USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume II > Part 56
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On the 26th of March, 1896, Mr. Glaus was married to Miss Anna Kurth, a native of Milwaukee, and they occupy an attractive home at No. 485 Layton boulevard. Their friends are many and the hospitality of a large number of Milwaukee's best homes is freely extended them. Mr. Glaus was one of the recruiting committees on the war drives and was actively interested in all that pertained to America's welfare in her relation with the allies and the successful prosecution of the war. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world, for here he found the opportunities which he sought and in their utilization has steadily advanced until he stands today among the leading and highly valuel hankers and financiers of the state.
GEORGE W. KALWEIT.
George W. Kalweit, general auditor of the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company, has long been connected with the accounting department of the business and was called to his present position on the 1st of March, 1916. His identification with the company dates from 1898, at which time he accepted a minor position and through the intervening years he has steadily worked upward, He was horn in Berlin, Germany, October 19, 1880, and is a son of O. R. and Pauline (Zerbe) Kalweit, who were also natives of the same country. They came to the United States in 1885 and made their way at once to Milwaukee, The father was engaged in the carpet and drapery business for a number of years. He passed away in 1918 and is survived by his widow who still makes her home in this city.
George W. Kalweit was only five years of age when his parents emigrated to the new world. He became a kindergarten pupil in Berlin and crossing the Atlantic was enrolled as a pupil in the second district school of Milwaukee and learned the English language. In the course of years he was graduated from this school and afterward attended the West Side high school for a year. He also took a course in the Spencerian Business College, in which he specialized on accounting and commercial law. On the 31st of January, 1898, he began work for the Milwaukee Electric Rail- way & Light Company, which at that time had an office at 451 Broadway. His position was that of office hoy in the beginning, but he won promotion to assistant hook- keeper on the 1st of January, 1904, and two years later became general bookkeeper. On the 26th of March, 1906, he became acting auditor and was advanced to the position of auditor on the 1st of January, 1907, continuing to act in that capacity until the 1st of March, 1916, when he was chosen general auditor and has thus been identified with the business throughout the intervening years. When he became connected with the corporation in 1898, there were but thirty-five in the general accounting office, which force has been increased with the development of the husiness through the passing years until there are now more than three hundred employes in this de- partment alone. Mr. Kalweit was one of the organizers and the first president of the Employes Mutual Benefit Association, which was formed in 1912 and he continued as a director and the general auditor of the association for nine years. He also organized the Employes Mutual Savings, Building & Loan Association on the 28th of March, 1914, becoming one of its incorporators, a director and the treasurer and thus serving from the organization. The company has assets at the present time of more than two million dollars. Mr. Kalweit is associated with all of the company's activities and is classed today as one of the prominent and representative business men of the city, by reason of the responsible position to which he has attained. He was at one time second vice president of the American Electric Railway Accountants
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Association and served on various committees. He has written and presented several papers before the association and also before the Wisconsin Electric Association, giv- ing the result of his observations and experiences in connection with the business world as represented in electric transportation.
On the 19th of April, 1909, Mr. Kalweit was married to Miss Lettie Marie Rintel- man of Chicago, who was a graduate of the Downer College of Milwaukee and who passed away in 1919, leaving a little daughter, Lettie Marie, who was born March 11, 1918.
Mr. Kalweit belongs to the Wisconsin Club, to the City Club and to the Milwaukee Association of Commerce and is in hearty sympathy with all of the projects and pur- poses of the last named organization for the benefit and upbuilding of the city. Dur- ing the war period he was treasurer of the employes' drives for Liherty bond sub- scriptions. He turns for recreation to golf and swimming and greatly enjoys both diversions. His life record is well worthy of thoughtful consideration and of emula- tion, indicating as it does what can be accomplished through persistent individual effort, intelligently directed. . The desire to succeed has been the stimulating element in his career, and he recognized that to succeed one must display industry and perse- verance combined with loyalty to the interests served. He has met all these obligations fully and is today a foremost factor in business circles of his adopted city, the humble office boy having risen until he is in control of a department where he has more than three hundred employes serving under him.
