”, 1912). The bankruptcy was granted September 12, 1912 (“Legal Notices”, 1912). Given the timing, it seems possible that there could have been a trade deal with Fiske stepping down as director of the Typewriter Clearing House Company that may have assisted with his financial troubles, but I have no evidence to corroborate this hypothesis. The next year, Jennie, who had been willed land by her father and who had loaned money to the company, was sued over the land the company paid back to her in apparent repayment (“Sue to Recover”, 1913). Three years later, The Mechanics Building and Loan Association filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the Fiskes who owned the property, and the Pecks who were the trustees of the mortgage (“Legal Notices”, 1915).

Fiske Exports Rebuilt Typewriters

Trade Typewriter Rebuilding Company

Meanwhile, in 1914, World War I broke out in Europe, and the US government started purchasing typewriters, old and new, to support the war efforts. This limited the overall supply on the market, and drove up prices (Fiske, 1918). During that time, Alex Fiske had become Secretary and Manager of the Trade Typewriter Rebuilding Co., Inc., of New York, and continued to build the rebuilt typewriter business. At the close of war, Typewriter Topics published an article that Fiske wrote, stating: “Mr. Fiske is a rebuilt typewriter man of considerable prominence and experience, having enjoyed an enviable success with the distribution of his wares in foreign markets.” (Fiske, 1918, p. 20). In the article, Fiske explains that the rebuilt typewriter industry had picked up during the last year of the war. He explained how it works: 

The sales methods of typewriter manufacturers are very similar, one with the other, and have long been fixed in one particular respect, which is that a large percentage of the sales of new machines arise from showing an already existing user the benefit of putting in a later model, so that he will get more and better work and more variety of scope of work. Right here in this method of selling the new machines starts the story of the rebuilt typewriter. This method of selling results in immense numbers of machines coming out of the hands of the first user, to be redistributed to a second or third buyer, but this process of exchanging takes place nearly altogether in the United States while the demand for these machines, when rebuilt, is from all parts of the world as well as domestic. It required only one further fact to place these once-used machines as a permanent and important feature of the typewriter world, certainly exceeding in annual numbers the output of the largest manufacturer of typewriters, and this is the fact that they can be and are reconstructed and refinished in such perfection that they perform all their original functions, have an appearance rivaling new and a durability practically as great as the new product. (Fiske, 1918, p. 20)

To compare with a modern example, we toss out our usable iPhones in search of the newest model. In the rebuilt model, these iPhones would go to a company that cleans them up to like-new condition. The cleaned-up iPhone is then re-sold in either the US, or more often, in foreign markets. Fiske goes on to mention that the war drove new typewriter manufacturers to stop selling as the demand for war times rose, which increased demand for rebuilt machines; however, the used typewriter supply also dropped since people were not giving up their machines for new models. This drove up prices all around. Fiske argued that governmental demand should fall again so that new typewriters could go back into normal supply channels, and should release the typewriters used during the war efforts to replenish supply for the rebuilt market (Fiske, 1918).

The Purvin Typewriter Exchange

A couple of years later, The Purvin Typewriter Exchange of 816 Broadway, New York, requested that Fiske become their new sales manager (Johnson, 1921). The business had decided to go into the export market for rebuilt typewriters and had purchased and equipped a factory, and hired new mechanics. In May 1920, the company announced its intention to incorporate the business, naming Alex M. Fiske president and William Purvin as treasurer (“Purvin Exchange”, 1920). This company went bankrupt in 1922 (“Purvin Typewriter Exchange, 1922).

Lincoln Typewriter Company

Two years later, on May 29, 1922, Alex M. Fiske was named General Manager of the Lincoln Typewriter Company of New York (Best, 1922). This was yet another company handling rebuilt typewriters, and in this case, Fiske was brought in specifically to handle the international branch of the company. But that didn’t last long.

Rebuilt Typewriters by Alex

In December of the same year, an announcement was issued that Mr. Fiske was going into business for himself at 366 Broadway, New York (“Mr. Fiske”, 1922). He represented himself as having been in the business for 20 years. This means that he considered his beginnings to have been in 1902, the same year that William Bell Baldwin passed away, and that Fiske and Peck took over the Commercial Visible typewriter empire. Since we have evidence that Fiske was in typewriters earlier than 1902, it is reasonable to assume that he meant the rebuilt typewriter industry specifically, suggesting that when Baldwin passed away, that may have been when the company moved away from manufacturing and towards rebuilt typewriters.

