James H. Rand, Jr.

James Rand, Jr. and General Douglas McArthur, center left and right respectively, with Remington Rand staff members. September 30, 1952.

James H. Rand was the second son of Calvin Gordon Rand and Almira Hershey Long. He began his business life as a banker, but his talent for inventing and manufacturing soon led him to other fields, including serving as cashier of the Lumber Exchange Bank. His development of business aids led to the founding of the Rand Ledger Company. James Rand married Mary Scribner (of yet another lumber family) and they had six children including James Rand, Jr. James invented the world’s first visible ledger in 1890 in the Rand Ledger Company building at 99-111 Goundry Street. The company first manufactured and marketed the forerunners of the visible equipment, supplies, and systems which would revolutionize the record-keeping methods of modern business.

It was the genius of James Jr., however, that led to the eventual building of the giant Rand organization. His initiative and foresight, consummating in a series of mergers and consolidations, expanded the company through the years. He began in business in direct and bitter competition with his father. James, Sr., had his plant in North Tonawanda. James, Jr. established an office equipment business in the City of Tonawanda. Eventually, father and son reconciled, uniting their business ventures into Rand Kardex, Inc., with James, Jr. serving as President, and James, Sr., as Chairman of the Board.

James Jr. is recognized throughout the business world for his success in uniting the parent company, the Rand Ledger Company, with the Kardex Company in 1925. That same year, the Rand Company purchased the Herschell-Spillman Company’s manufacturing plant on Sweeney Street, located between Marion and Oliver Streets. The Goundry Street facility then became theKardex Institute, a training school for employees, later changing its name to the Remington Rand Maintenance School. The North Tonawanda Remington Rand plant at 162-184 Sweeney Street was located almost directly behind this school.

Remington Rand was known around the world for its manufacture of quality office furniture, equipment and supplies. During World War II, the company successfully focused its operations on munitions production. It was James, Jr. who had been responsible for the merger with the Remington Company, becoming the Remington Rand Company, and following the War, he coordinated another merger, becoming the Remington Rand Division of Sperry Rand, Inc. Sperry Rand became one of the largest corporations in the United States. The Rand enterprises eventually circled the globe.

James Rand, Jr. became a multi-millionaire for his accomplishments with the manufacturing company. He was listed among the wealthiest men in the United States. He had homes in New York, Cape Cod, and Florida, and big yachts in the Bahamas. Jim and Mary lived for a period at 376 Tremont and then at 359 Goundry, after the previous residents, Guy White, the lumberman, and his wife Mabel (also a Scribner), built their new home at 75 Whiting. Jim and Mary had twins, Marcel and Jamie, and a daughter, Mirium. Jim retired in 1958 and made his home in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, where he died in 1968 at the age of 81, and his ashes were scattered over the Atlantic Ocean.

In later years, Benjamin Long Rand’s son, Jim, Jr.’s cousin, Benjamin Garfield Rand, and his wife, Edith, also lived at 359 Goundry. Edith was prominent in musical circles in the Tonawandas and in Buffalo. They had three children, Bob, Whitford, and Helen. Whitford drowned in the Erie Canal when he rode his bicycle too close to the edge. Helen was nicknamed, “Honey,” and when she married, moved to New Jersey and later to Louisiana. Bob moved to Fredonia. Ben and Edith died in Florida.

Another son of Benjamin Long Rand, Stanley, was an insurance and real estate executive. He had offices in the Sweeney Building. He married Winifred Vandervoort, whose father, George B. Vandervoort, was a partner in Humphrey & Vandervoort Insurance Company. George Vandervoort’s wife was from the Fassett lumber family. Stanley and Winifred Rand lived at 115 Pine Woods Drive. His brother, Charles F. (called Ted), and his wife Emogene were neighbors, living at 89 Pine Woods Drive, which was originally built in the early 1920’s for them, until they sold it to Hugh A. and Elizabeth West McLean in 1933. Ted and Emogene later lived at 257 Goundry, after Ben and Lucy moved into 261 Goundry.

James Rand Sr. moved to Massachusetts in the early 1900s and lived there until his death.