USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume II > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
CHARLES G. STERN.
No history of Milwaukee would be complete without mention of the Stern family who have for many years heen dominant factors in its development and improvement. The H. Stern Jr., & Brother Company is one of the oldest and representative wholesale dry goods establishments in Milwaukee, and Charles G. Stern, whose name initiates this review, has been its chief executive since 1919. He was born in this city on the 7th of October, 1853, his parents being Henry and Julia (Popper) Stern, both deceased. Henry Stern was born in Germany and came to the United States in 1848, when but twenty-four years of age. For about a year or so after landing in this country he remained in New York but at the end of that time removed to Wisconsin and located in Milwaukee, where soon afterward he founded the present business with a capital of about five hundred dollars. He took into partnership Julius Goll, who remained with him for about two years, and they succeeded in putting the business on paying basis. From the start the firm handled wholesale notions and built up a reputation in that connection throughout Milwaukee and vicinity. In 1853, Hermann Stern, a brother of Henry, came to this country and they engaged in business under the name of H. Stern Jr., & Brother. On December 6, 1892, the business was incorporated with a capital stock of two hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars but today the capital stock totals five hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Henry Stern was likewise prom- inently known in connection with the German-English Academy, of which he was secretary for some years, and he took a great interest in the school. His death in 1903 caused a feeling of deep bereavement in the community for in his passing Mil- waukee lost a public-spirited man whose life, so far-reaching and beneficial in its effects, so honorahle in its purposes and so varied in its activities, became an integral part of the city's history. His brother Hermann survived until August 11, 1919, when his demise occurred. Both demonstrated throughout their lives the hardiness and untiring energy characteristic of their ancestry. Their father, Samuel Stern, was a native of Germany, where he spent his life and won prominence in the wholesale yarn business. Mrs. Henry Stern passed away in 1898. She was born in Prague, Bohemia, and came to the United States as a young girl accompanied by her mother. They located in Milwaukee, where she met and married Mr. Stern.
Charles G. Stern received his education in the German-English Academy, now the University school, from which institution he was graduated at the age of fourteen years. He then went to Germany, where for three years he attended the Polytechnic Institute of Karlsruh, specializing in mechanical engineering. Upon completing his course, he returned to Milwaukee and in 1871 entered his father's business. He has been active in that connection ever since and upon the death of his uncle, Hermann Stern, was made chief executive of the company. Previous to that time be had held the office of treasurer. His business affairs have been capably conducted and, although it is true that he became interested in a business already established, many a man would have failed in controlling and enlarging such an enterprise. Under his ex- cellent management the business has steadily continued to flourish and it now extends over five states which are thoroughly covered by fifteen traveling salesmen. The com- pany does a wholesale business in dry goods, notions and furnishing goods and are also importers and jobbers. In addition to being president of that company, Mr. Stern is a director of the Milwaukee Mechanics' Insurance Company.
On the 21st of April, 1878, Mr. Stern was united in marriage to Miss Alma M. Cramer, a daughter of Adolph J. Cramer of Milwaukee, secretary of the Milwaukee Mechanics' Insurance Company. Her father was likewise a native of Germany and came to this country when a young unmarried man. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Stern two children have been born: Erich and Julia. The son is a well known mem- ber of Milwaukee's legal profession and maintains offices at 425 Water street. His birth occurred on the 8th of February, 1879, and he received his education in the German-English Academy, now the University school, and was graduated from the East Side high school with the class of 1897. He then enrolled as a student in Harvard, from which he received his A. B. degree in 1901, and, deciding upon a legal career,
CHARLES G. STERN
43
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
attended the law school there, from which he was graduated LL. B. in 1904. After one year spent in postgraduate work in the universities of Paris and Berlin, he entered practice in Milwaukee and in 1911 formed a partnership with Burdette F. Williams, an association which is still maintained. Erich Stern, since attaining his majority, has been a consistent member of the republican party and was a representative of that party in the Milwaukee common council, 1908-10, from the first ward and served in the legislature from 1911 to 1912. From 1914 to 1919 he held a professorship in the Marquette University School of Law. As one of Milwaukee's representative citizens he holds membership in the City Club and was acting president of that organization in 1914. For two and one-half years he was president of the Central Council of Social Agencies and was, from 1908 to 1910, a trustee of the Johnson Emergency Hospital. The second member of the Stern family, Julia, is now the wife of Edgar Baumgarten, cf Los Angeles, California, and they are parents of three children.
