From 1871 to 1931, the Bechtel Tannery operated here as a large industrial complex that produced leather sold throughout the United States and Europe, and its high-quality leather won numerous industry awards, including a medal at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Founded by John A. Bechtel, a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, the complex included two large stone buildings, one measuring 225 feet by 55 feet with a tall smokestack, and three bark sheds, each 200 by 35 feet, set against a railroad siding, where bark was boiled to make the liquid used for tanning hides. For decades it employed up to 50 people and was a major community industry until changing economic conditions during the Great Depression forced its closure. John A. Bechtel died in 1875, and his son Harry H. Bechtel continued the business before selling it in 1893 to Elk Tanning Co., a division of the American Oak Leather Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio; by the time of his death in 1914, Harry Bechtel was an officer of the parent company living in Ohio. Beginning in 1893, Horace Beard, a grandson of John A. Bechtel and nephew of Harry Bechtel, served as superintendent of the Elk Tanning Company and later supervised a number of tanneries before his early death in 1911. In 1931 the plant closed because of the collapse of the leather market. In 1940 the Newport Union School District acquired the tannery, and in 1944 deeded the property to the borough to establish Veteran's Park. Many buildings were removed, and after the closing the much reduced complex was rented to Jack F. Bentzel, who with six employees stored and processed animal hides. A major fire in 1948 destroyed the remaining buildings, leaving only a few pieces of concrete from Newport's once thriving heavy industry.