FRANK JUSTUS ROEMER.
Frank Justus Roemer, secretary and treasurer of the Roemer Drug Company, was born February 24, 1874, at Bellaire, Ohio. . His father, Herman Roemer, who is president of the company, was born in Germany and came to the United States alone when but sixteen years of age. His first home was in Wheeling, West Virginia, where he resided for a short time, and then removed to Bellaire, Ohio, where he engaged in the mercantile business. He was active in that connection, achieving a substantial amount of success, until 1900, when he removed to Milwaukee with his family. He was prominent in the civic affairs of Bellaire, being a member of the city council for about eight years. During the Civil war he fought in the Union army and participated in some of the most hotly contested battles of the conflict. His wife and the mother of our subject was Mary French, who passed away in 1917. Mrs. Roemer was a daughter of George French, a cabinetmaker of Bellaire, Ohio, in which place her birth occurred.
Frank Justus Roemer was educated in the public schools of his native town and in due time entered Linsly Institute at Wheeling, completing the course in the re- quired time. He then enrolled at Marietta College and was graduated in 1893 as A. B. He was a most brilliant student and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. His initial ex- perience in the commercial world was as traveling salesman for the Bellaire Stove Company, a position he retained one and one-half years, and then in 1895 became secretary and treasurer of the Wheeling Drug Company. The success he achieved in that capacity led to his determination to go into the business on his own account and in 1898 he resigned his position with the Wheeling company and, removing to Mil- waukee, opened a retail drug store at 415 Grand avenue. In 1900 the concern was incorporated for ten thousand dollars, increased to twenty-five thousand dollars in 1908 and changed to a wholesale drug business. Through the enterprise, marked executive ability and administrative direction of Mr. Roemer the business has steadily increased and in 1920 the investment amounted to over one hundred thousand dollars. The company employs four traveling salesmen who cover Wisconsin, Michigan and eastern Iowa along the river. The Roemer Drug Company has established for itself a place among the most important business concerns of Milwaukee and, while handling a general line of drugs, specializes in physicians' and hospital supplies. Mr. Roemer is also identified with financial interests of Milwaukee as a director of the Franklin State Bank.
On the 11th of September, 1900, occurred the marriage of Mr. Roemer and Miss Margaret Jane Phinn, a daughter of Daniel Phinn, a civil engineer who came to Mil- waukee when the St. Paul Railroad was being built through. Mrs. Roemer was born in East Troy, Wisconsin.
The political allegiance of Mr. Roemer is given the republican party and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Plymouth Congregational church. He is a prominent and active member of the Association of Commerce, and he is likewise identified with the Rotary and Milwaukee Athletic Clubs. Mr. Roemer has not only won recognition in commercial circles but is also well known as a musician of his city. The pipe organ and piano have shared much of his interest, as he has spent considerable time in the study of both, and for two years he was choir master and organist in St. Mark's Episcopal church at Bellaire. The World war found his
FRANK J. ROEMER
Vol. II-4.
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patriotism at the one hundred per cent mark and he acted as chairman of the whole- sale drug division in all but two of the different drives, whereby the home lines were held firm as a support of the firing line in Flanders and in France. Mr. Roemer main- tains a summer home at Oconomowoc, finding great pleasure in his sojourn there, which yields to him the recreation that constitutes the needed balance to his com- mercial activities.
GEORGE A. WEST.
George A. West, fiscal agent, corporation lawyer and scientist, of Welsh and Scotch parentage, was born in Raymond, Racine county, Wisconsin, January 13, 1859. He represents one of the pioneer families of the state. His father, Dr. George W. West, settled in Raymond in 1848, while his mother's people came to Wisconsin in 1844. After attending the common schools he completed his education at McMynn's Academy and for three years he taught a country school. In 1881 he was elected register of deeds of Racine county, occupying the position for six years. He then took up the study of law under the direction of Quarles, Spence & Quarles, a well known law firm, and was admitted to practice in the several state and federal courts, being for a number of years associated with his former preceptors in the practice of law. In 1890 he organized the G. A. West Company and under that style conducted a successful real estate business for half a dozen years. A large portion of the year 1900 was spent in Nicaragua on business relating to the proposed canal through that country.
