History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III, Part 72

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 72

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HENRY EGGERT.

When Henry Eggert passed away in 1918, Milwaukee lost one of her oldest and most honored pioneer merchants. He had become a resident of this city in 1868 and through the intervening period until 1912 had been closely associated with commercial interests and upbuilding here. His life story had its beginning on the 18th of Sep- tember, 1842, his natal day, and his birthplace was Hanover, Germany. There he spent the period of his boyhood and youth in the home of his parents, Ernst and Marie (Mauntler) Eggert, and in 1868, when he had reached the age of twenty-six years, he started for the new world with the family. In the meantime he had acquired a fair education in the schools of Germany and had also learned the cabinetmaker's trade there, thus acquainting himself with the business in which the father was also engaged.

At length the family embarked for the United States on one of the old-time sailing vessels that was six weeks in reaching the harbor of New York, where they landed on the 4th of July, 1868. Almost immediately they started westward, with Milwaukee as their destination, and from that time until his death Henry Eggert was associated with the business interests of this city. He worked for others for a time and in 1874 he joined his father and his brother, Herman Eggert, in the establishment of a business for the manufacture of furniture and its sale. Their store was conducted under the firm style of E. Eggert & Sons and was first situated in a little frame building at No. 740 Winnebago street. Thence in 1906 a removal was made to the corner of Eighth and Winnebago streets, where they erected a three-story building that now covers the lots from Nos. 740 to 744 Winnebago street. As the years passed the firm built up a business of large and substantial proportions. The father and sons manufactured much of the furniture in the early days and a considerable portion of their output was shipped outside of Milwaukee and to foreign lands as well. Their trade steadily increased and the business became one of the substantial commercial interests of the city. In 1900 Vol. 111-42

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the two sons, Henry and Herman, purchased the interest of their father, who was then well' advanced in years, and in 1912 they in turn sold the business to Alfred and Richard Eggert, sons of Henry Eggert, after which Henry Eggert lived retired in the enjoyment of a well earnest rest until called to the home beyond.

In early manhood he was united in marriage to Miss Anna Buening, and they became the parents of ten children: Elizabeth, the wife of Max Becker; Ernst; Alfred; Godfrey: Frieda, the wife of Richard Runge; Lydia, the wife of August Linde; Emma, the wife of Carl Engel; Alma, the wife of Elmer Schmutzler; Richard; and Walter.

Mr. Eggert continued to make his home in Milwaukee until he passed away in the year 1918, having for a half century been a citizen of Wisconsin. He never sought to figure prominently in any public connections, and while his life was less spectacular than that of the statesman or the military leader, it was none the less vital and essential to the community. As a merchant he contributed to the commercial upbuild- ing and progress of Milwaukee and at all times he maintained the highest standards of business, thus winning the respect, confidence and goodwill of all who knew him.

RUDOLPH PFEIL, JR.

Rudolph Pfeil, Jr., president of the American Show Print Company of Milwaukee, his native city, was born April 17, 1860. His father, Rudolph Pfeil, Sr., was a native of Ettlingen, Germany, and spent his youthful days in the Rhine country, coming to the United States when about twenty-four years of age. He settled first in New York, where he lived for four or five years and then came to Milwaukee. He was a merchant tailor and had the German love of music, becoming one of the organizers of the music society which is now the Mannerchor. He was active and prominent in connection with all musical interests of the city and did much to stimulate and promote a love of the art among his fellow townsmen. He was eighty-six years of age at the time of his death on the 22d of December, 1911. He had three brothers and ere his demise the average age of the four was more than eighty years. Their father was Joseph Pfeil, a machinist, who spent his entire life in Germany. Rudolph Pfeil, Sr., was united in marriage to Katherine Franke, who was born in Simmern-on-the-Rhine and came to the United States with her parents when ahout twenty years of age. She died July 12, 1920, at the age of eighty-two years. She was a sister of the wife of Edward Rummel, at one time secretary of state of Illinois and a prominent newspaper man of Chicago.

