Canda Cattle Car Co.

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A prolific inventor, Ferdinand Canda designed and patented an
improved stock car, then organized the Canda Cattle Car Co.
(abbreviated CCCC) to sell the wooden cars.

Special Collections, Marshall University Library

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In the 1870s, Ferdinand Eugene Canda was building wooden railroad cars in his
native Chicago. He came to Huntington in 1881 as the general manager
 of the Ensign Manufacturing Co., which had been established
by Ely Ensign and William H. Barnum.

Barnum was president of the company from 1872 to his death in 1889.
On Barnum’s death, Canda — whose name was often misspelled
 and mispronounced as “Canada” — became Ensign’s president.

A prolific inventor, Canda patented several rail car devices, some on his own
and others in partnership with his older brother Charles. Most were used by
 Ensign Manufacturing. One of these was the car wheel chill process,
 which was awarded a gold medal when it was shown at the
 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Some of the last wooden freight cars made in the
United States were designed by Canda.

He designed and patented an improved stock car, then organized the
Canda Cattle Car Co. (abbreviated CCCC) to sell the wooden
 cars to many of the nation’s railroads. Built by Ensign
Manufacturing, the finished cars left the Huntington
 plant with the CCCC initials painted on
 them in big, white letters.

In a strange footnote to history, Canda’s name was written
large in the history of the Huntington Fire Department.
 In 1887, workers at the Ensign plant formed a
volunteer fire hose company.

When Canda became the company’s president, the firefighters
 petitioned City Council to change their unit’s name from
the Ensign Volunteer Hose Co. to the
Canda Volunteer Hose Co.

For decades the Canda Fire Station, located across 3rd Avenue from
 the plant, was an integral part of the Huntington Fire Department.
 It wasn’t until the 1960s, when a new station was built on
20th Street, that the Canda station was closed.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on June 6, 2023.

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