Upon his return to his native land Mr. West took charge of a number of large corporations that needed reorganization and financing and has been in that line of business continuously since. Among the companies organized by him and in which he holds responsible positions was the West Lumber Company, with mills located at Lugerville, Price county. This he organized in 1914 and it is one of the leading lumber companies of the state, with Mr. West as secretary and treasurer. He also organized and is president of the Lake Shore Steamship Company, the Magnesia Products Com- pany, and the Wisconsin-Florida Land Clearing Company. He is also the secretary- treasurer and financial manager of the American Timher Holding Company, holding about twelve million dollars worth of standing timber in British Columbia. He is likewise interested in the Homemaker Land Company, the City Investment Associa- tion, the Gothenburg Light & Power Company, the Platte Valley Cattle Company and the Cozad Canal Company. His business experience has been almost unlimited and notably successful.
Politically Mr. West has always been a republican. He served a number of terms on the state central committee and became its chairman in 1916, holding the position for four years. He was Governor Philipp's principal advisor during his first campaign ending in election as governor of the state. For a time he represented Governor Philipp in the appointment of exemption hoards for the city and county of Milwaukee and under the Governor's appointment served for three years as a member of the state board of public affairs.
Mr. West has always been public-spirited and was one of the organizers of the Chicago-Milwaukee Good Roads Association formed for the purpose of improving the highways between Milwaukee and Chicago before the method of concreting the high- ways was practiced. He has always taken a great interest in manly sports. During 1910 he conducted what was known as the Sentinel Tour, over a course of one thou- sand miles in Wisconsin for the Sentinel trophy, being a silver cup valued at several thousand dollars. This was the first successful automobile tour ever conducted in the state.
Aside from business duties Mr. West has found time to edit several scientific works on archaeology. About twenty years ago he organized the Wisconsin Archae- ological Society at his home and this has become of great value to students of pre- historic Wisconsin. He has made several fine archaeological collections, all of which have found their way into various museums. His collection of aboriginal pipes, con- sidered the finest in America, was donated by him to the Milwaukee Public Museum, that students might enjoy the educational benefit thereof, although he could have sold the collection for a large sum. Since 1906, with the exception of one year, Mr. West has heen a director of the Public Museum and was its president for two terms. He has done much to help make the museum an educational institution of high stand- ing and his labors have been most resultant. In recognition thereof in 1907 he was made honorary curator of the museum. He is a life member of the State Historical Society and a member of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters and of several other scientific organizations. During the building of the Milwaukee Audi- torium Mr. West was a member of the board of trustees for two years and acted on several important committees. He became a charter member of the Milwaukee Real
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Estate Board and retains his membership in that organization. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason and he is identified with the Athletic Club and the City Club.
In 1881 Mr. West married Miss Edith M. Richards of Raymond, Wisconsin, and they have two daughters, Jean E. and Grace A. West. Mr. West is without pretense and shuns notoriety but it is only just to say of him in a history that will descend to future generations that he has been a most successful business man and has attained prominence in the practice of law, yet he has never allowed the attainment of prosperity to shut out those wide interests which are of cultural and of educational value in life. In fact, from early manhood he has recognized that the keenest joy is that which comes from intellectual stimulus and he has found his pleasure in the study of the great book of nature as it unfolds the history of past and present. While thus delving into the records of prehistoric tribes he has not been unmindful of his duties and obligations to the people of his own generation and has neglected no duty of citizenship. Indeed the subjective and objective forces in his life are well balanced and his contribution to the world's progress has been real and valuable in many ways.
EDWARD A. LUEDKE.
