Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
MCDONALD, Andrew Young
MCDONALD, Andrew Young. (Glasgow, Scotland, Feb. 14, 1834--Dubuque, IA, 1891). Pump and plumbing supply manufacturer. McDonald came to Dubuque in 1856 two years after entering the United States. He established the firm of A. Y. MCDONALD MANUFACTURING COMPANY the same year and found work as a gas and steam fitter who serviced STEAMBOATS and RAILROADS. By 1863, working in his spare time, McDonald had invented an improvement to the popular monkey wrench and sold the idea to an eastern tool manufacturer for the fine sum of five hundred dollars.
A member of the GOVERNOR'S GREYS during the CIVIL WAR, McDonald was wounded at the Battle of Wilson's Creek. He lay unattended four days on the battlefield before being taken captive by the Confederates. McDonald and ten other Union soldiers were rescued by McDonald's brother who journeyed behind enemy lines. After recovering from his wounds in Dubuque, McDonald re-enlisted and was again wounded at the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Returning to Dubuque after the war, McDonald recognized the need prairie farmers had for water and decided to become a manufacturer of pumps and well systems. He began making wire-wound drive well points in his kitchen with his wife's help. By 1870 he had developed and patented an improved cylinder for a hand pump. McDonald began the manufacture of plumbers' brass goods and waterworks’ brass goods in 1882. The same year he ended his plumbing business because of the phenomenal growth of his manufacturing company.
In 1883 McDonald's first factory, constructed in 1870, could boast of being one of America's largest manufacturers of pumps. It was equipped with steam elevators that he had invented. Steam from huge engines for the elevators was recycled to heat the plant during the winter. In 1982 McDonald's name was one of the first four local business people inducted into the DUBUQUE BUSINESS HALL OF FAME.