Warren E. Burns, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Warren E. Burns
WARREN E. BURNS.
Warren E. Burns is president of the Cosmo Buttermilk Soap Company, whose extensive plant at Goshen is one of the monumental enterprises in the industrial and manufacturing resources of that city. Located on the west bank of the river, on the outskirts of the city, but convenient to transportation, the Cosmo Soap works has for a number of years been a landmark in Goshen and an institution which is pointed out with pride as forming one of the substantial sources of industrial wealth and activity to the city.
Mr. Burns, who entered the business as an office boy and by his attention to duties and fitness for executive control has risen through the various grades of promotion to the presidency of the company, was born in Milford, Indiana, July 10, 1876. His father, Jonas J. Burns, a native of Ohio, was the founder of the Cosmo Buttermilk Soap factory, establishing it in 1891, at first in Valparaiso, and moving the plant to Goshen in 1896. He is still the largest stockholder in the enterprise. The large factory at Goshen, which was completed in 1896, is of brick, sixty by two hundred and sixty feet in ground dimensions, four stories in height, and heavy brick fire walls divide it into three parts. On the east side is a two-story power house, fifty by fifty-seven feet, containing the engines, boilers, electric light plant and repair shops. The buildings throughout are equipped with most excellent fire-extinguishing apparatus, including steam pump and ample length of hose. The products of the factory are both toilet and laundry soaps, for the manufacture of which the most improved machinery has been installed. The Cosmo soaps now have what might well be called a national reputation, for they are of the highest grades of excellence and the sales have been annually increasing by a large figure and over larger territory. Among the other departments of the plant might be mentioned the factory for manufacture of paper boxes and cartons, which are printed and engraved at the same place; another two-story brick building, twenty-eight by sixty feet, where the crude glycerine is extracted from the animal fats, and where also are housed the wagons. About sixty persons are on the payroll of the company, so that it forms an industry of great value to the city and has created a large amount of wealth for the community.
Mr. Burns, the president, was educated in the Goshen and Chicago public schools, and on taking up independent work went into his father's business as an office boy, became bookkeeper, cashier, and then manager, and is now president of the company and responsible for the direction of its affairs. He was a resident of Chicago from 1890 to 1904, the business offices of the company having been removed from Chicago to Goshen only recently.
Mr. Burns was married in 1898 to Miss Ellen Rogers, a daughter of C. E. and Anna Rogers.
Source: Deahl, Anthony. 1905. A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Elkhart County, Indiana. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 793 p.
Page(s) in Source: 784-785
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook