- Business - Janesville Sesquicentennial
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- Windy John talked much but did little
- Not every story out of Janesville's business history is one
of hard work and success. Witness
- John HAMILTON:
- In the early 1890s, "came another boomer named John
W. HAMILTON," according to a 1908
- history. Under some bonus from the citizens of Janesville,
he purported to bring large factories here from Springfield,
Ohio. Large buildings were erected in different portions of the
city for the Champion Shelf Manufacturing Co., The Family Friend
Publishing Co. and others, all of which faded into nothingness
once the bubble burst.
- "HAMILTON's promises and the kind of fulfillment
of them caused the people of Janesville to fill
- out the middle letter of his name, and he is still remembered
as John Windy HAMILTON."
- Old Windy John was preceded in the development business by
George and Sarah
- CARRINGTON who platted several new additions starting
in 1889.
- "The hard times of 1893 and later caused the CARRINGTONs
to fall in carrying out and
- maturing their plans, and they were finally compelled to
close their operations in Janesville. Most of their additions,
however, have continued to grow, showing that there was need
for such a scheme."
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