History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III, Part 1

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 912

USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III > Part 1

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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08192282 9

The New York Public Libran TEMA LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

IVK (Milwaukee) Bruce 3

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation

http://www.archive.org/details/historyofmilwauk03bruc

HISTORY OF

MILWAUKEE CITY AND COUNTY

VOLUME III

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO-MILWAUKEE THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1922

PUBL

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EDWARD P. BACON

BIOGRAPHICAL

EDWARD PAYSON BACON.

From the period of pioneer development to the era of later progress and prosperity Edward Payson Bacon was connected with the history of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin. He was a contributing factor to the material growth and substantial im- provement of the city in many ways and looked beyond the exigencies of the moment to the opportunities and possibilities of the future in his cooperation with public affairs. Mr. Bacon was born in Reading, Schuyler county, New York, May 16, 1834, being the eldest son of Joseph F. and Matilda (Cowles) Bacon. In both the paternal and maternal lines he came of New England lineage, his ancestors having lived in Massachusetts and Connecticut for many generations. His grandfather in the Bacon line was a fife major in the Revolutionary war. On the distaff side he is a descendant of John Cowles, who migrated to Massachusetts from England about 1635.

Edward P. Bacon was a lad of four years at the time the family home was estab- lished in Geneva, New York, where he pursued a public school education, and in vacation periods worked along different lines in order to contribute to his support. He dis- played special aptitude in his studies and was ambitious to acquire a college education hut the financial resources of the family made it impossible. When a lad of thirteen he secured a position as errand boy in a store, and his faithfulness, industry and loyalty soon won him promotion. After two years he carried out the cherished wish of pur- suing a more advanced education by entering an academy at Brockport, New York. In May, 1851. he became a clerk in the freight office of the New York & Erie Railroad at Hornellsville, New York, and was in the employ of that company for four years, during which time he was located successively at Corning. Elmira and New York city.

In the service of the railroad he won various promotions until he became chief clerk in the general freight office, having charge of the accounts with agents over the entire road. In 1855 when the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad, now known as the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, was completed into Chicago, he accepted a position that placed him in charge of the freight office of the road in that city. He believed that greater advancement could be secured in railroad service in the west than in the east, and time justified this belief. The following year he was appointed freight agent of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad at Milwaukee, which was the first line built west of Lake Michigan and north of Chicago. When the line was extended to Prairie du Chien, in 1857, Mr. Bacon was placed in charge of the entire freight de- partment and remained with the road for nearly ten years, serving as anditor, as general freight agent and general ticket agent. To him was assigned the task of organ- izing the various departments and systematizing the work in connection therewith. after which he turned the completed work over to others in order to take up still further tasks of organization. To Mr. Bacon was due the credit of inventing the present coupon ticket case in general use all over the country.

In 1865 Mr. Bacon entered into partnership relations with Lyman Everingham, freight agent at Milwaukee for the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad, to carry on a grain commission business under the firm name of Bacon & Everingham. The new enterprise prospered but on account of the strenuous labors which Mr. Bacon assumed his health became impaired and he devoted the year 1874 to travel, withdrawing from the partnership. He afterward became interested in a wholesale grocery concern under the name of Bacon, Goodrich & Company, but three years later formed a partnership with Oren E. Britt and M. P. Aiken and again engaged in the grain trade under the name of E. P. Bacon & Company. The firm was dissolved in 1877 and Mr. Bacon con- tinued the business alone until 1890, when he admitted George H. D. Johnson and George W. Powers, two of his former employes, to a partnership, and their business became one of the largest of its kind in the upper Mississippi valley.