Mr. Stern has never taken an active interest in politics although he casts his vote with the progressive republicans and he has no affiliations with secret societies. Along social lines, however, he is a member of the Milwaukee Athletic, Wisconsin and City Clubs, and, always ready to cooperate in every movement which tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of the community, he is actively identified with the Association of Commerce. Mr. Stern is of a highly artistic nature and is a vocalist and pianist of ability. He is a leader in musical circles of Milwaukee and takes an active interest in the Milwaukee Orchestral Association. He is likewise a member of the Art Institute, of which he was one of the founders. Mr. Stern is a man of keen discrimination and sound judgment, and his executive ability and excellent management have brought to the concern with which be is connected, a large degree of success. The safe conservative policy which he inaugurated commends itself to the judgment of all, and he has secured for the company a patronage which makes the value of trade transaeted over its counters of great importance and magnitude. The prosperity of the company is certainly due in a large measure to its president and .manager-the gentleman whose name initiated this review.
ALVIN PAUL KLETZSCH.
Large and important business interests are under the control of Alvin Paul Kletzsch, who is now the president of the Charles F. Kietzsch Company and the Kletzsch Realty Company and is also an officer and director in other corporate con- cerns. The constant development of his powers through the exercise of effort has made him a potent force in business circles and the soundness of his judgment is manifest in the success which has crowned his labors.
Mr. Kletzsch was born August 21, 1861, in Newburg. Washington county, Wis- consin, his parents being Charles Frederick and Ernestine Matilda ( Pietsch) Kletzsch, the former of Bischofswerda, Saxony. He immigrated to this country in 1853, settling at Newburg, Wisconsin, where he established a hotel known as the Webster House, which he there conducted until 1868. He then took over the Newburg mills and thereby turned his attention to the manufacture of flour and of lumber and in con- nection with his sawmill operated a furniture factory. In 1873 he removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he became proprietor of the Lewis House, which he con- ducted until December, 1875, and then sold. At the latter date he leased the Republican House of Milwaukee, which he purchased in 1883 and which was continuously con- ducted by the family until the 1st of January, 1920.
Alvin Paul Kletzsch pursued his early education in the public schools of Newburg, Wisconsin, and afterward attended the German-English Academy at Fond du Lac and the Milwaukee high school, now the East Division high school. He then became a student in Stevens Institute of Technology at Hoboken, New Jersey, and was graduated in June, 1884, with the degree of Mechanical Engineer. During his college days he became an honorary member of the Tau Beta Pi fraternity. Following his graduation he had charge of the mechanical laboratory at the Stevens Institute until July, 1885, making experiments and mechanical and scientific investigations under Professor Robert H. Thurston, C. E. & M. E. Later Dr. Thurston was a director of Sibley College at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, but owing to the illness of his father in 1885, was called to assist in the conduct of the Republican House and in February, 1888, the Charies F. Kletzsch Company acquired the property, which it has since owned. Alvin P. Kletzsch was secretary of the company until October, 1894, and since that time has been its president. He likewise owns and controls much real estate in Wisconsin and Illinois under the name of the Kletzsch Realty Company, of which he is likewise president. He is also the president and one of the directors of the Milwaukee Auditorium Company and is a member of the governing board of the Milwaukee Auditorium. He is likewise a member of the Milwaukee county park board and while he is active in the management of his individual busi-
44
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
ness affairs, he has always found time and opportunity to cooperate in these interests of a public and semi-public character, which have to do with general advancement and improvement and with the promotion of interests of civic virtue and of civic pride. In addition to his other activities of this character he was a trustee of the hospital for the insane in Milwaukee county, having been appointed by Governor La Follette and Governor McGovern.
