L. M. Rumsey Manufacturing Co. was in business 1881-1917. It was preceded by L. M. Rumsey & Co. (1865-1880).

L. M. Rumsey, President; M. Rumsey, Secretary; A. M. Wood, Treasurer; Manufacturers and Jobbers of Agricultural Implements, Pumps, Wood and Iron Working Machinery, Plumbers', Steam and Gas Fitters' Supplies. Etc.; Office, 810 North Second Street.

      Greatest of all the establishments of its kind in the world, the attempt to describe, within a limited space, the colossal business of the L. M. Rumsey Manufacturing Co. is an arduous undertaking, and can only result in the presentation of a brief summary. The business was established in 1860 by Messrs. L. M. & M. Rumsey, and was incorporated under its present name in 1880. The operations of the firm were large in volume at the inception of the business, but they were small compared to those of the present company after the twenty-seven years of steady increase and growth, which this great business has experienced. The house now carries a stock worth $2,000,000, does an annual business of $4,000,000 and has 10,000 regular customers, all of whom are of the most solvent and responsible character. The company has works at Indianapolis, hid., and controls the entire output of many others. Messrs. L. M. & M. Rumsey own the two large blocks bounded by Second, Morgan and Cherry streets, and the works of the company and the warehouses occupy nearly the whole of this great area, their many buildings ranging from three to five stories in height. All of these buildings are lighted by electric lights worked by dynamos owned and operated by the company. At the St. Louis works constant employment is given to a force of one hundred and fifty skilled and experienced workmen and sixteen active and energetic commercial travelers represent the house on the road. The trade of the company extends to every part of the Union, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, South America, etc. The company manufactures and carries an immense stock of every description of agricultural implements from a pitchfork to the most elaborate of modern farming machines, grist, feed, cider and cane mills in the most complete assortment, and all kinds of screw presses, broom corn machinery, etc. The company manufactures upward of one thousand different styles of pumps and supplies the world with galvanized pump chain, made by a machine invented by Mr. L. M. Rumsey, which completes and fastens about one hundred links of chain per minute. In their lead works they have heavy rollers, capable of turning out sheets of lead 8x50 feet and of any thickness from that of paper up to the heaviest in use. They keep full lines of fire engines, hose reels, trucks and all fire apparatus and firemen's supplies, hose, belting, packing, etc , and nearly everything requisite for building and equipping railroads, and manufacture and deal in all kinds of lead and iron pipes, and all fittings, tools and appliances for plumbers, gas, water and steam fitters,, all kinds of iron and wood working machinery, and every description of supplies for foundries, machinists, blacksmiths, mills, wagon makers, miners and .contractors. They also deal in hoisting engines, stationary and portable boilers, lathes, planers, shapers, gear cutters, flies, all kinds of bells, every description of metals, etc. The catalogue might be extended indefinitely, and occupies a number of large and elegantly printed volumes issued by the company for the use of the trade, which form a library of themselves. Only a faint idea of the immensity of the business can be compressed into a short description. The company's works in this city are fitted up with the most elaborate and expensive machinery, much of it made specially for their use, and a floe 80-horse power engine is used to propel the moving mass. The company enjoyed a more than ordinarily good season during the past year, and the present one bids fair to rival even that in the volume of the transactions of the company. Their facilities are unsurpassed for the manufacture and distribution of goods in their numerous lines, their stocks complete to the most minute item, the quality of their goods unexcelled by any house in the world, and their system so thorough that all the operations of this vast business empire are carried on without the slightest friction. Added to all this the fair, honorable and liberal methods of this great house and the secret of the marvelous success of this establishment is told. Built upon the sure foundation of meritorious goods, honorable conduct and just dealings, its growth has been as substantial as phenomenal, and its high standing is fixed as the triumph of industry, of energy and of the exercise of correct business principles.

      This firm's catalogs list woodworking machinery, but it is not known whether they were a maker or reseller of those machines.

Information Sources

• The industries of Saint Louis, 1887 pg 143
• 1882 catalog of 667 pages plus 16-page discount sheet. "Railroad supplies, tools for plumbers, steam fitters & engine builders, iron & wood working, machinery, engines, boilers, pumps, fire engines, etc."
• According to a web site on St. Louis makers and resellers of bells, L. M. Rumsey Manufacturing Co. was in business 1881-1917. It was preceded by L. M. Rumsey & Co. (1865-1880).
• We received a report of a small farm machine, possibly a corn sheller, labeled, "L. M. Rumsey Mfg. St. Louis, MO"; the cover on the top says "The Kokosing Cutter". Note that such machines are outside the scope of the Old Woodworking Machines web site, and we do not have any additional information on such machines.
• Adolfo Ruiz reports that the church bells in an 1853 church in La Mesa, NM were made by L.M. Rumsey & Co. St Louis MO, in 1878.
• G.L. King owns a number 3 cast iron bell marked on the yoke L.M. RUMSEY MFG CO St Louis Mo 1886.