In 1865 Mr. Bacon became a member of the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce, in the work of which he took a most active and helpful part, doing everything in his power to advance the commercial interests and the civic development of the city. In 1883 he was one of the leaders in a contest that was waged by the Milwaukee Chamber

HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE

of Commerce to secure better rates from the railroads having terminals both in Milwaukee and Chicago, the result being the establishment of more favorable freight rates, which were of great importance to the business interests of the city. For ten years he served on the directorate of the Chamber of Commerce, six years as a direc- tor, two years as vice president and two years as president. He was instrumental in having the Chamber of Commerce scales installed throughout the city. He represented the Chamber at various commercial conventions and was chosen to represent Milwaukee as a member of the National Board of Trade, being elected vice president of that organization for five consecutive years from 1884 to 1889. He was one of the committee from the National Board of Trade to urge the passage of the interstate commerce act at the time that the bill was pending before congress. On various occasions he was sent as a delegate to appear before different congressional committees to oppose the adoption of free silver and to advocate various measures affecting the commercial in- terests of the country.

In 1892 at the time of the great Milwaukee fire Mr. Bacon was the first to call a meeting of the citizens for the relief of the sufferers and his efforts brought comfort into many households. In addition to all of his other public service he was keenly in- terested in the question of the regulation of railroad rates, both state and national, and nothing better illustrates his tenacity of purpose than the campaigns he waged for the abolition of rebates and the passage of the inter-state commerce law of 1906, which enlarged the powers of the inter-state commerce commission. The labors of Mr. Bacon and others resulted in the passage of the Elkins bill in 1903, which made the giving or receiving of rebates a criminal offense.

As chairman of the executive committee of the inter-state law convention, which was an organization made up of nearly three hundred Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce and leading commercial bodies of the country, Mr. Bacon gave practically four or five years of his life. Never conscious of defeat, facing disheartening opposition from the railroads with their money and legal talent arrayed against him, he kept to his task-a disinterested public service. Mr. Bacon's standing in the commercial world, masterful grasp of transportation subjects, and his absolute fairness commanded respect and consideration from members of congress as well as shippers and carriers throughout the country.

Twice under President Mckinley's administration the bill to enlarge the powers of the inter-state commerce commission failed of passing. Mr. Bacon liked to recount how President Roosevelt struck his fist on the table at the end of a conference with him, and said: "Mr. Bacon, I am with you!" In his message to congress, President Roosevelt strongly recommended the enactment of the desired legislation, and on June 29, 1906, after a struggle of nearly seven years, the bill, known as the Hepburn hill, was passed-one of the most far-reaching acts of legislation of recent years, giving to the inter-state commerce commission power to determine a reasonable rate to be sub- stituted for one found to be unreasonable after full hearing, to go into immediate effect, and to continue until reversed by the courts. To Mr. Bacon more than to any man, was due the passage of the bill.

On the 18th of May, 1858, Mr. Bacon was married to Miss Emma Rogers Hobbs, of Paterson, New Jersey. They had four children, of whom the eldest and the youngest, both daughters, passed away. The others were: Lillian, the wife of Rollin B. Mallory of Milwaukee; and Frank Rogers, who became a prominent business man of this city. Mrs. Bacon died in 1892, and in 1895 Mr. Bacon married Mrs. Ella (Dey) Baird of Pelham Manor, New York, daughter of John H. Dey, for many years associate editor of the New York Evangelist.

Mr. Bacon long manifested a most helpful interest in religious work. Soon after becoming a resident of Milwaukee in 1856 he united with the Plymouth Congregational church, of which he was a devoted member for sixteen years. He then transferred his membership to immanuel Presbyterian church, with which he was actively identified for the rest of his life. He took active and helpful part in organizing the Young Men's Christian Association in 1857, and helped to place the society upon a substantial financial basis, serving as vice president and acting as president of the organization.

He served for many years as a trustee of Beloit College and established a fund for assisting young men to secure a college education, or training for the ministry, never forgetting his own desire along that line in his youth. He was constantly reaching out a helping hand to aid fellow travelers on life's journey, especially those who were anxious to aid themselves. He obtained a substantial measure of success, but this was never the end and aim of his existence. He never lightly regarded his duties to the individual nor to society at large, and his love of country was manifest in his earnest efforts to promote general progress and advancement. Mr. Bacon rounded out his char- acter of an honorable man and public-spirited citizen with the choicer qualities of mind and spirit. He possessed a keen appreciation of the beautiful in nature and in art. Courteons in all his dealings. he was nevertheless reserved; the finer, more sensitive side of his nature was known only to friends and those closely related to him. They alone fully realized the unselfishness, generosity and nobility of his nature. He stood

HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE

as a splendid type of American manhood and chivalry, one of the great builders of the empire of the middle west, and his service was at all times a blessing and a benefit to mankind.

