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BIOGRAPHIES
 Source:
A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio
- Vol. II -
by G. Frederick Wright
1916
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DAVID S.
TROXEL. Twenty years ago a young
business man of Denver, Colorado, but who had
himself been reared in Ohio, where his family was
established early in the nineteenth century,
invented an improved form of bicycle saddle.
The foot-power bicycle was then at the height of its
popularity; automobiles were in the experimental
stage of manufacture and almost unknown on public
highways; while the motorcycle was still in the
future. Leaving his Denver business Mr.
Troxel came to Elyria and made arrangements for
the manufacture of his saddle. From the first
it was an article that filled a number of
requirements demanded in a perfect saddle, and there
has never been a year since in which the Troxel
saddle has not been increased in efficiency,
durability, appearance and comfort. Out of
this beginning has been evolved the Troxel
Manufacturing Company, makers of bicycle and
motorcycle saddles and tool bags, and the goods of
this now oldest saddle house in America has an
established reputation over the world and have no
superior in strength, style, symmetry and
proportions. It is one of the leading
industries of Elyria, and the plant has kept growing
by additions and improved equipment, and now easily
leads all other concerns of its kind. An
interesting feature of the Troxel business,
and one that shows the substantial character that is
impressed on every single product along with
excellence of material and special care in the
making, is the unique guaranty that all goods are
free from defects in material or workmanship, and
the company states explicitly to its customers that
they expect to and do live up to the guarantee to
the letter.
The president of the Troxel Manufacturing
Company, and the original inventor of its chief
product, has been as public spirited and efficient
as a citizen of Elyria as he has been successful as
a manufacturer. David S. Troxel was
born at the old Troxel homestead near
Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, Mar. 2, 1864.
That old homestead has been in the family since
1826, and has been occupied by three successive
generation of the name. The first of the name
in the state was Peter Troxel, grandfather of
the Elyria manufacturer. Born in Berks County,
Pennsylvania, in 1804, Peter Troxel when a
young man of twenty-one, in 1825, came into Wayne
County, Ohio, and soon afterwards settled on a farm
near Wooster. A portion of the land he secured
from the Government at the cost of $1.25 per acre.
On that farm the father of David S. Troxel
was born in 1833, and spent a long career as a
farmer, with incidental honors paid him by his
fellow citizens in election to local offices.
His death occurred July 25, 1908. His wife,
whose maiden name was Miss Sarah Shaum, was
born near Wooster in 1834, and is now living in
Wayne County at the advanced age of eighty-one.
The early associations and experiences of David S.
Troxel were centered around the old Troxel
farm in Wayne County. He attended district
schools, helped in all forms and departments of the
farm enterprise, but early manifested tendencies and
ambitions for the commercial life. His
preparatory experience in this direction was
obtained as clerk in a country store where he began
work in 1886 and remained one year. Realizing
the need of better training, he then followed that
with a course in a business college, and from Ohio
sought a new field in the West, locating in
Colorado. At Denver he became bookkeeper in a
hardware store, but in 1889 engaged in the hardware
business on his own account. He was the owner
and active manager of this enterprise in Denver for
nine years, and on returning East to manufacture his
bicycle saddle, which he had invented in 1898, he
left the store in charge of his brother, to whom he
finally sold it in 1910. Mr. Troxel is
still owner of property in Denver, but has no active
business interests there. His home was in that
city for ten years.
On bringing his invention to Elyria Mr.
Troxel arranged for its manufacture by The
Garford Manufacturing Company, but being convinced
of its merits and encouraged by its progress in
popularity he soon organized the Troxel
Manufacturing Company, and has since been its
president and manager. This company now
occupies a large four-story building in Elyria and
in order to keep in touch with the trade, now
extended not only throughout the United States but
to all countries where the bicycle and motorcycle
are used, it issues a thirty-five page catalog
descriptive of the various types of saddles, tool
bags and other equipment.
In addition to his position as head of the Troxel
Manufacturing Company, he is a director in the
National Bank of Elyria, is vice president of the
Tucker Woodworking Company at Sidney, Ohio, and
a director and stockholder in a number of other
enterprises at Elyria and elsewhere. He is one
of the active members of the Elyria Chamber of
Commerce.
The people of Elyria remember gratefully Mr. Troxell's
administration as mayor. He was elected to
that office in the fall of 1907, and began the
duties of his two-year term on Jan. 1, 1908.
After an interval of two years he was again called
to the same post in the fall of 1911, beginning his
second term Jan. 1, 1912. He made his
administration efficient and businesslike, strictly
non-partisan, and with a record of many substantial
improvements. During the first term he secured
the erection of two new fire stations, and
inaugurated extensive street paving and sewer
construction.
Mr. Troxel is a republican in politics, is a
member of the Cleveland Athletic Club of Cleveland,
of the Elyria Automobile Club, the Elyria Country
Club, and finds his chief satisfaction in the way of
recreation in the ancient game of golf.
Fraternally he is affiliated with Elyria Lodge No.
456, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; with
King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons;
Marshall Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Elyria Council
Royal & Select Masons; Elyria Commandery of the
Knights Templar; and Al Koran Shrine of Cleveland.
On Feb. 3, 1897, in Ashland County, Ohio, Mr. Troxel
married Miss Ida Brandt, who was born in
Ashland County, a daughter of David and Catherine
(Swartz) Brandt. Her mother is still
living and resides in Jeromesville, Ashland County.
Mr. and Mrs. Troxel have one daughter,
Kathryn Ida. Mr. Troxel
is the owner of three of the best modern apartment
houses in Elyria and has considerable other property
in the city.
Source: A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio -
Vol. II by G. Frederick Wright - Publ. 1916 - Page
560 |
Mr. & Mrs.
W. T. Twining |
W. T. TWINING
Source: A Standard History of
Lorain County, Ohio - Vol. II by G. Frederick Wright
- Publ. 1916 - Page 986 |
NOTES: |
