E. L. Graham. The large industries of Coffeyville have brought to that community many men of ability from all parts of the world. One of those to be named in this class of energetic citizenship is E. L. Graham, treasurer and manager of the Acme Foundry and Machine Company. Mr. Graham was the real founder of this business, and is an experienced foundry man, having served his apprenticeship many years ago in Kansas.
A native son of Kansas he was born at Neodesha June 25, 1877. This branch of the Graham family came originally from Scotland and lived for many years in the State of Ohio. His father L. H. Graham was born at Mount Sterling, Ohio, in 1847. He grew up in that state, and in 1871 became a Kansas pioneer, locating at Neodesha, where he followed the cattle and butcher business for a number of years. He left Neodesha in 1884, lived for a time at the old Village of Litchfield, which is no longer in existence, and in 1893 moved to Pittsburg, where he died in 1903. He was an active republican, a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America, and industry and integrity characterized his career throughout. L. H. Graham married Marian A. Knapp, who was born in Ohio in 1855 and is still living at Pittsburg, Kansas. They reared a large family of children: Harry C., who is in the butcher and cattle business at Pittsburg; E. L. Graham; Frank, who died in infancy; Marian, who died unmarried at Pittsburg in 1913; Corresta, wife of Arthur Fletcher, an electrical engineer employed by the Jackson-Walker Coal and Mining Company at Frontenac, Kansas; Taylor and Lemuel, both of whom died in early boyhood; and Ray, who is bookkeeper and cashier for the Acme Foundry and Machine Company at Coffeyville; Ruth and Irma, both of whom live at Pittsburg with their mother, and the latter is a teacher in the public schools in Pittsburg.
The public schools of the old town of Litchfield, Kansas, supplied E. L. Graham with his early education, but left school and books at the age of thirteen and entered upon a practical career, spending three years with his father in the butcher business. After that he was engaged in mining coal up to 1896. Seeking a new trade and a larger field for his abilities, he learned the pattern maker’s trade, and having become proficient, was advanced in 1903 to the position of superintendent of the United Iron Works at Cherryvale, Kansas. Mr. Graham remained in that responsible position until 1913, and in 1914 came to Coffeyville and organized the Acme Foundry and Machine Company.
This is an industry of more than local importance. It does a general foundry and machine business, manufactures iron, brass and aluminum castings, and all kinds of machinery pattern works. The shops are located at the corner of Thirteenth and Beech streets. The executive officers of the company are: C. M. Hodshire, president; E. L. Graham, treasurer and manager; and Ray Graham, brother of E. L., secretary and cashier. Mr. E. L. Graham is also manager of the Coffeyville Salvage Company.
He shows a decided interest in local affairs, is a working member of the Chamber of Commerce, is a republican and is affiliated with Council No. 141 of the United Commercial Travelers at Independence, with Lodge No. 780 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Independence, and Keystone Lodge No. 102 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Coffeyville.
On June 5, 1901, at Pittsburg he married Miss Maude Huff. Her father, now deceased, was a gardener and her mother is still living at Pittsburg. To their marriage have been born four children: Ethan C., born August 3, 1902; Glen, born July 26, 1906; Marie, born August 28, 1909; and Kenneth, born April 25, 1915.