JOHN S. GORDON, M. D.

Dr. John S. Gordon, oculist and aurist, whose practice also includes the treatment of diseases of the nose and throat as well as of the eye and ear, has gained an enviable reputation in Milwaukee, where his ability has found recognition in the ready endorse- ment of the public. Born in Berlin, Wisconsin, April 18, 1888, he is a son of John Gordon, a merchant, who was a native of Baltimore, Maryland, born in 1861, while his death occurred in Milwaukee in 1918. In early manhood he married Mrs. Agnes J. Clark, a widow residing in Milwaukee. She was born in Chicago in 1858.

Dr. Gordon was largely reared in Waupaca, Wisconsin, pursuing his early educa- tion there until graduated from the high school with the class of 1907. In the fall of that year he entered the University of Wisconsin, where he pursued an academic course for one year, while later he won his professional degree upon graduation from the medical department of the University of Illinois in 1912. For one year he served as interne in the Milwaukee Hospital and since 1913 he has concentrated his efforts and attention upon diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, specializing as a partner of Dr. Henry B. Hitz and Dr. Gilbert E. Seaman. The firm enjoys a very extensive practice of a notable character and their professional services have been highly satis- factory to their patients.

On the 12th of November, 1913, Dr. Gordon was united in marriage to Miss Ida N. Perry, who was born in Evanston, Illinois, and is a graduate of Lawrence College. Prior to her marriage she engaged in teaching. She has become the mother of one son, John S., Jr., now in his sixth year.

Dr. Gordon is a republican in his political views and always keeps well informed on the vital questions and issues of the day. Fraternally he is a Master Mason, loyal to the teachings and purposes of the craft. He belongs also to the Wisconsin Club and to the Milwaukee University Club, while in the field of his profession he is well known through his membership in the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine, the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Milwaukee Oto-Ophthal- mic Society and the Tri-State Medical Society. He is thoroughly informed concerning the latest researches and discoveries of the profession and his practice is at all times thoroughly scientific in character and of the utmost worth in the results attained.

JOSEPH JOHN KOZOUREK.

Through a period of more than eighteen years Joseph John Kozourek has been connected with the C. W. Fischer Furniture Company, of which he is now the treasurer, his identification with the business as a member of the company dating from 1914. Intelligently directed industry has been the basis of his steady rise in the business world until step by step he has reached a place of prominence in commercial circles. Milwaukee numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred on the 17th of October, 1878. His father, Matthias Kozourek, was a native of Posen, Austria, and of Bohemian ancestry. Coming to America in 1872, he resided for a time in New York and then came to Milwaukee, where he engaged in business as a boxmaker. He was a young married man of about twenty-one years when he came to the United States, his wife being Eva (Wagner) Kozourek, who was also born in Austria, in which country they were married. Mr. Kozourek departed this life in April, 1910. His widow makes her home in Milwaukee.

Joseph J. Kozourek was educated in the parochial schools, attending St. Wences- laus North school on Scott street, and afterward the public schools of the eighth ward, while later he was a student in the Spencerian Business College. He started out to provide for his own support by working in the south side branch of the Schlitz Brewing Company for a year or more. as checking clerk. He then entered the St. Paul shops at West Milwaukee, occupying a position in the storekeeper's office and in the time de- partment for four years, winning advancement to the position of weighmaster. In July, 1903, he entered the employ of the C. W. Fischer Furniture Company as a book- keeper and from time to time has gained promotion, purchasing an interest in the business in 1914 and steadily advancing until he became treasurer and director in 1917. As the financial man of the company he has been active in directing its affairs and promoting its success and is now classed with the prominent and representative merchants of the city.

On the 16th of June, 1903, Mr. Kozourek was married to Miss Antoinette Konbeck,

HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE

a daughter of Anton Koubeck, a cabinetmaker of Milwaukee, who has been connected with the St. Paul shops for twenty-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Kozourek are the parents of four children: Alice, who is attending the South Side high school; Dorothy, in St. Matthew's parochial school; Gertrude, attending the same school; and Loretta.

