New home for Corliss steam engine from Murphy Calendar factory

Decades after they were last in use, the Corliss steam engines that were housed at the Thos. D. Murphy Calendar Factory have been moved to a new home.
According to research done by Randall Wilson, the factory added a 45 by 60 foot brick power and heating plant with a smokestack north of the main factory in 1920, at a cost of $60,000. The plant featured a Corliss steam engine from Murray Iron Works in Burlington. The construction and the engine were installed to help the company meet an increased demand for its calendars. Steve Adams, a member of Save Our Depot that used to own the plant, said the addition of the engine was one of many ways Thos. D. Murphy was forward-thinking.
“He did some things at the Murphy building that were state of the art for the time, including building a courtyard in the center because tuberculosis was considered to be an airborne illness. By having a courtyard, he could open up the windows so there was always a cross breeze blowing through the building. He was also very perturbed after a textile mill burned in the northeast that resulted in a number of fatalities. The water tower in the center of the courtyard was actually a gravity-fed fire suppression system. Much like you’d see a sprinkler system today. Between each section of the building, he had big iron doors that were suspended by ropes. And if fire burnt through the ropes, it dropped the door down to shut off that portion of the building. He even had different sections set up that were wired so if there was a fire, lights would flash so you would know which section of the building had a fire. Now, they never did have one, but those were things that he was doing that nobody else was doing,” explained Adams.
According to Iowa history, Murphy was doing some things in manufacturing that nobody else in the Midwest was doing. These were innovations that came from Europe and other places of industry in the Northeast.
Adams said the Corliss engines served an essential purpose at the factory.
“There were steam tunnels that were dug underneath between the power plant and the Murphy building, and they were actually used then to power equipment and machinery inside the building. There were boilers in the plant, too. In 1917 and 1918, they were chopping wood to run the boilers that were inside the building in order to keep production going, and that was one of the things that Murphy just wanted to avoid from that point forward,” advised Adams. “The Corliss was considered to be the most efficient engine in the world for being able to produce steam. Even after Iowa Power & Light or the municipal utility system was put in, if there was ever a power outage, Murphy could go crank those steam engines back up and still keep the factory going. If there was a storm-related outage of some kind, he still had a backup, much like people have diesel generators today for backup.”
While the steam engines saw long-term use, Adams said according to a former employee they were phased out and ceased operation before the factory closed permanently.
“One of the old maintenance guys there, Don Hummel, said that the last time he remembered the steam engines actually running was sometime in the late ̓60s, primarily as a backup power source. How long it was maintained as the main power source I can’t say for certain, but I’m guessing it was at least until electric utilities became the norm, you know, so into the mid-̓40s, would be my guess,” Adams said.
At the height of business, the production space at that building was easily close to 200,000 square feet, and for a long time it was the largest employer in Montgomery County. When it was initially sold to new owners, they were not interested in the power plant but ended up purchasing it as it was part of the National Register of Historic Places. Still, the engines themselves, Adams knew, had some value, and the opportunity to sell them came from an unlikely situation.
“One of our board members, Lee Ward, watched the RFD channel and saw some advertisements for a group called Aumann Auctions. Ward told us they did a P30 auction every year, which was a sale of anything that was built prior to 1930. Prior to this, we had a couple of locals that looked at it, but never anybody that came forward with a real cash offer. I went ahead and reached out to the auction people. And they were very enthusiastic and thought we’d have great success listing the large and small Corliss engines at the P30 auction,” Adams stated.
When it came time for the auction, Adams said the experience was a bit surreal, as a bidding war broke out. 
“The auction was supposed to run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. As with other auction houses, if they got a bid within 15 minutes of the deadline, they had to start another hour’s worth of bidding. I was actually up in Denison doing a program for the Extension, getting updates from the auction house, and they explained that there was a bidder from Michigan and one from California that were trying to out wait the other and were each putting a new bid in during the last minute of the 15 minute deadline window. This went on almost until 11 o’clock that night, and the bidder from California is the one who finally made the winning bid.”
While it was a lengthier process, the bidding war meant that the two engines sold for much more than was expected.
“I don’t remember exactly what the final net total was, because we had to pay them a commission and listing fees, but it went for more than $40,000, and we were told that we’d probably get around $10,000 at auction,” Adams commented.
After the sale, the buyer hired Kyle Nasman, a rigger and engineer from Oregon to work out the details of shipping the engines, as well as setting up crane operators to break the engines down for transport.
“We knew how heavy this thing was, and Kyle spec’d it out. He did all of the history and found out the flywheel weighed one amount, the axle weighed another amount, etc. The engine itself, because of the flywheel, was sunk into the concrete floor. First they cleaned the asbestos out of the exhaust pipes, and Patriot Crane out of Omaha, Neb., made arrangements. Over the course of three days, from Dec. 15 to Dec. 17, they pulled out virtually all of the engine components. It took them virtually every minute available of those three days to get everything taken apart and loaded,” said Adams. 
While the process went smoothly overall, one thing remaining to be collected is the electrical panel, which they still want to come back and get. The pit created in the floor when the big engine was removed prevented a crane from getting to the panel during that initial tear down. Also, another crane had to be brought in when it was discovered that the axle weighed three thousand pounds more than they were anticipating, and had to be turned two ways to get out the door. Adams said plans call for the crews to come back for the electrical panel when the weather warms up.
Adams said the removal process was bittersweet, as he’s happy they were saved, but saddened that they are no longer in Red Oak.
“It was a big part of the history. For years, everybody that we toured through the building and the powerhouse was fascinated by the Corliss engines. Anybody that knew anything about a Corliss told us we didn’t realize what we had here. Randall Wilson really dove in deep to find out as much history about the Corliss engines as he could, and we came up with a list that determined there are less than 50 operational Corliss engines. Also, that’s not 50 operational in the U.S., that’s the worldwide total. When you think about the fact that we had one of those right here in Red Oak, it’s sad knowing that it’s not here anymore, but at the same time, unless we opened our own Corliss steam engine museum here at the powerhouse, we certainly didn’t have any use for it,” advised Adams.
The Corliss also powered the steam whistle on top of the building that went off at 7:45 a.m. daily to let people know they had 15 minutes to get to work, and at 11:45 a.m. to send them to lunch. While it was before his time, Adams said his father, Lynn Adams, grew up when it was operational, and for him, hearing the 7:45 a.m. whistle meant that he had 15 minutes to get to school.
Adams said that while the engine has been disassembled, the buyer in California plans to restore it to be operational and give new life to Red Oak’s large Corliss steam engine.
“He’s a collector that is really into steam engines, like some people are into tractors.
“He’s a big steam engine buff. That’s why he wants that electrical panel out of there so badly, because he wants to set this up and rewire it and have it be a working steam engine again. Once he gets it up and going, if he’s opening it to the public, I might make a trip out there just to see it in operation once again,” Adams explained.