ilroad 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 of steel. From his mother he inherited a wiry constitution, free from taint, love of rural scenes, of animals and a rapid manner or speech. In all my life I never heard from his lips an unclean or unchaste word; never an oath, and under great provocation as a rule kept himself master of the situation. An aged mother had but to express a wish and it was granted, whilst he stood sponsor for his sister and brothers, always ready to grant any reasonable desire. Fortunate indeed were the son and daughters who had the benefit of his advice and guidance, and it would be impossible in this short sketch even to enter the door in describing the good deeds done by him, and fortunate is the town or community that can number a citizen like Mr. Fuller, whose life work lies within its boundaries.
PRIVATE ORLANDO FULLER
Born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in March 1826, Orlando Fuller was a son of Sarah (Abbott) Fuller and Chauncey D. Fuller, the older brother of 1st Lieutenant George W. Fuller of F Company, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and James W. Fuller, Sr., and the uncle of 1st Lieutenant and Regimental Adjutant James W. Fuller, Jr. who also served with 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers.
Orlando and his brother, James (later James Sr.), spent their early years in the “Plains” of North Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County before relocating with their parents and siblings to the Lehigh Valley sometime after construction began on the Lehigh Canal.
Civil War Military Service
On 25 August 1861, Orlando Fuller enrolled for military service at Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. He then mustered in for duty at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg on 30 August 1861 as a Private with Company F, 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
His tour of duty took him to all of the same locations and service assignments as those experienced by 1st Lieutenant George W. Fuller (his younger brother and one of his superior officers in Company F), plus a few more. From Camp Curtin, the Fuller brothers were stationed together at Camp Kalorama in Washington, D.C. (Fall 1