Levi Balsbaugh
Levi Balsbaugh, Superintendent of the boiler department of the Lima Locomotive and Machine Works, the largest manufacturing plant at Lima, efficiently fills a very responsible postion. He was born at Harrisburg, Pennsyvania, and is a son of Henry Balsbaugh, also of that city.
Mr. Balsbaugh was reared and educated in his native city. When a lad he began to take an interest in machinery, with the result that when he was only 20 years old he had so thoroughly mastered the boiler-makers trade that he was sent to Roanoke, Virginia, to take the position of assistant foreman of the Norfolk & Western Railway shops. This position he filled for five years, learning every practical detail in connection with the complicated machinery used in the geat plant. From this responsible position in Roanoke, he entered the Richmond, Virginia, Locomotive Works as a journeyman worker, and served in every capacity until he became foreman, remaining with that company for 10 years. His next place of employment was with the Baldwin Locomotive Works, at Philadelphia, which are the largest in the United States, and he remained there for five years as assistant foreman With this record behind him he came to Lima, in 1903, to become superintendent of the boiler department of the Lima Locomotive & Machine Works. He is a skilled artisan and a man thoroughly competent to also exercise executive authority.
In 1887 Mr. Balsbaugh was married to Rosa Hoover, who is a daughter of Alexander Hoover, of Wytheville, Virginia.
Mr. Balsbaugh has associated himself with the Young Men's Christian Association since coming to Lima and has won the esteem and friendship of those with whom he has come in contact. He belongs also to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (both the subordinate lodge and the encampment). He is largely a self-made man and the success he has won has been secured through his own efforts, persistently and intelligently directed.