USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 1 > Part 15
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"The great foresight and interest in the beautification of his city led him to initiate the first project of civic planning and his ideas took permanent form when the Civic Planning Commission was recently organized. He was one of a committee of three men that represented various civic organizations to confer with the mayor on this project. His ideas on the beautification of various parts of the city, particularly its parks and boulevards, were practically expert. He aided materially in the planning of the bridge and boulevard system at Swope Park and showed his generous interest by offering the city thirteen acres of forty acres that he owned adjoining Swope Park, which he desired the city to use as a lake. This offer still holds good and will be carried out at the proper time by his heirs.
"Mr. Berkowitz was a keen student of our modern social problems. He viewed the condition of the poor and needy as one that demanded the attention of practical men. He felt that the social problem of the poor was the problem of all mankind. He was one of the first men in this country to conceive the idea of social service institutional federation. He carried this idea into concrete form when, in 1890, as president of the Jewish Relief Association of Kansas City, he coordinated the five charitable organizations which existed at that time and which were almost in direct competition with each other, causing expensive duplication of effort. He brought these organizations together and founded the United Jewish Charities, of which he became the first president, and which has been a model for similar federated effort in all American cities. He was one of the most active spirits behind the Jewish Educational Institute. He was particularly interested in training the child so that he would be properly equipped to fight the economie battles of life. He was chairman of the committee on vocational training for the children of the Manufacturers & Merchants Association.
"During the war Mr. Berkowitz expressed by definite works his high quality of patriotism and loyalty to the country of his birth. He was called to Washing- ton as a member of a committee to aid the government in standardizing certain
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printing forms with which he was familiar. In every Liberty loan drive, reeruit- ing and war work campaigns, in the campaign fund drives for the relief of Jewish war sufferers, and in all other war drives, Mr. Berkowitz took a most active and prominent part and his name was always far up in the list of donors and con- tributors to these funds.
"The diversity of his interests marked him as a man of the broadest culture. An enumeration of the movements and organizations with which he was affiliated during his busy lifetime would be almost a repetition of the history of the com- munal life of Kansas City during the past thirty years. Besides the activities already mentioned, he served as president of Temple B'nai Jehudah in 1901 and 1902. He was a director of the Fine Arts Institute, a director of the Kansas City Institute for the Blind, a director of the Swope Settlement to which he gave considerable of his time and money and he was a member of the board of directors of the Employers Association. He was president of the Manufacturers Associa- tion for two terms before its consolidation with the Chamber of Commerce. During his administration the famous 'Home Products Shows' was one of the features of the city life of Kansas City.
"Always seeking to devise ways and means eliminating unnecessary effort to carry out the idea of coordination and cooperation so that the very best efforts of good minds could be brought together for increased mutual benefit, Mr. Berkowitz was the originator of the idea of bringing together in one association the envelope manufacturers of this country, of whom he was one of the leading figures. Through his efforts the American Envelope Manufacturers' Association was formed and Mr. Berkowitz was elected president in 1914-1915.
"A lover of mankind, a soul sympathetic and lovable, an ideal father and husband, a respected and honored citizen has gone to his eternal rest. Time with its healing nature will soften and lighten the poignaney of the grief which is now felt by his family and friends, but the memory of William J. Berkowitz and his good works, his noble character and kindly disposition will live long in the memory of all who knew him."
CHICAGO
TAYLOR & SON ENGRAVERS
Emile Rodel Cramer
HEREVER photography is known throughout the length and W breadth of this land and to a considerable extent in foreign countries as well, the name of Cramer is a familiar one to the representatives of the art. For a long period the Cramer Dry Plate Company has conducted at St. Louis one of the largest manufacturing establishments of this character in the country and Emile Rodel Cramer, whose name introduces this review, is now the vice president and treasurer of the corporation. He was born in St. Louis, April 17, 1874. His father, Gustave Cramer, was born in Eschwege, Germany, May 20, 1838, and came to America when twenty-one years of age, settling in St. Louis, where he began learning the photographic art. Later he opened a studio in Carondelet and subsequently removed to Chouteau avenue where he established one of the largest studios in the city. He afterward admitted a partner under the firm style of Cramer, Grass & Company, and while conducting his studio he experimented in dry plate manufacture until he had perfected a product that resulted in bringing out photographie plates that eliminate the wet plate process. It was then that he organized the Cramer Dry Plate Company, with which he was continuously connected until his death in July, 1914. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Emma R. Milentz, was born in New York city. They were married in St. Louis and became the parents of three sons and a daughter.