Mr. Kletzsch was a member of the Light Horse Squadron of Milwaukee, now known as Troop A, Wisconsin Cavalry, from which he received an honorable dis- charge in 1892. In politics he is a progressive republican and was chairman of the state central committee from 1914 until 1916. Fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to LaFayette Lodge, F. & A. M., and receiving the successive degrees of the chapter, the order of the Temple, and the consistory degrees up to and including the thirty- second. He is likewise a member of the Mystic Shrine and he served as commander of Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 24, K. T., in 1900, and was grand commander of the Grand Commandery of Wisconsin in 1908. He is likewise identified with the Benev- olent Protective Order of Elks and he has membership in the Western Stevens Club of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Country Club and in the University Club. He has used his talents and opportunities wisely and well, accomplishing his purposes by reason of close application, indefatigable energy and keen business insight and also rendering effective aid in public affairs, whereby the interests of city and com- monwealth have been largely augmented.
LOUIS FREDERICK FRANK, M. D.
Dr. Louis Frederick Frank, son of Friedrich August Frank and Anna Veronika (Kerler) Frank was born in Milwaukee, April 15, 1857. His father, Friedrich August Frank, son of the Lutheran pastor, Johann Heinrich Frank, of Dietlingen in Baden, Ger- many, came to the United States in 1850 and together with other relatives settled on a farm on the Tittibawassee river near Saginaw, Michigan. A merchant by training and experience and having been driven from Germany by the intolerable attitude of the Prussian government which led many to seek domiciles in other countries as the result of the collapse of the revolutionary agitation of 1848, he soon cast about for a suitable position, choosing Milwaukee for his future home. Upon the dissolution of the dry goods firm of Goll & Stern in 1852, he became associated with Julius Goll, entering as junior partner into the firm henceforth to be known as Goll & Frank, incorporated in 1855, which since has enjoyed a steady and prosperous growth.
Louis Frederick Frank received his early training at the parochial school of the present Grace Lutheran church, known at that time as Muehlhaeuser's after the Rev. Johannes Muehlhaeuser, previously pastor. H. O. R. Siefert, later superintendent of Milwaukee's public schools, hecame one of his instructors, and he frequently remarked in later life that while the training might have been lacking in variety as compared with the demands of modern curricula, the thoroughness with which the elements of education were instilled left nothing to be desired. He next attended the Lutheran high school, formerly connected with the present Trinity church, and later pursued his studies at Markham's Academy, where he was graduated in 1875.
Having decided upon the study of medicine as his future profession, he spent two years at the University of Michigan, completing the required course at the College of Medicine of the University of the City of New York, where he received his degree of M. D. in 1878. In order to prepare himself more fully for his future calling, he determined to devote another year of study at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany, where he obtained his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1879. Dr. Frank began the practice of medicine in Milwaukee in 1880 by becoming for a time assistant to Dr. Nicholas Senn, who was later made surgeon-general of the Illinois National Guard dur- ing the Spanish-American war.
In 1882 Dr. Frank married Emily Inbusch, daughter of the late John D. Inbusch, by which marriage there were three children, Edwin, who married Marie Meinecke, daughter of the late Ferdinand Meinecke of Milwaukee; Elsa J. and Emily J. Frank. He suffered the loss of his wife in 1890 and later decided to leave for Europe in order to prepare himself for the specialty of dermatology, studying nnder Unna in Hamburg, Kaposi in Vienna and Fournier in Paris. After a year's absence he returned and began to follow the chosen specialty with greatest interest, introducing to Milwaukee the use of the X-ray and the Finsen ultra violet ray lamp for the treatment of malignant skin diseases.
In May, 1888, members of the Bartlett Clinical Club, principally at the instigation of Drs. Horace M. Brown, A. B. Farnham and Samuel W. French organized the present Emergency Hospital, of which Dr. Frank was elected president.