In this new business, Fiske decided to focus exclusively on only one typewriter. Which was that, you may ask? Well, the Commercial Visible had run her course; however, the man who invented that typewriter had gone on to invent one of the most iconic typewriters of the 20th century. That’s right, the focus was to be exclusively on rebuilt Underwood typewriters. This would have lowered both typewriter and spare part inventory. It seems that Fiske also sold spare parts directly, perhaps to increase his purchasing power. A directory in Office Appliances shows that in 1924 he was still located at 366 Broadway, and it seems he had expanded a little since he was listed as the “distributor of the typewriter and adding machine type manufactured in England by Gordon Webb & Company, Ltd.” (Johnson, 1924). 

Unsurprisingly, it seems that his business ventures took him all over Europe. Fiske’s 1924 passport application shows that he was expecting to travel to England, France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Belgium, and Spain by ship, “for the following purpose: Commercial Business for myself” (US Passport Applications, 1924). It is possible that this was one of the last ventures because, unfortunately, on August 6, 1928, his wife, Jennie Fiske, passed away (NY City, 1928). After that point, I was unable to find further records on Alexander M. Fiske, suggesting that he faded out of the typewriter world.

Part of the 1924 US Passport Application for Alexander M. Fiske showing his intended travel plans.

Lester B. Stroud

So, what of Carlton Cornelius Washington Peck? While Carlton seems to have temporarily disappeared from the public eye around 1912, the year of the voluntary bankruptcy, his extended family had not. Back again to 1906, in the same directory where we found the Mercantile Manufacturing Company, we also found the future son-in-law of Peck's brother-in-law, Hallock, i.e., Peck’s niece’s husband-to-be, Lester B. Stroud, working for the Standard Typewriter Exchange with Peter E. Walker at 231 Broadway (Trow Directory, 1906, p. 689). 

Standard Typewriter Exchange was primarily a business to “repair, sell and exchange typewriters” at a lower cost to customers than the newer typewriters off the manufacturing floor (“Typewriting”, 1905). In 1904, Walker had been listed by himself with the Standard Typewriter Exchange at 231 Broadway (Trow Directory, 1904, p. 577), indicating that Stroud had come on sometime between 1904 and 1906. It’s possible that Walker had been looking for a new partner. His former partner, J. A. Larson, had been killed by a train in 1903 (“Larson”, 1903). Stroud and Walker worked together from around 1906 through 1911, first at 231 Broadway, then in 1908, at 23 Park row (Trow Directory, 1907, p. 741; Trow Directory, 1908, p. 776; Trow Directory, 1909, p. 740; Trow Directory, 1910, p. 780; Trow Directory, 1911, p. 847). Around the same time, Grace Amelia Hallock was working in machinery while her father, Walter S. Hallock, was working in typewriter manufacturing (NJ Census, 1905), and her Uncle, Carlton Peck, was going through the bankruptcy of Visible Typewriters Company. Grace and Lester were married in 1909 (‘Grace Amelia Hallock’, 1909), during the early years of the Typewriter Clearing House Company and Fiske & Peck realty. Three years later, we find Stroud listed with the Standard Typewriter Exchange, and a second company, Equitable Typewriter Company, both located at 23 Park row, (Trow Directory, 1912, p. 261). It seems that Stroud and Walker had parted ways since Walker was not listed. By 1915, Standard Typewriter Exchange had moved to 31 Park row, and there was no mention of the Equitable Typewriter Co. (Polk, 1915, p. 980).

