Niles Iron Works
In 1865 the project of building a rolling mill in Niles was conceived by William Davis, George Harris and James Harris. They were joined by Corydon Beans and Thomas Jose and on the 10th of August the works were completed and set in operation. After the company had been organized, A.M. Blackford and subsequently James Russell became members of it. Business was carried on under the firm name of Harris, Davis & Company.

The mill cost $50,000. The works first consisted of three boiling furnaces, three heating furnaces, one sheet mill and one ten-inch train of rolls. While under management of this firm, the capacity of the works was considerably enlarged. The product was six tons of sheet iron, or sixteen tons of sheet and bar iron per day. In 1870 Mr. Davis disposed of his interest and the firm became Harris, Blackford & Company. This firm failed and made an assignment. The works then came into the hands of C.H. Andrew & Company, who rebuilt and enlarged the mill in 1872. The works have since been run by the Niles Iron Company, producing bar, sheet, rod, skelp and band iron, the annual capacity being twelve thousand net tons. L.G. Andrews is president of this company and L.E. Cochran secretary. The puddling department has been removed to Youngstown, and we understand that the rest of the remainder of the works will follow.

L: Photo of the nails manufactured at the Falcon Nail Company.
Also Blaine & Logan imprimatur.

Mr. C. Easthope, who owned this house on Vienna Ave. was Superintenent of the Ward Plant of the Falcon Iron & Nail Co.

The R.G. Sykes Co. used this picture of the house in their 1898 catalog as an example of their work. It was torn down and a commerical building was erected in its place.

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History of the John Key Wilson Home.
Fraternal Order of Eagles - NILES #1476 was established as a not-for-profit organization in 1898 in the United States of America. In 1998, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Aerie #1476 located on South Main Street celebrated their 100th anniversary in Niles, Ohio.

The house of John Key Wilson. Mr. Wilson resided in the home at 316 South Main Street in 1874. He was born in Scotland and later moved to Niles, Ohio. He married Sarah Porter and had one daughter, Alice Wilson who was born in 1878. Mr. Wilson died in 1888.

In September 1919, the house was sold to the Eagles, #1476 and an addition was added on to the back of the house consisting of large ballroom upstairs and large social quarters downstairs.

This photograph with the large upper and lower porches and back additions shows the new Eagles Building, ca 1919.

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William Edwin Harris of 1022 Robbins Avenue died after a brief illness which he had been suffering for the past two weeks. He was a native of England and was born May 22, 1835 in Worcestershire son of William and Elizabeth) Smith) Harris. He was one of the most prominent citizens in this city, and a legion of friends will mourn his death. He has been a resident of this city (Niles) for the past twenty years coming here from St. Louis to superintend the erection of the Falcon Sheet and Tinplate Company’s plant of which he was general manager until purchased by the American Tinplate Company.

Mr. Harris entered the rolling mill at the age of 14 and at 20 was an expert iron and steel roller. At the request of Phillips & Jordan of Covington, Kentucky, he came to this country and was in their employ, from where he entered the services of the Globe Iron and Steel Company, and from there to Newport, Kentucky. At the latter place he remained in the employ of Alexander Swift until offered the management of a large mill in Cincinnati, where he worked for six years. He next went to Chicago where he built a mill and became third owner. It was at that place where he was considering his retirement from active business when the great fire wiped out his holdings to the extent of $60,000, compelling him to start anew.

He built the Falcon Iron and Tinplate company in Niles where the best tinplate in America was rolled during Mr. Harris’ term of management. He made this city the first place in America where tinplate was successfully made on a large scale.

He was the husband of Emma Stuart Harris, father of Agnes Easthope. Besides the widow, Emma Stuart Harris, he leaves one sister, Mrs. Sarah Clark of New Castle and the following children: Mrs. Agnes Easthope of Chicago, Mrs. Abraham Cooper of Niles, Albert of Chicago and John of Paris, France. He was the grandfather of Robert and Colette Harris and great-grandfather of Kathy Harris and Doris Berteau.

Wlliam Edwin Harris, the popular superintendent of the Falcon and Russia mills in Niles, Ohio, was born in Staffordshire, England, July 10, 1848, a son of George Harris, also a native of Great Britain. His father emigrated in 1856 and located in Cincinnati, Ohio; there he remained for a year but was not thoroughly satisfied with his new surroundings and so returned to England. He realized the advantages offered in the United States and returned in 1862 and settled in Niles, Ohio.

During his first three years in Niles, he was employed by the James Ward Company and then became a member of the firm of Harris, Davis & Company who built a mill which they operated until 1871. Mr. Harris then severed his connection with the company. He settled in Cleveland and entered the employ of the Britton Iron & Steel Works where he remained until his death in 1884, at the age of fifty-six years.

His son, Frederick R. Harris, at the age of fifteen years began his career in the business world in a rolling mill in Niles, Ohio; at the age of eighteen years he became an expert roller, and then entered the shipping department as clerk; two years later he was given the position of bookkeeper in the office of Harris, Blackford & Company, which he held until the failure of this firm, when, going to Youngstown, he took charge of the business of Homer, Hamilton & Company. In 1879 he assumed the duties of superintendent of the Youngstown Rolling Mill Company, a position he held for four years.

He came to Niles in 1887 and took charge of the Russia mill; two years later he assumed the duties of superintendent of the Falcon mill and now has under his management both plants.