Wager Furnace Bridge Wall Co. J. H. Cofer & Co., Inc.
J. H. COFER & CO., INC.
WAGER FURNACE BRIDGE WALL CO.
THIS business was started in 1909 by Robert H. Wager, and was incorporated in 1917, with Robert H. Wager, president; Joseph F. Gillick, vice-president, and Edgar R. Mead, secretary. The company's business is the manufacture of Wager Patent Improved Furnace Bridge Walls, which are installed in marine and stationary boilers.
The value and efficiency of the company's product was soon recognized, with the result that some of the largest railroad and transportation companies in this country have 'had the bridge walls installed in their entire floating equipment. The bridge walls have been successfully used for years by the United States Navy and several of the largest steamship companies in this country and Europe. The United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, after exhaustive tests and experiments, have included the Wager Bridge Wall in its specifica-tions for more than one thousand boilers.
The company's plant is situated at Jersey City, N. J., and its New York office is located at 149 Broadway.
Robert Hudson Wager, the president, was born in Hudson, N. Y., the son of C. Edward and Mary Ella (Potter) Wager. He graduated from public school in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1895, and from Catens College, Buffalo, in 1899. Began his career as marine engineer in 1900, and in 1906 became chief engineer for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which position he occupied until, he resigned to organize his present company.
O
NE of the most prominent business houses in Norfolk, Virginia, is that of J. H. Cofer & Co., Inc., doing a wholesale grain, shipping, and exporting business. It was established in 1894 on a very modest scale by J. H. Cofer, and has had a continuous growth since then to perhaps the largest grain business done by any house in Virginia or the entire southeast section of the country. The business was incorporated in 1910, and its officers are J. H. Cofer, president; W. E. Flournoy, vice-president; and V. W. Emory, secretary and treasurer.
The company has an elevator and sacking plant on the Norfolk & Western Railway, operated by electricity, and also has a subsidiary company, Virginia Mills, Inc., with a plant at Suffolk, Virginia, of which J. H. Cofer is president, W. E. Flournoy vice-president, and J. W. Simmons secretary-treasurer. These mills manufacture the
finest quality of table meal, and also manufacture peanut hull meal for cleaning and polishing.
Mr. J. H. Cofer is a director in the Grain Dealers' National Association, the Seaboard National Bank, Tidewater Insurance Co., the Industrial Finances Cor-poration, and other companies. Messrs. Flournoy and Emory were both engaged in railroading before joining this firm ten years ago. Mr. Flournoy is traffic manager of the company.
The facilities for storage and shipment are very complete, the company having a large warehouse in addition to its two plants, and the company does a large shipping and exporting business.
