Whether the conversion of wheat into flour can more properly be classed among manufactures or trade and commerce is a question for casuists to determine. There can be no question, however, that Charles Hickox takes his place, by right, among the merchants and commercial men of Cleveland, whether the grinding of wheat be a manufacture or not, for it is not alone by the milling business that Mr. Hickox has identified himself with the commerce of the city. He has gone through all the phases of Cleveland commercial life, having been connected with the produce and commission trade, owned lake vessels, and otherwise qualified himself for a place among the merchants and "river men," aside from the business in which he is widely known--that of an extensive mill owner.

Mr. Hickox came to Cleveland in 1837, from the state of New York, making his debut in the Forest City in the year of its greatest depression. For the first two years he engaged as clerk, and served his employers faithfully. Then, gaining confidence, and seeing an opening he struck out boldly for himself, setting up, as was usual in those days, in the commission and produce business. The constantly growing commerce of the place increased his business and made it lucrative. With far-seeing enterprise Mr. Hickox pushed his operations so that his trade rapidly increased and his consignments steadily grew in number and quantity. To accommodate it he purchased interests in shipping on the lake, and eventually became a large ship owner.

Seeing his opportunity, Mr. Hickox turned his attention to milling, and commenced operations at a mill in Akron, which he soon made known to the commercial world by the excellence and reliability of its brand. To this was, in time, added the water mill, on the canal, in Cleveland, near the weigh lock, which he held for five years and then sold. After the sale of the latter mill, he purchased the Cleveland Steam Mills on Merwin street, with a capacity of about three hundred and fifty barrels per day, and in 1867, he added the National Steam Mills, with a capacity of from five hundred to six hundred barrels daily. Whilst a large capital is invested in these mills, the number of men employed is less than in establishments where labor saving machinery has not been brought to such a pitch of perfection. About fifty men are directly employed in the mills, and a large number additional in the manufacture of barrels and sacks. A very large proportion of the flour from these mills is sold in sacks, from the fact that the entire product is sold in the home market, which speaks well for the estimation in which the brands are held. Mr. Charles W. Coe is in active partnership with Mr. Hickox, in the milling interests, the firm name being Coe & Hickox.

Mr. Hickox has taken deep interest in the railroad affairs of the city, and has been for some time a director of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad Company. He is still as active and energetic as ever, well preserved in body and mind, and making his positive influence felt in all departments of business in which he becomes interested. He never tires of work, and, as he says of himself, he "holds his own well, at fifty-five."