D.S. Shellabarger

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D.S. Shellabarger, or David Sterritt Shellabarger Jr. (July 11, 1837- January 2, 1913), was an American capitalist, banker, and Republican politician from Illinois^[1][2][3].

He was identified with banking, streetcar, coal, elevator and milling enterprises. In 1856, he incorporated Shellabarger Milling Co.^[4]. In 1900 it was the largest corn mill in the world and one of the largest wheat flour mills in the country^[5][6]. The Shellabarger family was one of the oldest milling families in the history of the United States^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]}.

Milling and Elevator Career[edit]

Sensing opportunity in the west, Shellabarger arrived in Decatur in 1856 with a loan from his father, a farmer and miller from Pennsylvania^[13]. He worked in a Decatur lumberyard to save enough money to buy a one-third interest in Henkle, Shellabarger and Co.. In 1859, Shellabarger sold his interest and used the proceeds to buy The Great Western Mill, and subsequently changed the name to Shellabarger Mill^[14]. In 1885, he incorporated the business as the Shellabarger Mill & Elevator Co. for $150,000, giving each of his three sons a one-sixth interest in the capital stock.

Shellabarger was progressive^[15] and quick to adopt new inventions with his mills for both increased productivity and safety for his employees^[16][17][18]. Setting a standard for integrity, his policy was to buy grain exclusively from the Midwest farmers who raised the produce^[19]. Furthermore, he was the first in Illinois to adopt the new roller system and the new GEO T Smith purifiers^[20][21][22].

As more farmland opened in the west, Shellabarger began buying elevators and mills across Illinois, Nebraska, and Kansas^[23][24][25]. He also began to gradually decrease the milling of wheat to corn^[26][27]. By 1901, his practices produced both large milling capacities and elevator capacity for 250,000 bushels of grain and warehouses capable of storing 10,000 barrels of flour and corn products; an annual business of $2,000,000^[28].

In 1902, Shellabarger sold his Decatur mill property to a new corporate trust, the American Hominy Co., formed by Shellabarger, Cerealine, and eight other western mills with a capital stock of $3,750,000. Shellabarger and his sons retained a majority of shares in American Hominy Co.^[29], and used the proceeds of the Decatur mill sale to continue building its extensive line of elevators; creating Shellabarger Elevator Co. and establishing Shellabarger Grain Products Co. In 1903, Shellabarger and his sons sold their capital stock in American Hominy Co. to solely focus on Shellabarger Elevator Co. and Shellabarger Grain Products Co. By 1910, Shellabarger Elevator Co. owned thirty-five elevators in the country, bringing their total storage capacity to 1,250,000 bushels; more than half of which was fireproof^[30]. Their product was known as Shellabarger's Big "S"^[31][32]. Due to a mixture of pests (chinch bugs^[33]) and continued Prohibition^[34], Shellabarger Grain Products Co., decided to switch entirely from grain and corn milling to soya flour and in 1930 held the first patent on soybean flour known by the trade name “Diataste”^[35]. This contributed to the foundation for Decatur's moniker "soybean capital of the world"^{[36][37][38][39]}. In 1938, his son W. L Shellabarger sold Shellabarger Grain Product Co. and all its patents to Spencer Kellogg^[40].

Streetcar and coal businesses[edit]

Shellabarger was a pioneer in the streetcar industry, co-founding the first electric streetcar line in Illinois^[41]. In 1883, Shellabarger as President incorporated the Citizens Street Railway Company with William L. Ferguson and Arthur E. Kinney^[42]. After Frank E. Snow, a capitalist from Detroit, signaled his intention to build an electric street car line in Decatur, Citizens decided it would electrify its line first in 1889. In 1891, the company consolidated into the City Electric Railway Company^[43], which erected Decatur’s first transfer house on Lincoln Square as a center for transferring passengers in 1892. That building was then replaced with the current Transfer House built in 1895. Eventually the company sold at auction to Shellabarger, representing a committee of bondholders^[44]. A new company was organized by Shellabarger taking the name of The Decatur Traction and Electric Company^[45][46]. In 1903, Shellabarger sold the railway company to the W.B McKinley syndicate^[47], Illinois Terminal Railroad.

Shellabarger was also President of the Manufacturers and Consumers Coal Company of Decatur^[48].

Banking[edit]

Since 1902, Shellabarger acted as President and Director of the Board of the National Bank of Decatur^[49][50]. At the time of his death in 1913, he was the largest individual stockholder^[51].

Politics and civics[edit]

Aside from his business endeavours, Shellabarger took an interest in political and civic matters. He was dedicated to the Republican Party and when of voting age, his first vote for President was for Abraham Lincoln in 1860^[52]. He acted as alderman in 1869, 1870, and 1871^[53]. In 1872 he served as mayor of Decatur, creating the first water works for the city^[54]. For two terms in 1880 and 1881 he was elected to represent the Decatur township on the board of supervisors and for fifteen years was member and President of the board of education^[55].

Personal life and death[edit]

Shellabarger was born in Carlisle Pennsylvania, where his family had been in the milling business in America since 1776^[56]. His great grandfather Hans Martin Schellenberg emigrated from Switzerland to the British colonies in America in 1763 and set up the Shellabarger Mill in Pennsylvania^[57][58]. Mountain Eschnerberg, "Echoing Mountain", was named for the Schellenberg family^[59][60]. In 1862, he married Anna E. Krone, daughter of David Krone the proprietor of Macon House (Revere House) visited by Abraham Lincoln, Judge David Davis, Leonard Swett and other notable members of law^{[61][62][63][64]}. Shellabarger died in Red Bluffs California in 1913.

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