Relying on the local population growth centered primarily on immigrants from Greece, Austria and Switzerland, Dueber-Hampden increased productivity to meet a significant demand in timepieces. With its total workforce of 2,300 in 1888 and a factory that covered 1,140 feet of frontage, Dueber-Hampden’s output and quality made Canton a vital center for watch manufacturing in the U.S. is just one of those local industries that reflected this general national industrial expansion.
In 1910, Stark County was rated seventeenth in the nation in the value amount of key steel manufacturers. Census Department reported that the nation’s center of manufacturing products would be located only eight mile south and seven miles west of Canton in Sugarcreek, Ohio. The county’s population in the same time span grew from less than 40,000 to over 177,000 with significant increases in and near Alliance, Perry Township and the Massillon areas. Canton’s population, driven by similar national employment opportunities and needs, increased from less than 3,000 in 1850 to over 50,000 in 1920 with 14,000 of those new citizens in a span of only ten years from 1880-1890. The country’s population, in part due to an influx of much needed immigrant labor, rose from just over 23 million in 1850 to over 106 million in 1920. If the country had its Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt the community had Aultman, Belden, Timken and Hoover. Stark County and Canton shared in this expansion. became a world leader in industrial output measurements despite episodic depressions. The Gross National Product (GNP)I increased 300% and the U.S.
history (1850-1916) reflected the extent that a young U.S., after the brutal political, economic, and social chaos of the Civil War, flexed its economic potential. Howard Clock movement #2 reflects the rise, consolidation, and fall of industrialization in Canton and the country itself. When the mechanism was put into working condition, it was displayed on the second floor in the east wing of the Museum. Deal saw to it that the clock works was refurbished and some pieces restored thanks to assistance from both the Timken Company and Ohio Valley Chapter #10 of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. After a deal was negotiated, Gilmore donated the mechanism to the McKinley Museum. Gilmore told Deal – President of the Stark County Historical Center from 1983 to 2000 – that he had been holding on to the Dueber-Hampden Watch Company’s tower clock mechanism that most people believed had been lost if not destroyed after the demolition of the factory around 1963. George Deal’s serendipitous path-crossing with James Gilmore at the Hartville Market in June, 1983 was significant. These objects are chosen by our museum staff. The Library will feature 24 objects throughout 2020 to tell the Story of Stark County.