LeRoy Higgins LaBaw was born on 17. Mar. 1888. He was the son of
Joseph Chamberlain LaBaw and
Susna Scott Higgins. LeRoy Higgins LaBaw married
Edna Probasco Van Nuys, daughter of
Henry Brokaw Van Nuys and
Margaretta Bennett, on 6. Oct. 1910 at Belle Mead, Somerset County, New Jersey. LeRoy Higgins LaBaw died on 3. Jul. 1974 at Belle Mead, Somerset County, New Jersey, at age 86. LeRoy did not finish the 6th grade. He was a farm boy--only went to school when there were no chores, but he did a lot of reading and studying on his own. He was always interested in mechanics and not farming. He did farm when he was first married. One of his jobs was to install pumps on windmills on farms. During World War II, he felt he should contribute to the war effort so he worked for a division of Singer Sewing Machine Co. He got annoyed because others wouldn't work. After the war, he invented the Type P pump and got a patent on it. Sold by mail order for $6.95. He got so many orders he had to have the pumps made elsewhere and shipped to shop in Belle Mead where they painted them and put the name "Labawco Pumps" on them. He visited Sara and Roland when Roland attended Furman University in SC and bought 3 farms. Farm #1 was a cotton farm where he build a vacation house (later their retirement home). He put in a pond and the government paid 1/2 the cost for water conservation. When he built the house, he didn't want pillars hilding up the roof of the porch so he had steel beams extending out from the house so it had no pillars to get in the way of the view. Farm #2 was a dairy farm which was later sold. Farm #3 was a chicken farm which was inherited by Sara and Roland which they sold.
He had one of the first automobiles in the area and would "tear down the dirt roads at about 10 miles an hour, scattering the chickens," according to his wife. All his life he liked to have the first of everything--first dishwasher, color t.v., etc.
He couldn't sing worth a lick but liked to sing silly songs.
From article printed in The Sunday Home News, New Brunswick, NJ on February 19, 1961:
Since the turn of the century it has been the aim of Belle Mead industry, Labawco Pumps, Inc., "to put water where you want it." This slogan, plus the assurance that "Labawco pumps guarantee they make good or we will," have made this family-owned industry a successful one.
Labawco is obviously a contraction of Labaw Co., headed by L.R.H. Labaw, and known widely through its advertisements in such publications as Popular Mechanics, Popular Science and several farm journals. Its name also appears occasionally in the "Shop by Mail" section of the staid, distinguished New York Times.
The result is that Labawco pumps are sold throughout the United States, with a goodly percentage of the sales by mail, according to Robert Payton, plant manager and nephew of Labaw.
Most popular is the sturdy little $7.95 type P, described by its maker as "the most versatile general pump ever made." It will never rust, can be used anywhere and in any position--including under water--and will pump up to 2,400 gallons per hour either belt driven or powered by electric or gasoline motor. What is more, this versatile little pump will pass lint, sand, dirt, match sticks or other foreign matter without damage or clogging. Biggest and most costly of the 30-odd units is a three horsepower gas-driven pump, the "Big Gusher," with a suction luft up to 25 feet and capacity of up to 5,200 gallons per hour. Labawco pumps may be used for circulating water, for pumping out cellars or cisterns, for irrigation or spraying--even for such routine jobs as lawn sprinkling. But special bronze gear pumps, which may be run in either direction, are used for pumping anything from alcohol or cider to honey or molasses.
Recently, with the growing popularity of home swimming pools--particularly the plastic back-yard pool, Labawco has added filters to its line of water-handling equipment. It now can furnish a circulating pump and filter capable of taking care of pools up to 22 feet in diameter and four feet deep. Not the least of the factors contributing to the steady volume of business at Labawco is its guarantee policy. Even if a pump is used far beyond its ratings, and goes bad as a result, it is either replaced or its cost refunded without questions, according to Payton. But the returns of less than 1 per cent are indicative of the ability of Labawco pumps to "take it."
Incidentally, all pumps made at the Belle Mead plant are tested according tostandards set up by leading hydraulic organizations.
The Labaw firm has been interested in water since before the turn of the century. The late Joseph Labaw, father of the firm's head, marvelled at the windmills he saw at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. On his return here he started selling and installing windmills as means of pumping farm water supplies. This generated the first interest in pumps.
For a time his son, the present head of the firm, worked with him. subsequently truning to the sale of gasoline-driven washing machines. But in about 1920, the younger Labaw started in the pump business--difficult at first due to the lack of electricity in rural areas. At first he purchased the pumps, but then started making his own pumps--particularly for use in both deep and shallow wells for the various purposes found around a farm.
A flourishing business was built up, but in the late 1930's a fire wiped out the entire manufacturing operation. For a time, during World War II, Labaw purchased pumps elsewhere, while he worked for the Diehl Manufacturing Co. in Finderne.
After the war, he returned to the production of pumps on an assemble basis, contracting for production of most of the components, then puttine them together at his little plant.
Some parts are still machined at the Labawco plant, which purchases its major castings from the Somerville Aluminum Foundry. Electric motors are obtained from Westinghouse, and gas-drived motors are from Clinton. In addition to assemble, spray-painting, testing, packing and shipping are all done at the 6,000 square foot plant on Route 206, a few hundred feet south of the blinker light at the entrance to the Belle Mead depot.
Though not a major industry by any means, the labawco operation is interesting and significant among the diversified industrial plants of the Raritan Valley area.