The Vidette-Messenger Centennial EditionThe 1936 special edition celebrating Porter County's centennial year . . . .
The following article has been transcribed from the August 18, 1936, issue of The Vidette-Messenger, published in Valparaiso, Indiana. This particular special edition focuses on Porter County's centennial celebration and contains a 94-page compendium of Porter County history up to that time.
Return to the index of articles from The Vidette-Messenger's Porter County Centennial special edition.
Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso,
Porter County, Indiana; August 18, 1936; Volume 10, Section 4, Page 24.
Smith-Nuppnau Company Is One of Oldest Firms In County; Dates Back To '68
Few Porter
county business houses can claim as long and as active a part in the actual
building of the community as the lumber yard at the foot of Indiana Avenue in
this city, which has been operated for the past ten years by the firm of Smith-Nuppnau
Company.
In 1868 this yard was established by two prominent pioneer families, Theron C.
and Daniel S. White, brothers, and Hubbard Hunt, under the firm name of White,
Hunt and Company. In those early days, much of their lumber was shipped down
across Lake Michigan from the forests of northern Michigan and Wisconsin, and
unloaded on a pier north of Baileytown, then hauled overland with wagon teams to
Valparaiso.
In 1882 the interests of Mr. Hunt were purchased by James McFetrich, who had
come to Valparaiso from Ohio, a number of year earlier, taught both in the
college and Valparaiso high school, and had married the daughter of Daniel S.
White. For a time, the business continued under the name of White, McFetrich and
Company, but later Mr. McFetrich took over the entire project and operated as
James McFetrich, Lumberman.
Mr. McFetrich, a sturdy Scotch-Irish Presbyterian and a man of highest
integrity, continued the yard until the time of his death in 1912, when the
business was taken over by the McFetrich Lumber and Coal Company, a Company
owned by Abe Lowenstine, and managed by Gus Jones and Harry H. Smith.
Under this management, the yard was enlarged, a planing mill erected, and a
general contracting department added, and they continued until 1921, when the
plant was purchased by Byron Smith, who still remains with the present
operators, and Harry E. Smith and his son, Earl V., under the corporate style of
Smith and Smith Company.
In June, 1926, Harry E. and Earl V. Smith retired from the company and their
holdings were taken over by Charles P. Nuppnau. The name of the company was
changed to Smith-Nuppnau company, the yard and offices were rebuilt and a branch
yard was established at Kouts, Indiana.
Under the present management, the company has grown to a commanding position in
the building industry in the county, and it has to its credit many of the finer
homes of the community, full sets of modern farm buildings on many of the better
farms of the county, and many large industrial buildings including the Indiana
Steel Products Company's main factory, two units of the Continental Diamond
Fibre Company's Valparaiso plant, and a large addition to the McGill
Manufacturing Company's Bearing Plant is now under construction.
While the business history of the firm dates back to 1868, the present operators
likewise come from families who have long been identified with the growth and
development of Porter county. Byron Smith, the present of the company, is a son
of the late Arthur C. Smith, a life-long resident of Valparaiso, and a grandson
of Sylvester W. Smith, who came to Porter county in 1836, when Valparaiso was
still called Portersville.
Charles P. Nuppnau, the secretary-treasurer, is the oldest son of the late Paul
C. Nuppnau, veteran Valparaiso banker, who immigrated to Porter County from
Germany in 1881. After completing school in Valparaiso, Mr. Nuppnau opened the
first store in the new town of Gary, which he operated for twenty-one years, and
which he sold just before coming back to Valparaiso to enter the lumber
business.
Article transcribed by Steven R. Shook