In politics Mr. Kozourek is a republican but has never been an active party worker. He and his family are of the Catholic faith, identified with St. Matthew's parish. Fraternally he is an Elk, belonging to the Milwaukee lodge, and he is also a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters, of which he has served as secretary. He is fond of bowling and has won second place in the city contest. He was a member of the Fischer team in the Commercial League which won the championship in 1920. He also greatly enjoys fishing and every phase of outdoor life, especially touring in a motor car. The daughter Alice bids fair to become a vocalist of superior ability and is now studying under Madame Kavel. She is likewise proficient as a pianist. The family home is at No. 463 American avenue, a property which Mr. Kozourek purchased in 1910 and which they have since occupied.

DAVID ADLER,

The name of Adler has long been associated with commercial activity in Mil- waukee and has ever been a synonym of enterprise, integrity and progressiveness. For more than fifty years David Adler was active in the control of one of the leading mer- cantile houses of the city and his life illustrated clearly what could be accomplished through individual effort and indefatigable energy intelligently directed, He richly merited the proud American title of a self-made man, rising from an obscure beginning to the head of one of the largest clothing manufacturing establishments in the north- west. A native of Austria, he was born in Neustadt, province of Bohemia, October 9. 1821, his parents being Isaac and Bertha Adler. They were small traders in Neustadt, where the father lived for fifty-eight years.

David Adler acquired his education in the schools of his native city and afterward served a three years' apprenticeship to the baker's trade. Later he spent a year in travel in Europe for the purpose of observing the different methods of conducting the bakery business and then returned to Neustadt, where he resided again for two years ere coming to the new world. Attracted by the opportunities offered in America and hoping to greatly improve his fortunes by sojourning in this land, he made the long voyage to New York, where he arrived on the 15th of August, 1846. He at once began work in connection with the bakery business and two years later established a busi- ness of his own in New York, meeting with success and carrying on the undertaking for three years. In 1851, with a belief in the coming greatness of the west, he disposed of his interests in the eastern metropolis and removed to Milwaukee, bringing with him a cash capital of twelve hundred dollars, Here he established a small retail clothing store on East Water street and this constituted the nucleus of the present mammoth business which is synonymous with commercial activity in Milwaukee and which is now carried on under the style of the David Adler & Sons Company. In 1857 he broadened the scope of his activities to include the wholesale clothing trade and ad- mitted his nephew, Jacob Adler, to a partnership under the firm name of D. & J. Adler. Jacob Adler. who retired at the end of two years, was succeeded by Solomon Adler, brother of David Adler, In 1870 Solomon Adler was succeeded by the eldest son and the son-in-law of David Adler, H. M. Mendel, the firm name becoming Adler, Mendel & Company. Eight years later Mr. Mendel retired and the firm style of David Adler & Sons was assumed, the business later being incorporated as the David Adler & Sons Company. The three sons, Isaac, Emanuel and Samuel, have long been identified with the firm. The father continued as president of the company to the time of his demise and his progressive methods left their impress upon the steady growth and development of the house. He closely studied the desires of his patrons, kept a stock that displayed the latest goods to be found in the clothing markets of the country, while the trust- worthiness of his business methods featured strongly as a factor in his continually de- veloping success. In recent years the company has employed as many as nine hundred hands in the manufacture of clothing. Their annual sales have for some time aggre- gated one million five hundred thousand dollars, their trade extending throughout the entire northwest to the Pacific coast. In 1889 the seven-story brick store building was erected by the company at the southwest corner of East Water and Huron streets, replacing an old building in which they had been housed for many years. As the years passed Mr. Adler became interested in other business projects and was one of the organizers of the Wisconsin National Bank, of which he was a director from its in- ception. He was also one of the founders and vice president of the National Straw Works.