Emile R. Cramer, the second son, was educated in the public schools and in the Educational Institute of St. Louis, also in the Manual Training School of Washington University, and later he pursued a special course in chemistry. He beeame actively interested in photography as an employe of J. C. Straus of St. Louis and later was associated with the Baker Art Studio of Columbus, Ohio. He afterward began learning the dry plate business under the direction of his father and eventually, after thorough preparatory training, took charge of the chemical department. He remained as superintendent for a number of years and in 1917 was elected to the official position of vice president and treasurer, in which capacity he has made a most excellent record through his executive ability and administrative direction of the affairs of the company. They supplied special photographie plates for air eraft service and experimented with special dyes for photo sensitizers for the government during the World war. Their business is now one of mammoth proportions and Mr. Cramer has entered into membership associations with several societies directly or indirectly con- nected with his line of business, being now on the membership rolls of the Ameri- can Chemical Society of which he is a member of the Dye Division, the Optical Society of America and the Royal Photographers Society of England.
In St. Louis, on the 2d of October, 1901, Mr. Cramer was married to Miss
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Ida A. Broesel, a daughter of Theodore and Lena (Bachmann) Broesel. They now have a daughter, Dorothy R., eighteen years of age and now a student at Mary Institute.
In polities Mr. Cramer is a republican with independent tendencies, as he never considers himself bound by party ties and often votes according to the dictates of his judgment concerning the capability of the candidate. He belongs to the Sunset Hill Country Club and to the Liederkranz and he is a member of the Evangelical Protestant church. Those who have met him personally find him a most social and congenial companion and those who know him through business relations recognize his fidelity to the highest standards of trade and commerce. His father was first in the development of the dry plate industry and was an indefatigable worker in that eonnection and Mr. Cramer of this review and his associate officers are now at the head of one of the largest pro- duetive industries of this character in America, with ramifying trade interests reaching to all parts of the world. The business has been developed along most progressive lines, every department thoroughly systematized and the reliability and enterprise of the concern have ever been salient features in its growing success.
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Fra Banden hier M.S.
Frederik Gustabe Adolph Bardenheier, M.D.
R. FREDERIK GUSTAVE ADOLPH BARDENHEIER, D who is well known in professional circles as a specialist in the treatment of diseases of the ear, nose and throat, was born in St. Louis, April 13, 1881, and he has chosen to make the city of his nativity the scene of his professional labors and successes. His father, Philipp Bardenheier, came to the United States in the early '50s and won success along commercial lines. The mother, Mrs. Helen Bardenheier, arrived in this country from the Rhine region of Germany some time after her future husband crossed the Atlantic.
Dr. Bardenheier was educated in the parochial and public schools of St. Louis and later pursued a preparatory course prior to entering upon the medical studies. He attended the Marion Sims Beaumont Medical School from 1899 until 1903, in which year he was graduated on the completion of the regular four years' course. He afterward spent two years in the St. Louis City and Female Hospi- tals, gaining that broad, varied and valuable experience which is never as quickly acquired in any other way as in hospital practice. He subsequently devoted two years to the general practice of medicine and surgery and then went abroad to complete his studies by specializing on diseases of the ear, nose and throat in medical centers of Germany and Austria. He has been very successful in the line of his specialty since his return to his native country and is now on the active staff of the Josephine Hospital and a member of the consulting staff of St. Anthony's Hospital and St. John's Hospital.
