The Bechtel Tannery

The Bechtel Tannery. A Major Part of Newport's Industrial Age. , On this site from 1871 to 1931 the Bechtel Tannery operated a large industrial complex that produce leather sold throughout the United States and Europe. The leather received numerous industry awards for high quality including a medal at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair., Founder John A. Bechtel was a native of Reading, Pennsylvania. The large complex consisted of two large stone buildings. One building, 225 feet by 55 feet, had a tall smoke stack. Additionally, three large bark-sheds, each 200 by 35 feet, were nestled against a railroad siding. The bark was boiled to produce the liquid used for tanning the hides. For decades the tannery employed up to 50 persons and was a major industry of the community until a changing economy forced its closing in the Great Depression., John A. Bechtel died in 1875. His son Harry H. Bechtel continued the business but sold the tannery in 1893 to the Elk Tanning Co., a division of the American Oak Leather Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio. At his death in 1914 Harry Bechtel was an officer of the parent company living in Ohio. Beginning in 1893, Horace Beard, a grandson of John A. Bechtel and nephew of Harry Bechtel, served as superintendent of the Elk Tanning Company. Later he supervised a number of tanneries before his early death in 1911., In 1931 the plant closed due to the collapse of the leather market. In 1940 the tannery was acquired by the Newport Union School District which deeded the property to the Borough in 1944 to establish the Veteran's Park. Many of the buildings were removed., After closing, the much reduced complex was rented to Jack F. Bentzel who, with six employees, stored and processed animal hides. A major fire in 1948 destroyed the remaining buildings. Only a few pieces of concrete from the tannery stand as a memorial to Newport's once thriving heavy industry., [Captions:] , Tannery executive Horace Beard (1859-1911), his wife Katherine Howe (1860-1938) and their daughter Louise (1894-1936) are pictured in 1898. In 1938, Katherine H. Beard bequeathed the family home at 159 N. 2nd Street for a museum and community room as a memorial to her daughter., The offices faced Front Street and the Pennsylvania Canal, which are to the left of this 19th century photograph., In the lower right corner, a PRR locomotive on the original 3rd St. route, passes by the tannery. Note the bark sheds in the foreground. In 1905 the canal was filled in by the PRR and the tracks were moved to Front St. along the Juniata River., The finished product: Leather