During this time, Lester and Grace had three children: Grace in 1910, Lincoln in 1912, and Ruth in 1914 (Stroud Family Tree, n.d.). Perhaps desiring a different kind of life for their family, or perhaps with the end of World War I, they sought a change in pace. Around 1918, the couple decided to re-establish themselves in Lebanon, New Jersey (“Dies in Hospital”, 1940; “Dead Unexpectedly”, 1938). The next year, the only Lester B. Stroud listed in the New York directory was associated with Factory Outlet Co. at 13 Park row (Polk, 1919, p. 369). Sadly, Grace’s father, inventor Walter S. Hallock, passed away in 1921, followed in 1922 by his wife, Grace Adela Peck Hallock, the sister of inventor and entrepreneur Carlton C. W. Peck (Mindy, 2008). These two events may have been the trigger for Lester to completely turn away from the life of the manufacturing industry. Starting sometime between 1922 and 1925, Lester and Grace owned and operated a farm resort called Havalook Farm, located in Lebanon, New Jersey, about 50 miles to the west of Rutherford (“Boarder wanted”, 1922; “New Jersey Inland”, 1925). The resort was advertised as being a “real wild mountain farm” with a “pond”, “good eats”, and a place to pitch a tent if desired (“Only 50 miles”, 1926). They had some trouble with the locals, advertising in 1928 a reward to be offered for any information on a person who was tearing down the resort’s road signs (“News Notes”, 1928), but it seems that business was good, or at least satisfying. Lester and Grace operated the resort until Lester’s unexpected passing in 1938 (“Dead Unexpectedly”, 1938), which was followed by Grace’s decision to sell the farm (“Lebanon News Briefs”, 1939) and move in with her daughter’s family. Sadly, about two years later, Grace fell ill and also passed away (“Dies in Hospital, 1940).

Peck After the Commercial Visible

Around the time that Grace and Lester were establishing Havalook Farm, Carlton C. W. Peck, his wife Carrie, and their then 16 year old son Elwood, appear back in the public record. They had moved to 33 10th St., Providence, RI, and were living there on the day of the Rhode Island Census, April 18, 1925 (RI Census, 1925). The next year, Carlton Peck was found heading the Franklin Oil Burner Company at the same address of the family home (“Markets”, 1926). Other than this short blurb, we don’t hear about Carlton C. W. Peck until May 15, 1937, when we discover that he passed away from arteriosclerosis (RI Vital Records, 1937). On the death record, he is listed as a Salesman for Chamberlin Metal Weather Strip. The record lists him as last having worked in 1936, with “Total Time spent in this occupation” as 45 years (RI Vital Records, 1937). This means that, since 1892, through the various enterprises, inventions, and business dealings, he had considered himself a Salesman at the core. To put this into context, 1892 was one year after a change of management occurred in the engraving company where he and his brother worked, which corresponded with a change in the company’s name to The Meriden Gravure Company, and two years before the brothers were announced as having moved to New York. The fact that he was working into his 70s and seemed to have financial struggles in the early 1910s suggests that the family likely continued to struggle with financial issues through their remaining years, or on a more positive hypothesis, that he simply loved his job. The life of an inventor and salesman was hard at the turn of the century. Entrepreneurs took a chance to make a living for themselves and their families with the excitement and pains that came with throwing that set of dice.

Summary

Working on this article reminded me that no machine stands on its own. Behind every typewriter stands a vast web of interconnected businesses, deals, inventors trying to put their creativity on the market, men trying to make a living, and capitalists trying to take advantage of the opportunities thrown their way. And, as much as we want to make the invention the center of the story, it is almost always just a stepping stone on the path of someone’s life. The Commercial Visible typewriter was no different. The intention of this article was to capture the life history of that dainty machine, but in trying to unravel its history, we found an intricate web of businesses, entrepreneurs, and human invention. From its beginnings on the drawing board of Richard W. Uhlig, one of the great inventors in the typewriter world, to its first sales as the Fountain in the vast halls of Siegel-Cooper & Company, to being a spotlight, and then an advertising tool for the various beginnings and endings of retail and agent outlets, this machine played a part in the dealings at the turn-of-the-century, but never on its own. We discovered the machine’s short-lived partner in crime, the Index Visible typewriter, and learned of the creative attachments which turned the typewriter into an all-around office machine. And at the heart of this story were the capitalists and inventors who brought this machine to life, improved its design, and sold it into the hands of the American public. Each lived lives of their own, bringing their families into their dealings, and at least one grew an empire beyond new manufacture into an early form of recycling. Although perhaps not the center of attention in its immediate environment, it will always be a fixture in history, contributing to this inventive world, and will always capture the hearts of those who come across the beautiful Commercial Visible typewriter.

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References

Due to the length of the reference list for this six part series, it has been posted separately. Please see the article titled "Chronicles of the Commercial Visible, References" for a complete list of all sources you will encounter in the text, and from which the pictures were pulled.