ompany, of Conshohocken, and the Fuller Company which constructed and shipped pulverizing machinery to all parts of the world. He was reputed to be a multi-millionaire. The title of ‘colonel’ was bestowed on Mr. Fuller through his appointment to the Pennsylvania Guard Staff by former Governor Tener. He was a prominent member of the Mayflower society. His ancestor [sic] being the Dr. Fuller who served as physician to the pilgrims on the Mayflower’s historic voyage to America. Thoroughbred Arabian and Persian horses and prize winning Jersey cattle were hobbies of Colonel Fuller. He kept many prize winners on his Willow Brook farm near Catasauqua.
Despite the joy experienced when his son James, III was born, life was not all roses and sunshine for James W. Fuller, Jr. Business operations became increasingly difficult due to the Panic of 1873, which hampered profit generation efforts by Fuller and his partners, who dropped out as the stagnation turned into an economic depression across North America and in Europe. Before a decade had passed, Fuller and McKee were the only partners left. Reinvesting whatever profits they could eke out, they added machinery and expanded their land holdings until their fortunes finally changed.
McKee, Fuller added production capacity by purchasing Frederick and Beck, an idle car plant, and then expanded its workforce to 1,500, relaunched the closed Davies Foundry, and added a forge. In 1876, the firm garnered even greater recognition when its exhibit at the Chicago World’s Fair was given one of that fair’s top awards. In 1880, they secured a contract with the Erie Railroad to modernize the railroad’s fleet with eight-wheeled cars.
Fuller also became active in the development of Ferndale during the 1870s, working to turn it into a vibrant company town for his workers. On 13 February 1883, William Weir McKee (1852-1905), the son of Fuller’s business partner James H. McKee, and B. Frank Swartz joined the partnership. By June, the firm had made $2,800,000 by producing 1,849 eight-wheeled railroad cars. By 1884, they were making $4 million annually.
In 1895, the town of Ferndale in Whitehall Township, Lehigh County was renamed “Fullerton” to honor the contributions made to its growth and prosperity by James W. Fuller, Jr. Sadly, that same year, Fuller’s business partner James H. McKee died.
Six years later, in 1901, a new partnership charter was established, interests were redistributed, and the firm was renamed, officially becoming the Lehigh Car, Wheel & Axle Works. As railroads phased out their wooden cars and a new century dawned with new needs, Fuller and his business partners entered into the Lehigh Valley’s burgeoning cement industry, and became internationally respected for their high quality machinery supplied to local and foreign mills.
Adding to his success, Fuller also served as president of the Catasauqua Manufacturing Company, vice president of the Empire Steel and Iron Company (formerly the Lehigh Crane Iron Company) and on various corporate boards of directors, including those of the Catasauqua & Fogelsville Railway Company, the Ironton Railroad, two coal companies, the Lehigh Foundry Company, the Lehigh Valley Trust Company of Allentown, the Thomas Iron Company of Hokendauqua (formerly the Lehigh Crane Iron Company), and the Wahnetah Silk Company of Catasauqua.
Death and Interment
James W. Fuller, Jr., died at his home in Catasauqua, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania on 15 January 1910. As with his father before him, he was interred at the Fairview Cemetery in West Catasauqua.
William H. Glace, Esq., who eulogized J. W. Fuller, Jr. in Big Achievements in the House of Fuller for the 1914 edition of The Allentown Leader, remembered his longtime friend as follows:
Mr. Fuller inherited from his father personal magnetism and an alert mind, grasping a subject quickly, almost intuitively, had an excellent knowledge of men and had that peculiar ability in a great degree possessed by men of large affairs in selecting men for positions of responsibility and trust and attach them to him by strands o