James W. Fuller, Jr.
James Wheeler Fuller, Jr. (March 16, 1843 – January 15, 1910) was an American industrialist known for manufacturing railroad axles and wheels. The town of Fullerton, Pennsylvania was named in his honor.
Civil War service
At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the Union Army as a member of Company F, 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, under the command of Captain Henry S. Harte. He was promoted to Sergeant on August 30, 1861. On October 20 of the same year, he was elevated to the rank as Adjutant. After a protracted illness which overtook him during the first winter of the Civil War in Virginia, he was honorably discharged from the army and returned to his home.
Lehigh Car, Wheel & Axle Works
In 1867, he organized the firm of McKee, Fuller & Company; proprietors of the Lehigh Car, Wheel & Axle Works. Beginnings of the plant had been made during the year preceding by Charles D. Fuller, an uncle and William R. Thomas. The capacity of the shop at this time was fifteen car wheels per day. The new firm at once commenced to enlarge the plant. They bought the defunct concern of Frederick & Company, built a forge and added an axle department. Since then the firm was known as the Lehigh Car, Wheel & Axle Works, and developed an enterprise of much benefit to the business prosperity of the community. So devoted was Mr. Fuller to his charge that he made daily trips to the works, personally superintended the mixing of irons for the casting of the wheels and made the rounds among his men in whose individual welfare he was vitally concerned.
He was president of the Catasauqua Manufacturing Company, a director in the Thomas Iron Company, the Wahnetah Silk Company, and the Ironton Railroad. At the time of his death he was vice-president of the Empire Steel and Iron Company (successor to the Lehigh Crane Iron Company) and a director in the Lehigh Foundry Company.