Edward A. Luedke, president of the Luedke-Schaefer Shoe Company, whose life record is the story of honest industry and thrift intelligently directed, was born in Milwaukee, June 9, 1867, and is a son of William and Emily (Kuehn) Luedke, both of whom were natives of Germany. They came to this city in pioneer times and the father was proprietor of a shoe store for many years. Both he and his wife have passed away.
Edward A. Luedke acquired his education in the public schools of this city and on starting out in business entered the shoe store of his father, then located on Reed street. He remained there for ten years, receiving thorough business training and acquainting himself with every phase of the trade. When he had reached the age of twenty-eight years he established a shoe store of his own on Grove street and National avenue and there continued in business until March 4, 1911, when he began the manufacture of shoes at his present location. The company's special brand is the Milwaukee King and the sale now extends throughout the country. The business has steadily grown and developed until the firm employs about two hundred people in normal times and occupies a building three stories in height, which is well equipped with modern machinery and all the facilities necessary for shoe manufacturing. Mr. Luedke has been connected with the shoe trade for more than forty years and every phase of the business is thoroughly familiar to him, so that he is able to produce maximum results with a minimum expenditure of time, labor and material-which is the secret of all success in business.
On the 15th of February, 1898, Mr. Luedke was married to Miss Angelia Hubbard of Burlington, Wisconsin, and they hecame parents of two children: Edward A., who is a graduate of Dartmouth College; and Hildegarde, who is now attending the Uni- versity of Wisconsin. The wife and mother passed away January 9, 1919.
Mr. Luedke is a member of all the Masonic bodies, having attained the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite. He belongs to Excelsior Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; Excelsior Chapter, R. A. M .; Galilee Commandery, K. T .; Wisconsin Consistory; and Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise a member of the Milwaukee Athletic Club and his interest in the city's progress and development is shown through his connection with the Milwaukee Association of Commerce. He has always been interested in the city's substantial improvement, as well as in the upbuilding of his own fortunes. With thorough training under his father he started in business on his own account and has steadily developed his interests, promoting his affairs along constructive lines, his path never being strewn with the wreck of other men's for- tunes. Energy and perseverance have carried him steadily forward and his interests are a contributing element to the commercial development of the city.
JOHN KULZICK.
Among the enterprises which have contributed to making Milwaukee a great manufacturing center and which have been a forceful element in her commercial de- velopment and greatness is the Milwaukee Glove Company, of which John Kulzick is the president. His life's story is an interesting one, indicating as it does the force and value of industry, persistency of purpose and integrity. He was born in the town of Calamus, Dodge county, Wisconsin, April 9, 1878, and is a son of John and Mary . (Tadyck) Kulzick, both of whom were natives of Poland, whence they came to America in youth, settling in Milwaukee. The father was originally a farmer but afterward
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EDWARD A. LUEDKE
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put aside agricultural pursuits and conducted a general store in Beaver Dam. He became a prominent and influential resident of the community, active in public affairs and for a number of years he served on the school board there. Both he and his wife have passed away.
John Kulzick was educated in the first ward school of Beaver Dam until he had concluded the work of the third grade. His educational opportunities, however, were somewhat limited, but in the school of experience he has learned many valuable lessons. He came to Milwaukee in 1896 when eighteen years of age and was employed by the Straw & Ellsworth Manufacturing Company, with whom he remained as stock boy for about three years. He was then given charge of the glove stock and continued to act in that capacity for four years, when his health became impaired and he was sent out upon the road as a traveling salesman, opening up the territory from Colorado to the coast. He traveled over that territory for about ten years, establishing a sub- stantial business for the house, and during the greater part of that period he made his home in Denver.