On the 17th of March, 1919, in St. Louis, Dr. Bardenheier was married to Miss Virginia Andrews, a daughter of William and Alberta Andrews, the former a professor in and principal of the Benton high school. The religious faith of the family is that of the Catholic church. During the war period Dr. Bardenheier joined the Voluntary Service Corps and was an examiner for the Aviation Corps. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and he is well known in club circles through his membership in the Missouri Athletic Association, the Sunset Hill Country Club and the St. Louis Club.
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alex 9. Jimmy
Alexander C. Primm, Fr.
LEXANDER T. PRIMM, Jr., widely known as a substantial A eitizen of St. Louis, thoroughgoing, reliable and energetic, is now a viee president of the J. Kennard & Sons Carpet Com- pany, having entered the employ of the company on October 2, 1882. He was born in Belleville, St. Clair county, Ilinois, April 12, 1864, and is a representative of one of the pioneer families of that locality. His ancestral history is an interesting one. The Primm family are descended from Alexander De La Pryme, a gentle- man of the town of Ypres, France, who was granted a patent of gentility by the Roman pontiff for meritorious serviees under Philip of Alsace in the Second Crusade. The family, having embraced the faith of the reformed church, were forced to leave the continent under order of Cardinal Richelieu following the revoeation of the Edict of Nantes, at which time they settled in England. Abraham De La Pryme removed to the Isle of Man in 1725 and his second son, John De La Pryme, emigrated to America, settling in what is now Stafford county, Virginia, about 1750. In deference to the prejudice existing against French names, the prefix De La was dropped and the spelling changed to the present form. The eldest son of John De La Pryme was John Primm (HI) who served as a soldier in the Revolutionary army for seven years and took part in the siege of Yorktown where he saw Lord Cornwallis surrender his sword to General Washington, thereby terminating the war. John Primm removed west ward with his family and settled on the bluffs opposite the site of old Caron- delet, in what is now St. Clair county, Illinois, in the year 1803. In his family were thirteen sons and four daughters. Peter Primm, the fifth son of this family, removed to St. Louis in 1809 and married Marie Angelique LeRoux, a deseendant of one of the first Freneh settlers of this city. Their son, Wilson Primm, born January 10, 1810, became one of the leading jurists and citizens of St. Louis, where he passed away January 17, 1878. Joseph Primm, the eleventh son of John Primm, was born September 14, 1795, and died November 28, 1845, having devoted his life to agricultural pursuits in St. Clair county, Illinois.
Alexander Timon Primm, Sr., the son of Joseph Primm, was born in St. Clair county in 1830, moving to Belleville, Illinois, to engage in business after his marriage in 1855, and here passed away in 1903. His wife, who in her maiden- hood was Jane E. Sharp, was born in St. Clair county near the Primm homestead in 1838 and was a daughter of Horatio Sharp, one of the earliest settlers of that county and a representative of one of the old families of Virginia, emigrating from Berkeley county to Illinois during the early colonization of the latter state. Mrs. Primm passed away in St. Louis in 1918, having for fifteen years survived her husband. To Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Timon Primm, Sr., were born the following named: L. J. Clawson, residing in St. Louis; Benjamin Joseph, who
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was professor of anatomy in the St. Louis Medical College at the time of his death in 1888; Alexander T., of this review; Samuel S., also living in St. Louis; and Minerva, who became the wife of Lilburn Mc Nair and passed away in 1896, leaving two daughters who still reside in St. Louis.
Alexander T. Primm, Jr., obtained a public school education in Belleville, Illinois, and in 1882 was graduated from Smith Academy of St. Louis. He secured employment that fall with the J. Kennard & Sons Carpet Company in order to learn the business and soon became a salesman, while later he was made manager of the wholesale department and was afterward elected to the vice presideney of the company in which connection he continues. He is thoroughly familiar with every branch of the trade and his enterprise, determination and initiative are valuable assets to the business.