In 1892 Dr. Frank's second marriage to Ella E. Schandein, daughter of the late Emil Schandein, took place. There were two children: Armin C., who married Elsie
DR. LOUIS F. FRANK
47
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
Espy, daughter of Carl Espy of Savannah, Georgia; and Louise F., who married Walter S. Ott, son of Emil H. Ott of Milwaukee.
Dr. Frank was one of the charter members of the Clinical Club, later changed to Bartlett Clinical Club, thereafter to the Milwaukee Medical Society, now known as the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine. Of this organization he was president in 1894, when the American Medical Association convened in Milwaukee. He was a member of the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the Wisconsin Medical Society and the American Medical Society, also a member of the "Verein Deutscher Aerzte," the object of which was the promotion of professional interests and to which only physicians with German diploma (Austria, Russia and Switzerland included) were eligible. In the founding of the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Frank was likewise actively interested and belonged to the initial teaching staff of that institution. In 1900 he was one of the delegates to the Pan-American Medical Congress in Havana.
As a diversion from the more serious character of his work, Dr. Frank always took great interest in the development of the musical life and progress of the city and being himself an able performer on various instruments, including the pipe-organ, for which he had a particular fondness, he frequently arranged musical evenings in his home with professional and able amateur musicians, and these evenings spent in performing the works of the masters were a source of constant delight and recreation to him.
He was also actively interested in various musical organizations of the city, having been one of the organizers of the A Capella Choir and for several years president of the Milwaukee Musical Society, during which time the society-in 1900-celebrated its semi-centennial by a series of splendid concerts, for which famous artists had been engaged. One of these evenings was made particularly memorable by the presence and speech of Carl Schurz, which proved to be his last visit to Wisconsin, the scene of his earliest activities in America. Dr. Frank was also one of the founders of the Wiscon- sin Conservatory of Music, which institution has developed into one of the leading music schools in the middle west and of which he was president at the time of his death.
After a prolonged trip to Europe with his family in 1907-08, he gradually limited his practice in order to devote more time to various literary pursuits. Early Wisconsin history greatly interested him and having come perchance into possession of a number of family letters describing the pioneer days of his forefathers, he published these in a pretentious volume entitled "Pionier-Jahre der Familien Frank-Kerler." The success- ful completion of this work led him to undertake the writing of the "History of the Medical Profession of Milwaukee," his last work of this kind and for which he received many encouraging comments.
He was an ardent lover of nature. His walks and rambles through the countryside, mostly Sunday mornings, gave him many silent hours for thought and contemplation. The result of these being his collection of poems of various characters gathered to- gether in a small volume entitled "Lebenserinnerungen eines Arztes," a true reflection of the joy and exaltation derived from the great outdoors.
Dr. Frank died after a lingering illness on May 12, 1918, and one of his many friends who paid him the last tribute may be quoted as follows: "His creed was his belief in the duty of each man to make life better worth living for others and with such a Bible for his guidance and with such a creed he passed his life among us, an inspiration and example to all who knew him. His wit, his ability in his profession, his skill in the production of things that were beautiful, marked him as a man above the common herd and in the immortality he has left behind, is as much alive today, as when he first came among us and will so remain to those who knew him, so long as for them memory shall last!"
PAUL J. STERN.
Paul J. Stern occupies a leading position in business circles of Milwaukee as the president of the Atlas Bread Factory, which he established in 1900 and in which connection he has since developed an enterprise of mammoth proportions. Milwaukee numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred on the 23d of July, 1876, his parents being Bernhard and Jennie (Poppert) Stern, both of whom are deceased. The father, who was long a prominent figure in business circles here, established the first machine shoe factory in Milwaukee and became the president of the Atlas Flour Mills. Also in connection with Robert C. Spencer he founded the Wisconsin School for the Deaf and Dumb. The mother was the first pupil and the first graduate of the Milwaukee University School.
