Austin, Linus, 1817-1887.

Linus Austin was a prominent industrialist in Cleveland and vicinity who owned the Austin Powder Company, the oldest manufacturing enterprise in Cleveland and one of the few remaing U.S. manufacturers of black powder used in military ammunition. The company was begun in 1833 to produce explosives used in blasting rock to build the Ohio and Erie Canal. It had plants in Akron and Cleveland, the latter located at the 5 Mile Lock of the Ohio Canal. That facility, which was bought from the Cleveland Powder Co. in 1867, blew up in 1907.