For many years Mr. Primm has found his principal recreation in pony polo and was for several years the western representative on the executive committee of the Polo Association of America. His keen business ability and love for this sport have been recognized for years and when this country found it necessary to send troops to the Mexican border in 1916 he was recommended as one whose experience and judgment in selecting animals suitable for the service would be desirable to the army and would at the same time permit the regular army officers to devote their entire time to other important duties. For that reason the war department appointed him to the remount service to buy animals for the government during the summer of 1916. When this country was about to enter the World war he promptly offered his services again and on the 6th of April, 1917, he was commissioned a captain in the Officers Reserve Corps. He was assigned to duty in the remount service, buying animals for transportation, and later became commanding officer at the remount station at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. After the work there was completed he resigned in January, 1918.
Mr. Primm in politics may be classed as an independent democrat, for while he usually supports the men and measures of the party he does not hesitate to east an independent ballot if his judgment so dictates. He is well known as a member of the University Club and also holds membership in the Noonday Club, the Racquet Club and the St. Louis Country Club. His personal char- acteristies are such as make for popularity among his wide circle of friends and his position as a factor in the business life of St. Louis is an enviable one, owing to the progressive methods he has ever followed and his thorough reliability.
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Reb. Patrick Joseph Kane
EV. PATRICK JOSEPH KANE, who for a third of a century R has been pastor of the Church of Our Holy Redeemer at Web- ster Groves, is a native of Ireland, but during his childhood days was brought by his parents to the United States and became a pupil in the publie schools of Bloomington, Illinois, where the family home was established. Ile afterward attend- ed a local business college and later became a student in the Christian Brothers College at St. Louis. Having determined to enter the priest- hood he subsequently pursued his theologieal studies in St. Mary's Seminary at Baltimore, Maryland, and there received his ordination on the 22d of December, 1882.
Father Kane began his active work as a priest at Hannibal, Missouri, where he was assigned to the duty of assistant, remaining there until the 1st of May following, when he was transferred to St. John's church in St. Louis, at which he officiated as assistant pastor while the regular pastor was making a tour in Europe. In the fall of 1883 Father Kane was appointed pastor of the church of the Immaculate Conception at St. Marys, Missouri, and his three and a half years' ministry there was remarkably successful. Under his guidance the work of the church and its various societies was thoroughly organized and during the period of his labors there thirty-five or more new members were received into the church, the parish numbering about two hundred families. He spent much
time in traveling through the country districts, visiting the members living there and stimulating an interest in the church and its work. His labors resulted in the acquirement of means necessary for the purchase of several valiable pieces of ground. He was also instrumental in constructing a building for the Ursuline nuns. The rapid growth of the parish made it soon evident that a new church building was necessary and he did much toward making possible the erection of a new building for that purpose.
In 1887 he was assigned to the Church of Our Holy Redeemer at Webster Groves as the successor of the Rev. C. F. O'Leary, who had been appointed to the parish in October, 1886, and celebrated his first mass on the second Sunday in November in the Lockwood schoolhouse, where he continued to celebrate mass every second Sunday, the alternate Sunday being devoted to the parish at Fen- ton, Missouri. Father O'Leary had just begun the ereetion of a frame church when he was relieved of the charge and Father Kane was assigned to the pastorate. There was an indebtedness of about two thousand dollars in the parish and the new church building had just been begun. There had not been entire harmony between his predecessor and the trustees and the conditions there existing did not appear very favorable. Father Kane, however, at once took up his labors and by his tactful management, his zeal and interest soon restored harmony in the parish
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and had laid his plans for the further conduct of the work. Various obstacles and difficulties were encountered, but he met these with unfaltering courage and in a comparatively brief period had acquired means sufficient to enable him not only to build but to furnish a church edifice, which was dedicated on the 19th of June, 1887. It was during this period of prolonged struggle for existence that Archbishop Kenrick insisted upon Father Kane becoming the sole trustee of the church property. Much against his will Father Kane consented to assume the responsibility of the indebtedness of the parish and as resolutely set to work to discharge it-a result which he accomplished in due time, deserving much credit for his efforts in this connection. The present magnificent church building and the prosperous circumstances surrounding the parish are the consequences of his whole-souled and enthusiastic effort thrown into the work. The completion of the church building was immediately followed by the erection of a parish house and in 1893 Father Kane purchased two hundred feet of ground facing on Joy avenue and extending back two hundred and fifty feet on Lockwood, while two years later he purchased another hundred feet adjoining on Joy avenue, con- stituting one of the valuable locations in Webster Park. The corner stone of the new church building was laid September 8, 1895, and on the 2d of May, 1897, the church was dedicated, having been erected of Merrimae Highlands limestone. In 1910 was finished the beautiful and spacious red brick school house just west of the church. It contains six classrooms; an auditorium with a stage and a seating capacity of seven hundred people; dressing rooms, etc., and also a chapel and gymnasium in the basement.