Mr. Adler was married in 1848 to Miss Fannie Newbouer of New York city, and they became the parents of seven sons and three daughters. In religious belief he held to

DAVID ADLER

HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE

the faith of his fathers and was noted for his intense loyalty and devotion to the teach- ings of the Jewish religion. For a number of years he was president of the Congrega- tion of Temple Emanu-El. He was for twenty-five years identified with the Jewish Orphan Asylum at Cleveland, Ohio, and filled the office of vice president of that associa- tion for fifteen years. Later he was unanimously elected its president. He was con- stantly extending a helping hand to those who needed assistance and was widely known for his charity. For thirty years he filled the position of grand treasurer of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Wisconsin, an office he resigned only a year or two prior to his death because of advancing years. Twice he represented the grand encampment and once the grand lodge in the sovereign grand lodge of America. He was a generous contributor toward the building of the Odd Fellows' home at Green Bay and for many years he was one of the directors of the Wisconsin Odd Fellows' Mutual Life Insurance Company. He likewise belonged to the Old Settlers Club of Milwaukee, of which he became vice president. He passed away January 23, 1905, at the venerable age of eighty-four years, and for fifty-three years he had been a resident of Milwaukee, closely associated throughout the entire period with its commercial interests and at all times active in support of those matters of citizenship which feature in public upbuilding and prosperity.

ARTHUR M. WERBA.

Arthur M. Werba, attorney at law of Milwaukee and now one of the officers in Arthur Kroepfel Post No. 1 of the American Legion, was born in this city September 8, 1893, his parents heing Henry and Ludmilla Werba, both of whom are natives of Bohemia. They came to Milwaukee about 1885, and the father is now well known in real estate circles and also in connection with a foreign exchange, banking and steam- ship agency business. He is one of the most prominent of the Bohemian residents of this city.

Arthur M. Werba was educated in the public schools of Milwaukee, attending the East Division high school until graduated with the class of 1911. He afterward became a student in the Milwaukee Normal School and is a graduate of the University of Wis- consin, in which he completed his course in February, 1917, the Bachelor of Laws de- gree being at that time conferred upon him. He was admitted to the bar the same year and has since followed his profession.

In September, 1917, Mr. Werba enlisted in the Eighty-fifth Division for service in the World war and completed his service at the Second Army Headquarters. He went overseas with the Eighty-fifth Division and was transferred to the Second Army Military Police, remaining in France for one year. He was just back of the front lines on regular prescribed military police work and was a non-commissioned officer, serving as corporal. He was mustered out at Camp Grant, near Rockford, Illinois, in August, 1919, and returning to Milwaukee, resumed the practice of law. He is a member of Sergeant Arthur Kroepfel Post No. 1, which was the first post organized in Wisconsin, and Mr. Werba has been its secretary from the beginning. The post now has about eight hundred members, being the second largest post in the state. Aside from his connection with the American Legion, Mr. Werba is identified with the Loyal Order of Moose and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. He is particularly active, however, in the work of the Legion and is in hearty sympathy with the high purposes of the order in main- taining the most advanced standards of American citizenship with the same thorough- ness and patriotic spirit that prompted service on foreign soil in the great World war.

FRED C. BORGWARDT.

Fred C. Borgwardt is engaged in the undertaking business in Milwaukee, associated with his brother, George F. Borgwardt. Both are natives of this city, the former born July 5, 1886, and the latter on the 3d of March, 1883. They are sons of Fred J. Borg- wardt, who was born in Germany, November 11, 1858, his parents being Fred and Sophia (Holtzmann) Borgwardt. In the year 1867 Fred and Sophia Borgwardt came to the United States with their family, settling in Milwaukee, where they continued to reside until called to their final rest. The former died November 11, 1906, at the age of seventy-seven years. The son, Fred J. Borgwardt, was but nine years of age when the family home was established in this city. Here he acquired his education in the Lutheran parochial schools and in early life he learned the cabinetmaking trade, fol- lowing this in connection with the furniture business until he established himself in the undertaking and furniture business in 1884. In 1897 he disposed of his furniture business. From that time until his demise he continued as one of the leading under- takers of the city and in 1902 he admitted his son, George F., to a partnership, under

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History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III, Part 1

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844 Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 912

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 912