Shamokin Iron Works

The Shamokin Iron Works, John Mullen & Co Proprietor
Corner Franklin and Independence Sts, Shamokin, Northumberland County Pa

SHAMOKIN IRON WORKS.

These works were started in 1838, when the railroad was extended to Shamokin.

The machine-shop and car-shop were built by the Danville and Pottsville Railroad Company, for the use of their road. The foundry was erected by John C. Boyd and Ziba Bird, for the purpose of making stoves and hollowware. The power was derived from the enginc in the machine-shop.

In 1851, Stcphen Bittenbender purchased the foundry, and in 1855, the machine-shop and. car-shop. He carried on business hcre about sixteen yea'rs, turning out an immense amount of work, and keeping in employ a large number of men. In 1867, he leased the works to Crnikshank & Bro~, practical mechanics, who carried on business for some time.

In September, 1870, Cruikshank & Bro. disposed of their lease to :Messrs. Mullen & Hufman, of Port Carbon, two most excellent mechanics. Mr. John Mullerl had been foundry boss, and Mr. David Hufman boss machinist of the Franklin Iron 'Vorks.

In the early part of 1871, this firm built the first steam-engine that was -constructed at Shamokin. This fact attracted quite a considerable attention, and a large number of persons visited the shops to witness it. It was a twenty-horse-power engine, used to propel a fan at the Henry Clay Colliery. It worked to perfection, and proved the builders to be master workmen. It was extensively noticed by the local papers, and asserted as the second engine built in Northumberland County.

-Everts & Stewart's History Of Northumberland County

=============

JOHN MULLEN, head of the firm  of John Mullen & Son, manufacturers of engines and machinery, at Shamokin, Pa., is one of the most substantial, enterprising and public-spirited citizens of that city. He is another of the citizens of Northumberland County who have worked their way up unaided from comparative obscurity. Possessing unbounded energy and being a practical machinist, Mr. Mullen has placed himself in the first rank of the representative men of the county, and is to-day interested in several of the largest and principal industries and corporations of Shamokin.

Residence Of John Mullen

  Our subject was born February 27, 1838, in Port Carbon, Schuylkill County, Pa., and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Monguey) Mullen, who came from Ireland to this country in 1831 and settled in Port Carbon. Circumstances made it necessary for our subject to begin to earn a living early in his youth, and at the age of ten years he entered the shops of T. H. Winterstein at Port Carbon and learned
his trade as a machinist, remaining in the shop until he was twenty-five years old. During this period young Mullen supplemented his hard work every day by attending night schools and studying at home those things which were of the best advantage to him in preparing himself to be something besides an employee. When he reached the age of twenty-five years he was an expert machinist and mechanical engineer, and the ability which he acquired and which is due to his study and his diligence in mastering details has since been admirably demonstrated in the character of work done by the firms of which he has been a member, and the large business which he has built up. Leaving Mr. Winterstein, Mr. Mullen took an interest in the firm of Robert Allison & Co., general machinists and manufacturers of machinery. Two months after he joined the firm its shops in Port Carbon were destroyed by fire, and our subject lost the hard-earned savings which he had invested. The shops were subsequently rebuilt by Allison & Bannan and Mr. Mullen was installed as foreman, holding the position until 1870, when he removed to Shamokin, formed a copartnership with David Huffman, and the firm of Mullen & Huffman leased and conducted the Shamokin Iron Works, a business which was started in 1838 by the late S.
Bittenbender. In 1876, on the death of Mr. Huffman, his interest was purchased by his copartners and the business continued by Messrs. Mullen and Bittenbender, under the firm name of John Mullen & Co. In 1880 Mr. Bittenbender retired from the firm, Mr. Mullen buying his interest, and the business was continued by Mr. Mullen until 1889, when he admitted his eldest son, Thomas, the firm becoming
John Mullen & Son, as it is to-day. The junior member of the firm is a practical master machinist and a man of marked executive ability, energy and sound judgment. The extensive plant of the firm contains the most modern machinery and appliances, and includes a foundry 50 by 80 feet in dimensions, a machine-shop 40 by 100 feet, and a boiler-shop 30 by 50 feet, the whole constituting what is declared to be the finest plant in Northumberland County for the manufacture of high-class engines, boilers, general and special machinery. The firm has built many of the large stationary engines in use at coal mines in Pennsylvania, also many engines for mills and factories; also is the sole manufacturer of Allison's cataract steam pump, having the largest capacity for heavy mine work. This pump
is said to be the most perfect in action and ease of any in the world when fitted with the isochronal valve movement. The firm employs upwards of one hundred men in its works.


  When the First National Bank of Shamokin was organized, in 1883, Mr. Mullen was one of its charter members, and he has been its president since 1889. He is also treasurer of the Edison Electric Light Co., which office he has held since the organization of the corporation. He was one of the prime movers in forming the company, which was the first company furnishing incandescent electric lights organized outside of New York City. It is notable, too, that the church of which Mr. Mullen is a faithful and active member, St. Edward's Roman Catholic Church of Shamokin, was the first church in the United States to be lighted with the incandescent light. Our subject is vice-president of the Shamokin Gas Co.; a
trustee of the Vega Silk Co.; treasurer of the Shamokin Arc Light Co.; president of the Shamokin Coal & Coke Co., which is mining 15,000 tons of coal every month, has 150 coke ovens, producing 1,000 tons of coke per month, has 1,350 acres of coal lands under lease and employs 300 hands; president of the Shamokin Powder Co.; a charter member of the Shamokin Steam Heating Co.; a director in
the Shamokin Manufacturing Co.; vice-president of the Shamokin Building & Loan Association; a stockholder in the West Ward Building & Loan Association; and a member of the Home Building & Loan Association.


  A veteran of the Rebellion, Mr. Mullen is a leading member of Lincoln Post, G. A. R. He served three months in the 9th Reg., Pa., Vol. Inf. The Post some time ago erected a fine monument in Shamokin commemorating the deeds of the soldiers and sailors and the raising of the fund to erect it, amounting to several thousand dollars, was most energetically and successfully directed by our subject, who was treasurer of the committee which had the matter in charge. Our subject is a Republican and was a member of the borough council in 1884 and 1885.


  Miss Mary B. O'Brien, now deceased, of Herkimer County, N. Y., was united to Mr. Mullen in marriage September 3, 1861. Ten children were the fruit of the happy union, as follows: Thomas J., who is his father's copartner and mainstay in the business of which our subject is the head; Mary B., who was the wife of Cornelius J. McCarthy of Shenandoah, Pa., and is deceased; William A., superintendent of the Shamokin Powder Co.; and Nellie E., Clara G., Edward F., Charles R., Lettie A.; and Joseph and John, who died in infancy.

Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District Published by Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899)