A contemporary biographer has written: "Father Kane has not only won the love and esteem, as well as the confidence of the members of his own parish, but is also held in high repute throughout the community by those of Protestant faith." He is one of the foremost men of the community, exerting a wide influence for good not only among people of his own belief but among others as well. Earnest and tactful he accomplishes what he undertakes and has so won the confidence and approval of his people that he has indeed become a leader among them, his parishioners never hesitating to follow his example or give him their active cooperation.
Christian Frederick Pfingsten, A.D.
O thorough has been the investigation into the laws of health S and so wide the research of the members of the medical pro- fession that it is impossible for any individual to cover with thoroughness the entire scope of professional practice. Ac- cordingly this has led to specialization along certain lines with the result that expert ability has been developed. Well known among the specialists of St. Louis is Dr. Christian Frederick Pfingsten, who is devoting his attention to the diseases of the ear, nose and throat and who is also well known in the educational field. He was born in St. Louis, May 11, 1875, and is a son of Christian F. and Anna Sophia ( Lohmeyer) Pfingsten, both of whom were natives of Germany. The mother came to America when quite young, settling in St. Louis. The father crossed the Atlantic when a youth of eighteen years and he, too, took up his abode in St. Louis where for many years he engaged in the coal business. He passed away in 1897 at the age of eighty-six years and his widow survived him until 1918, her death occurring in St. Louis when she was eighty-three years of age. They were married in this city and became parents of two sons and five daughters, of whom Dr. Pfingsten is the fifth in order of birth.
After acquiring a public school education Dr. Pfingsten received his academic and preparatory training at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, and then entered the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which he was graduated in 1898 with the M. D. degree. For six years he engaged in the general practice of medicine and then went to Europe to receive special instructions concerning diseases of the ear, nose and throat. He spent one year in Berlin and another year in Vienna, studying under some of the eminent authorities of the old world. Returning to the United States he then opened an office for practice as a specialist on the ear, nose and throat and has won prominence and success in this field. He is now instructor on diseases of the ear, nose and throat in the St. Louis University and is oto-laryngologist at St. John's Hospital.
On the 30th of October. 1909, in St. Louis, Dr. Pfingsten was married to Miss Lillian Janvier Brown, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Swing Brown, the former a prominent wood-working machine manufacturer and representative of one of the old families. Dr. and Mrs. Pfingsten have become parents of three children: Marion Grace, Ruth Janvier and Charles Frederick. who are with their parents at No. 2922 Dodier street in St. Louis. Dr. and Mrs. Pfingsten are members of the Union Methodist Episcopal church. He is also a Scottish Rite Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine and is a loyal follower of the teachings and purposes of the craft, as well as of the church. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he turns for recreation to auto- mobiling and golf. Along professional lines he has connection with the St. Louis
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Christian Frederick Pfingsten, O.D.
Medical Society, the Missouri State Medieal Society, the American Medical Association and the American College of Surgeons. He is very conscientious in the performance of his professional duties and has made steady progress sinee entering upon medical practice. Today he occupies an enviable position as an aurist and laryngologist, having developed a high degree of efficiency in this special field. During the period of the World war he was a member of the draft board of the Medical Corps, U. S. A., and also served as captain in the Medical Corps in the Second Regiment of the Home Guards.
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