John Parker (abolitionist) - Industrialist

Industrialist

The historian Stuart Seely Sprague has researched much information about Parker and his life. Beginning as an iron moulder, Parker patented a number of mechanical and industrial inventions, including the John P. Parker tobacco press and harrow (or pulverizer), patented in 1884 and 1885. He had invented the pulverizer while still a young man in Mobile in the 1840s. He was one of the few blacks before 1900 to patent an invention.

In 1865 with a partner, he bought a foundry company, which they called the Ripley Foundry and Machine Company. Parker managed the company, which manufactured engines, Dorsey's patent reaper and mower, and sugar mill. In 1876 he brought in a partner to manufacture threshers, and the company became Belchamber and Parker. Although they dissolved the partnership two years later, Parker continued to build his business, adding a blacksmith shop and machine shop. In 1890, Parker built the Phoenix Foundry, after a destructive fire at his first facility. It was the largest between Cincinnati and Portsmouth, Ohio.