Winter Letterbooks

The Gindrat / Thorington / Winter Family Papers represents the many and varied activities of one of the South’s most prominent extended families, including their expansive involvements in manufacturing, banking, and law during the 19th century. John Gindrat (1777-1851) was an early founder and mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, which became the capital of Alabama in 1846. Taking advantage of Montgomery’s rapid growth, Gindrat invested heavily in banking and real estate. By the 1840s iron furnaces, foundries, and steam engines characterized manufacturing throughout the country. In 1847-1848, Gindrat, together with his son-in-law Joseph S. Winter (1821-1895), who had married Mary Elizabeth Gindrat (1825-1896) and founded a bank (J. S. Winter & Company) in the historic Winter Building in downtown Montgomery, established a large foundry.

The Montgomery Manufacturing Company (Montgomery Iron Works) was generously capitalized at $250,000 and quickly became one of the most successful manufacturing businesses in the Deep South, employing about 150 workers, including many slaves. In 1851 the business name was changed to the Winter Iron Works. Meanwhile, Joseph S. Winter’s father, John Gano Winter (1799-1865) of Columbus, Georgia, had become heavily involved in the company’s financing and operations. During the mid-1850s the Winter Iron Works reputedly became the largest foundry in the country located south of Philadelphia, certainly south of Richmond.

Most of the letters, documents, and records in this collection reflect the operations of the Winter Iron Works and Winter family business during the antebellum, Civil War, and post-war years. An innovative investor who cultivated a reputation as one of the South’s leading financiers. Winter was born in New York and engaged in business and banking in Georgia beginning in the early 1820s. In 1841 he gained control of the Bank of St. Mary’s and moved it to Columbus, where he personally saved the city’s finances and was elected to a term as mayor in 1844. By 1850 the Bank of St. Mary’s had assets of nearly $900,000. The Chattahoochee River connected Columbus to the Deep South, with cotton bales from the river’s rich cotton plantations shipped via the Gulf of Mexico to Mobile and New Orleans. Interior railroad connections to Columbus also increased during the 1850s. At the same time, textile mills were established along the river, making Columbus one of the most important industrial centers in the South. During the Civil War, Columbus ranked second only to Richmond in the manufacturing of supplies for the Confederate war effort.