Rudolph Pfeil, Jr., whose name introduces this review, was educated in the schools of the seventh ward and in the German-English Academy, now the University school, where among his teachers were Professor Peter Engleman, Professor Schleif and Profes- sor Geilfus, all. capable educators of that period. Mr. Pfeil started out in the business world as cash boy in the department store of Herman Heyn, there remaining for two years, during which time he was promoted to a clerkship. He was afterward in the employ of .Eugene E. Hotchkiss on the Board of Trade for three years, working in the office and on the elevators. Later he was with Robert Elliott, who engaged in the grain commission business, for two years and subsequently he was associated with the firm of Pfister & Vogel in office work, becoming cashier of the city office, working under Charles Pfister and Fred Vogel, remaining with the firm for about twelve years. He next hecame connected with the Merchants Exchange Bank as bookkeeper, filling the position until the bank was merged with the First National Bank, after which he re- mained with the new concern as bookkeeper for seven or eight years. He left the bank to take charge of the office of the Greve Lithograph Company, in which he had pre- vionsly acquired an interest. The firm was carrying on business in the Montgomery building. In 1901 several of the stockholders of the present company, including Mr. Pfeil, purchased the Greve interests and changed the name to the present form of the American Show Print Company, which is capitalized for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars against the twenty-five thousand dollars capitalization of the Greve Company. The present company does a theatrical show printing business, also prints commercial posters and moving picture window displays and posters. They cover the entire United States with their business and also have an extensive patronage in Canada, England and Australia. They employ about seventy people, comprising pressmen, artists and all the necessary workmen for business of this kind. Seeking larger and more commodious quarters, the company removed to its present location, where they have a large building which they erected. This is a three-story and basement structure and has thirty-five thousand square feet of floor space. It is splendidly equipped for the convenience and comfort of employes. There are shower baths and private lockers for the workmen and all the modern equipment of a thoroughly np-to-date plant. In 1916 a disastrous fire brought great destruction to the plant, but it was at once rebuilt. The company started business with one press and a lithographing machine capable of printing a sheet twenty- eight by forty-two inches. They now have three presses of that size and also six double deckers, which print a sheet forty-three by sixty inches. They likewise have six large

MRS. RUDOLPH PFEIL, JR.

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type presses with entire type and equipment for their operations. The growth of the plant has come about entirely from the profits of the business.

On the 24th of August, 1886, Mr. Pfeil was married to Miss Josephine Schultz, a daughter of Henry Schultz of the Schultz & Bond Lime & Cement Company of Mil- waukee. He was a native of Germany and with his parents came to the new world, the family home being established at Twelfth and Galena streets. The grandparents of Mrs. Pfeil in the maternal line were among the earliest of Milwaukee's settlers, arriving about 1840. Her grandfather, Wendell Paque, was a Frenchman from the town of St. Wendell, in Alsace-Lorraine, wlience he came with his family to the new world. Mrs. Pfeil has spent her entire life in Milwaukee and has been most active in good work here. She was one of the first to become interested in the movement to replace the battleship Wisconsin and was instrumental in getting many organizations of women to send messages to Washington, asking that this step be taken. With America's entrance into the World war in 1917 she became a most active worker in behalf of the soldiers. In that year she went to Camp Custer and spent two weeks speaking in the barracks and she labored in many ways to promote the interests of those who donned the khaki uniform, among whom were two of her own sons. After Christmas in 1917 she was associated with Edward Foss and Daniel Leisk in organizing the Three Hundred Fortieth Infantry Booster Club for the Milwaukee boys of Companies L and M and later the troops of the Three Hundred and Tenth Supply Train. This club gave a fare- well dinner to the soldiers and in June, 1918, Mrs. Pfeil again visited Camp Custer, just before the boys were sent overseas. Prior to this time she had been made "mother" of the Eighty-fifth Division by Brigadier General Penn at the time when the Three Hundred and Fortieth Infantry was brought to Milwaukee on an exhibition drill in May, 1918. On that occasion Mrs. Pfeil and other members of the Booster Club provided home comforts and Inxuries for the soldiers, and when the club gave a farewell banquet for them, Mrs. Pfeil was honored by being made "mother." She was also instrumental in raising the money that enabled the club to send a Christmas box to every member of the Three Hundred and Fortieth Infantry, the Three Hundred and Tenth Supply Train and Base Hospital No. 22. She acted as a hostess at the War Camp Community Club and aided in entertaining the boys at the Army and Navy Club. Mr. and Mrs. Pfeit opened their home for ten months to a wounded soldier and Mrs. Pfeil was instrumental in organizing the Milwaukee County War Mothers' chapter and had charge of the Eighty-fifth Division booth at the Victory festival. She did not terminate her work with the signing of the armistice but was among those who extended a most hearty greeting to the boys on their return. Her two sons, James and Herman, were in overseas service and a third son, William, was put in Class B, working at the National Brake Company on war work. It was by reason of her activity in war work that Mrs. Pfeil was chosen by the mayor of Milwaukee to represent the city in the christening of the cruiser Mil- waukee, second of the new type of scout cruiser for the United States navy. She went to Tacoma, Washington, for the purpose and there was the recipient of many honors not only in that city but in Seattle and was among the distinguished guests at two banquets which were beld in Tacoma and were notable social as well as military events. One of these was given by William H. Todd, head of the Todd shipbuilding interests in the United States, and on the occasion of the banquet held in the Union Club Mrs. Pfeil was presented with a diamond and platinum wrist watch by Mrs. Ed Nugent on behalf of Mr. Todd and his company. After the time-honored custom at the christening, Mrs. Pfeil broke a bottle of champagne over the bow of the cruiser and at the same time broke a bottle of Lake Michigan water which she had carried to the Pacific coast for that purpose.

