Antique Floor Safe Iron Door Panel Hand Painted MacNeale & Urban Patent

Description

Antique Floor Safe Iron Door Hand Painted MacNeale & Urban Patent. Measures 11" x 16". It weighs 3 pounds 4 ounces. Door panel only - no safe included. The right edge has a chip where apparently the lock mechanism was located, otherwise just some normal age wear - see my 12 photos.
MacNeale and Urban Safe Co., Hamilton
Millville and Edgewood Avenues.
The first safe factory to establish itself in Hamilton was not Mosler or Herring-Hall-Marvin but the MacNeale and Urban Company.  MacNeale and Urban began operation around 1855 in Cincinnati as  Urban, Dodds, and Company.  In 1888, the company began considering a move to Hamilton and subsequently agreed to move north if the community could raise ,000 to purchase land for the new plant.
MacNeale and Urban Safe Works, 1893
The campaign to raise the necessary funds was a success and a ten acre tract of land was purchased at Millville and Edgewood Avenues near the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Indianapolis Railroad.  During its peak, the MacNeale and Urban Safe Works employed 600 men and produced fifty to sixty safes each day.
The company ceased production around 1903.  The building was later used by the Buckeye Marble Company of Cincinnati, Long and Allstatter, and the Abe Brown Furniture Company.
Source: "Hamilton and Butler County Historical Highlights," October 14, 1970, Hamilton Daily News.
Macneale & Urban Co. was Hamilton's first safe works. It began in Cincinnati about 1855 as Urban, Dodds & Co.; became Wm. B. Dodds & Co. in 1857; Dodds, Macneale & Urban in 1863; and Macneale & Urban in 1870. In 1888 the firm sought a new location and the Edgewood Finance Co. was organized to encourage a move to Hamilton. The Edgewood group said it would raise ,000 from local residents to buy land for a new plant. Members of the group were Dr. S. L. Beeler, W. F. Sauer, B. F. Thomas, Ed B. Rogers, John M. Long, James R. Webster, Lazard Kahn, F. W. Whitaker, George A. Miller, C. E. Heiser and William Dingfelder. Jan. 4, 1889, Webster represented the group in signing an agreement that relocated Macneale & Urban on 10 acres along the Belt Line Railroad at Millville and Edgewood avenues and Commerce Street. The ,000 three-story, 80,000 square foot factory was built by Bender Brothers of Hamilton. Work started in the new plant June 11, 1890. At its peak, it employed 600 men and produced 50 to 60 safes a day. In a surprise moved, blamed on disharmony among stockholders, Macneale & Urban officers placed the company in voluntary receivership Jan. 20, 1903. The Mosler Safe Co. purchased the Macneale & Urban plant Feb. 27, 1907, and absorbed the business. (See Mosler Safe Co. and Herring-Hall-Marvin Safe Co.)