In the meantime Mr. Kulzick became interested in the retail clothing business in Milwaukee in connection with Joseph Lauer and these two gentlemen organized the Milwaukee Glove Company, also admitting William P. John to a partnership in the year 1905. The business was located at No. 369 Grove street and was begun on a most modest scale. They started with one cutter and in addition employed three girls. It was not long, however, hefore their trade had increased to such an extent that they had outgrown their old quarters and their present building was erected and finished in July, 1920. It is a two-story and basement structure, one hundred and fifty feet in breadth and one hundred and seventy feet deep. The company manu- factures all kinds of men's leather gloves and in normal times they employ about one hundred and twenty people in the factory, while upon the road they are repre- sented by fourteen traveling salesmen. Mr. Kulzick devotes his entire time to the business. This was the first glove factory to establish the eight hour day. The plant is equipped with all modern machinery and supplied with every needed appliance to safeguard the employes and the factory is light and sanitary and modern in every respect. The plant has a capacity of about twenty-five hundred dozen pairs of gloves per month and the sale covers a wide territory. During the war period business was fifty per cent government work, which was allotted immediately upon advice from the government.
Mr. Kulzick was married September 25, 1895, to Susan Fuhry of Beaver Dam, and they have become parents of four children: Marguerite, a teacher of the deaf chil- dren in the Normal School; Earl, who is with the Milwaukee Glove Company in the advertising and claim adjustment departments; Howard, who is a graduate of Mar- quette Academy; and Mary Mildred.
Mr. Kulzick is a Catholic in religious faith and belongs to the Knights of Columbus. His life has been preeminently that of a business man, his entire time and attention being concentrated upon his manufacturing interest since he opened his glove making establishment in Milwaukee. Thoroughness, enterprise and close application have been the salient features in the attainment of his present day gratifying success.
EUGENE WENGERT.
Eugene Wengert, attorney at law, with offices at 720 Twelfth street, Milwaukee, came to Wisconsin from Iowa, his birth having occurred at State Center, in the latter state, March 20, 1885, his parents being George J. and Dorathea (German) Wengert, both of whom were natives of the United States. The father was born in Chicago, while the mother was born in Iowa, where Mr. Wengert became well known as a farmer and stock raiser. He is still living in that state, although he has now retired from active business. He served as a member of the school board in his home locality, also as a member of the county board of supervisors for one term and in many ways has been actively connected with the welfare and progress of his community.
Eugene Wengert pursued his education in the country schools, spending his youth in the usual manner of the farm bred boy who divides his time between the acquire- ment of an education and the work of the fields. He continued on the farm until he reached the age of seventeen years and then came to Milwaukee in the fall of 1901. Here he entered Concordia College, which he attended for six years, He afterward went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he became a student in the Theological Seminary and after a year there passed he took up the profession of teaching, which he fol- Iowed for a year in the Lutheran Normal School for colored people. During that time he also attended the Tulane University at New Orleans, Louisiana, where he did special work. Continuing his education as a student in the Iowa State University, he there won his Bachelor of Arts degree and later he took a postgraduate course in the University of Wisconsin, spending several summer sessions as a student there.
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During this period he was for two years at the head of the modern language depart- ment in the public high school at Bloomington, Illinois, and for three years held a similar position in the public schools of Peoria, Illinois. While at Bloomington he also studied law in the Wesleyan University and was admitted to the bar in Milwaukee in January, 1915. Through the intervening period of six years he has continued in the general practice of law, trying all kinds of cases and trying them well. He is very careful, through and systematic in the preparation of his cases and has built up a very gratifying practice in Milwaukee as a member of the firm of Wangerin & Wengert. In September, 1921, he was appointed assistant district attorney, which position he is now filling.
On the 27th of December, 1910, Mr. Wengert was married to Miss Lydia Semmann of this city and they have become parents of two sons: Egbert and Norman. Politically Mr. Wengert is a republican and was a delegate to the national convention of the party in Chicago in June, 1920. He is well informed concerning the vital political, sociological and economic problems before the country and upon questions of national importance and keeps abreast with the best thinking men of the age. Along professional lines he is connected with the City, County and State Bar Associations and at all times he holds to high professional standards. During the World war he served on the executive committee of the Red Cross and in every possible way furthered American interests.
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