Skyscraper constructed, but not without incident

This image of the planned Hannibal Trust Company building was published in the Hannibal Morning Journal on June 12, 1909. The image is credited to Gordon G. Grant, a draughtsman in the employ of M.S. Martin, architect. Grant, born in 1886, was the son of Thomas P. and Martha A. Grant, and at the time was living with his parents at 1632 Broadway. The following year, he moved to St. Louis. newspapers.com

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

As Fredrick J. Merchant, a superintendent for the H. Eilenberger Construction Company of Chicago, struggled to keep work on the new five-story Hannibal Trust Company building at Third and Broadway on schedule, he managed a maneuver that totally surprised Hannibal’s downtown populace.

On Oct. 11, 1909, Mr. Merchant literally lit up the night.

The Hannibal Evening Courier-Post explained:

“When the whistle blew last night there was no cessation of labor on the big steel structure being built … at the corner of Third and Broadway. The clang and rage of the greatest industry was heard in and about the massive steel girders, while the illuminating for the night labor was burnished by large electric arcs hung here and there out of the harm of the swift moving twenty odd workmen, who toiled into the wee hours of morning pushing to completion work on the new building.”

Mr. Merchant told a newspaper reporter that while the company in some rare cases had resorted to night construction to push delayed work, that this case in Hannibal was really an innovation in the construction line. “At least it is the first time in Hannibal when a building was pushed upward in the gloaming,” the newspaper reported.

The steel and concrete building under construction was perhaps more in line with new builds along Chicago’s State Street, than typical of Hannibal. The Hannibal Trust Company building, designed by Hannibal architect, Malcolm S. Martin, was ushering in a new age.

When complete, the building would tower over all the other downtown buildings. This was the choice of the Hannibal Trust Company directors.

They told the architect what they wanted, and that’s precisely what he delivered.

Working with steel beams, shipped to Hannibal on rail cars, was a dangerous operation.

Mr. Merchant himself was the first worker to sustain a serious steel-beam related injury.

The Hannibal Evening Courier-Post reported in its Monday, Oct. 25, 1909, edition that Mr. Merchant was caught beneath a falling steel beam.

“Owing to a delay in the arrival of the steel beams the work on the building has been greatly impeded and now that they are here every effort is being made to get them in place as soon as possible. Mr. Merchant was superintending the unloading at the (railroad) car yesterday and attempted to assist the workmen who were lifting a beam when it became too heavy for them and they were forced to drop it.

"The heavy steel caught Mr. Merchant on one leg and arm and while no bones were broken, the muscles and ligaments were severely torn and crushed and his injuries are extremely painful.”

He was taken by ambulance to his boarding house, located at 719 Center Street, where a doctor tended to his injuries.

Another steel-beam related accident occurred not long after.

On Sunday morning, Nov. 14, 1909, a 3,000-pound steel girder, hanging over the top floor, slipped out of its tackle and went crashing down through two floors, to the third floor, which was made of concrete. “Here its flight was stopped only by the fact that a pile of lumber caught the impact of the steel else it is believed it would have penetrated even the cement floor.”

At the time of the accident, Max Gajewski, a steel worker from Centralia, Ill., was standing on the beam.

The Hannibal newspaper reported: “He saved himself only by clinging to the hook on the tackle while the great piece of steel tipped up and squeezed him against the block before plunging downward. It was a narrow and thrilling escape but the steel workers accepted it as a matter of course and continued their work undisturbed.”

Gajewski remained with his chosen profession, later working as a steel worker for the Simmons Construction works at Bloomington, Ill., and at a construction company in Macomb, Ill. By 1920 he was living in Chicago.

Cold snap

In December 1909, weather turned bitter cold, temperatures dropping below the zero mark. Work stopped on Hannibal’s new city hall, under construction on Broadway just one block to the north. But some workers were able to continue on the site of the Hannibal Trust Company building.

The only work done was in the basement, where they kept a roaring fire going for warmth.

"The cold snap has thrown many men out of employment in Hannibal and the pay roll will be considerably diminished Saturday evening,” the Hannibal Morning Journal reported in its Dec. 9, 1909 edition.

And while the editor of the Morning Journal was contemplating the weather and potential pay shortages for Hannibal workers, he also noted:

“The citizens are becoming anxious to know where the YMCA building will be located. The committee having the matter in charge have considered a number of sites, but have not yet made a selection. Some of the property owners seem to value they property too high when they learn that it is wanted.”

Mail chute

In mid December 1909, Hannibal Postmaster T.B. Morris gave his approval for the installation of a mail chute in the Hannibal Trust Company building. Once installed, mail deposited in the chute on any floor would land in a regulation U.S. mail box at the street level, to be collected by carriers.

Carriers would still deliver mail to each floor, but would have the convenience of using the building’s new elevator to access these floors.

H.G. Phillips of Chicago was in town for several days in May 1910, installing the mail chute in the five-story building.

Note: The H. Eilenberger Construction Company of Chicago was located on South Stewart Avenue in Chicago, “six blocks south of State Street.” The president of the company, Herman Eilenberger, died in March 1909, at the age of 62. During his contracting career, he erected several of the buildings for the World’s Columbian Exposition.

The company was continued for a time by his sons. Harry (1882-1947); Robert )1887-1948); and Arnold (1893-1946.)

Next week: acquiring the property for the new Hannibal Trust Company building.

Mary Lou Montgomery retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,”  and “St. Mary’s Avenue District.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com