Paul J. Stern acquired his early education in the public schools, later attended St. John's Military Academy and for three years was a student in the East Side high school. After putting aside his textbooks he turned his attention to bread and
48
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
cake baking, which business has claimed his time and energies continuously. In 1900 he established the Atlas Bread Factory, which he has since operated with a capacity of twelve thousand loaves per day, and is now building an addition which will increase the capacity to one hundred and twenty thousand loaves daily. In addition to discharging the important duties of president of the Atlas Bread Factory he is also serving as vice president of the Atlas Flour Mills and is widely recognized as a splendid executive of sound judgment and keen discernment, who well merits the prosperity which has come to him.
In June, 1917, Mr. Stern went into active service in the World war with the rank of captain, remaining in this country as company commander until June, 1918, while from the latter date until the 15th of August, 1918, he was an inspector in France. In August, 1918, he was placed in command of the Mechanical Bakery at Is-sur-Tille, France, which bakery had a capacity of one million, five hundred thousand pounds of bread per day and a personnel of twenty-three officers and eleven hundred and thirty-four enlisted men. This was the largest bakery in the world and supplied all the bread to the American troops at the front, four freight trainloads of bread being shipped daily. Mr. Stern was promoted to the rank of major in August, 1918, and received his discharge on the 9th of February, 1919.
It was on the 8th of November, 1905, in Milwaukee, that Mr. Stern was united in marriage to Miss Daisy Koch, a daughter of Henry C. Koch, who was one of Milwaukee's most prominent architects, and who acted as aid to General Phil Sheridan during the Civil war. To Mr. and Mrs. Stern have been horn three children: Elizabeth Ellen, Nancy Pauline and John Pershing.
In politics Mr. Stern maintains a non-partisan attitude, supporting men and measures rather than party. He is a popular member of the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Wisconsin Club and the Milwaukee Country Club. He was one of the or- ganizers of the Rotary Club, was its first treasurer, and past president in 1920. In Masonry he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is likewise identified with the Mystic Shrine. His life has heen spent in Milwaukee, where he has won a host of friends and where his reputation as a business man and citizen is a most enviable one.
GEORGE ZIEGLER.
In a history of Milwaukee's business and commercial development it is imperative that mention be made of George Ziegler, whose intelligently directed efforts and laud- able ambition took him out of humble business surroundings and placed him with the leading and representative merchants and manufacturers of the Cream City. He de- veloped a candy-making establishment second to none in Milwaukee and scarcely sur- passed in the middle west, and his position was long one of leadership in the line of business with which he became identified.
Mr. Ziegler was born in Halsheim, Bavaria, Germany, in 1830, but was quite young when brought to the new world by his father, George Ziegler, who was a well known and highly respected farmer of Halsheim. In 1845 the latter determined to seek a home in the new world and with his family sailed for the United States, landing on American shores on the 28th of August. Continuing their journey into the interior of the country, they settled on a farm at Columbus, Wisconsin, but George Ziegler was not desirous of devoting his attention to agricultural pursuits and soon obtained a clerkship in the general store of L. Pieron of Milwaukee, with whom he remained for three years, working seven days during the week, his salary being twenty-five dollars and his board for the first year, thirty-five dollars for the second year and forty-five dollars for the third year. It was thus that he made his entrance into the great busi- ness world where he was destined to become a striking figure, by reason of the success which he attained as the years passed by. In 1848 his health failed, owing to his strenuous work and close confinement and he was obliged to give up his position. He afterward became an apprentice at the shoemaking trade and after thoroughly master- ing the business, obtained a position with the firm of Bradley & Metcalf, being identified with the enterprise to the time when he turned his attention to the confectionery business. A writer telling the history of the George Ziegler Company and especially of the founder and promoter of the business, wrote as follows: "He was thoroughly trained in the work of the fields and the care of the crops; but he found such duties irksome and resolved to seek his fortune elsewhere. His father then took him to a tavern keeper in Milwaukee, at that time a small village, and he was bound out for a period of three years for a compensation of one hundred dollars, which sum was to be paid to the father. Did this tavern boy, tired from his toil in tap room and stable yard, dream in the twilight of great days to come? Did he look beyond the wooden walls of that sorry tavern shack to see three quarters of a block of stately build- ings of brick and steel and cement rising story upon story above any low roof of
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.