Survey Instrument
James W. Queen (1811–1890), the son of Irish immigrants, was apprenticed to John McAllister & Son of Philadelphia, to learn "the art, trade, and mystery of a merchant." Queen later worked for McAllister, and as a partner in the McAllister firm, before striking out on his own in 1853, and advertising in the 1854 Philadelphia city directory as "Optician, Importer and Dealer in Optical, Mathematical and Philosophical Instruments." At his death, Queen was eulogized as a poor boy whose rise "to a standing among the staunchest business men of his generation" represented "the triumph of force, industry, and skill over outward circumstances." James W. Queen & Co., as the firm became in 1859, was soon the largest and most successful purveyor of scientific apparatus in the United States. It could not, however, recover from the depression of the early 1890s. Nor could it compete with the more specialized instrument companies that were coming into being, several of which had been established by men who had learned the instrument trade by working for Queen. It was incorporated as Queen & Co. in 1896, became the Queen-Gray Company in 1912, and the Gray Instrument Company in 1926.
Survey Instrument
James W. Queen (1811–1890), the son of Irish immigrants, was apprenticed to John McAllister & Son of Philadelphia, to learn "the art, trade, and mystery of a merchant." Queen later worked for McAllister, and as a partner in the McAllister firm, before striking out on his own in 1853, and advertising in the 1854 Philadelphia city directory as "Optician, Importer and Dealer in Optical, Mathematical and Philosophical Instruments." At his death, Queen was eulogized as a poor boy whose rise "to a standing among the staunchest business men of his generation" represented "the triumph of force, industry, and skill over outward circumstances." James W. Queen & Co., as the firm became in 1859, was soon the largest and most successful purveyor of scientific apparatus in the United States. It could not, however, recover from the depression of the early 1890s. Nor could it compete with the more specialized instrument companies that were coming into being, several of which had been established by men who had learned the instrument trade by working for Queen. It was incorporated as Queen & Co. in 1896, became the Queen-Gray Company in 1912, and the Gray Instrument Company in 1926.