William Gilbert
William Gilbert, one of the best known residents of Cincinnati, is vice president of the Park Commission, president of the Buckeye Foundry Company, president of the Cincinnati Steel Castings Company and half owner of the Dreses Machine Tool Company. His varied interests and their importance indicate him to be a man of resourceful business ability who has never feared to venture where favoring opportunity has led the way. In matters of judgment he is seldom if ever at fault and the wisdom of his opinions concerning business affairs is manifest in the splendid results, which have followed the adoption of the policies that he has inaugurated. Cincinnati has numbered him among her residents since 1881, and throughout the entire period he has been classed with those men who, while promoting individual interests have also advanced the general prosperity.
Mr. Gilbert was born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, June 2, 1859, and there remained until seventeen years of age, having in the meantime learned the molder's trade. He then crossed the border to Buffalo, New York, and worked at his trade a year, after which he went to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he followed the craft for two years. On the expiration of that period he made his way to Springfield, Ohio, and resided there a few months, in April 1881, he came to Cincinnati. Here he found business opportunities he sought and his close application, industry and straightforward methods have been the salient features in the success, which has since crowned his labors. He began work here as a molder for the Eureka Foundry in Cincinnati and a few months later worked as molder for the Favorite Stove Works, there remaining three years. On the expiration of that period he entered the employ of the S. C. Tatum Company, with which he continued for about two years, and next worked for the Crane-Breed Company, which was then operating a foundry. He was with that concern a short time and later spent a few months in the employ of the L. G. Shaefer Company. He was next connected with the C. F. Thanwald Company and in all these positions worked as a molder, thereby gaining that practical experience which is broadened by employment in many different foundries and learning the various ways in which tasks of that kind may be accomplished. After spending a year with the Thanwald Company he took a position with J. B. Dodds & Son on Eighth Street and while there organized the Buckeye Foundry Company in 1889. Soon afterwards he was elected president of that company and his energies, efforts and sound business judgment have constituted forceful factors in its growth and success throughout the intervening period of more than twenty years. As prosperity attended him providing him with liberal financial resources, he extended his efforts into other fields. In February 1909, he was one of the organizers of the Cincinnati Steel Castings Company of which he was elected president. This company is incorporated with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars and employs about forty workmen. The Buckeye Foundry Company gives employment to about one hundred and fifty men and has been incorporated with a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The Dreses Machine Tool Company, located on Colerain Avenue, is a co partnership concern, the members being Henry Dreses and William Gilbert. This has become one of the important industries of the city, being devoted to the manufacture of high-grade machine tools. Whatever Mr. Gilbert undertakes he carries forward to successful completion, for he is resourceful, and his expediency enables him to work out correct solutions for intricate business problems. Mr. Gilbert has purchased a fine level tract of six acres, which he is developing for a ballpark or show grounds. It will be known as the Cincinnati Hippodrome Park, located at Spring Grove Avenue, Queen City Avenue and Valley Street.
In 1886 Mr. Gilbert was united in marriage to Miss Helen Butler and they have five children, William Jr., Nellie, Bertha, Cornelia and Charles. He has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in Masonry, is also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine and a life member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. His continuous activity in business has not precluded cooperation in public measures and his support is always freely and cheerfully given to every project that he regards as beneficial to the city at large. In 1908 he was appointed a member of the Park Commission and in 1910 was reappointed for a term of three years. It is men like this that are intelligent factors in every idea and work that help to develop all sections of all big cities, and it is to be hoped, for the civic pride and civic virtue of this section, that there are many more like him.
From Cincinnati, The Queen City, Volume III, by Rev. Charles Frederic Goss, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912