While she has done much public service and figured prominently in connection with many activities which have been of direct benefit to Milwaukee, Mrs. Pfeil is neverthe- less a home woman, one of her most strongly marked characteristics being her care for and devotion to her family of six children, namely: William, Louise, Elizabeth, James, Herman and Virginia. The life story of each is an interesting one. James and Herman were both infantry soldiers in the World war and were on active duty in France. Lonise is a most talented pianist and musician who has obtained her muscial education in Milwaukee and New York. She has appeared in the concerts at the Von Ende studio and was the honor student of her class. She was publicly complimented by Madam Fremsted, who was a professional pianist of the highest rank. Miss Pfeil still keeps up her music and engages to some extent in teaching the art. The daughter Elizabeth is the leading dance artist of Milwaukee and was once with Pavley and Oukrainsky in their New York and Chicago grand opera work. She danced with Oukrainsky in New York when Mary Garden sang and sold the boxes for the benefit of the sufferers in France. She now maintains a ballet school with most promising pupils. Virginia Pfeil is also a wonderful child dancer and said to be one of the best in the country. She played the child's part in Madame Butterfly on two hours' notice when five years of age for the Boston Opera Company and on one occasion Madam Pavlowa presented her with a bouquet of American beauty roses. She is also noted for her skill in swimming and diving and recently won the first prize for children of her age

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at the Milwaukee Athletic Club. She also won a medal as champion child diver at the Milwaukee Athletic Club in 1920. William Pfeil is a graduate of Marquette University and played on the football team in his student days. Herman Pfeil was captain of the East Side high school football team and was acknowledged the best open field runner of the school. He is now a director of the Junior Association of Commerce. James Pfeil is with his father in the American Show Print Company. He possesses marked natural mechanical and inventive ability and the plant is full of his work. He has invented the most perfect baseball electrical score board yet shown or produced and he has patents pending on several important devices. it seems that he can do anything in the line of construction or with machinery or electrical devices, possessing notable skill along those lines.

Rudolph Pfeil, Jr., and his family are communicants of St. Joseph's Catholic church. He belongs also to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and was chairman of the county fair held by that organization at the Auditorium in 1921. He represented his lodge at the christening of the battleship Milwaukee in Tacoma in March, 1921, and Mrs. Pfeil was sponsor at the launching. She was made mother of the regiment of the Eighty-fifth Division by the governor on account of her wonderful war record and giving all of her time to war work. She is also a member of woman's committee on the Great Lakes to Ocean movement for canal service direct, and is a member of the executive committee of the National Soldiers' Home Association.

Mr. Pfeil also worked in all of the war drives, devoting many hours out of every week to such activity, and he took a helpful part in promoting the circus at the Audi- torium to raise money for the benefit of the families of soldiers. He is in full sympathy with every practical activity to promote the welfare of those who were the defenders of the country in the greatest conflict that the world has ever known. At all times Mr. Pfeil stands for progress and advancement, his entire life being characterized not by destructive but by constructive work. In business he has builded upon the safe founda- tion of diligence and determination, his path never being strewn with the wrecks of other men's fortunes, but on the contrary he has been ready to extend a helping hand and to assist and encourage a fellow traveler on life's journey.

EDUARD H. KARRER.

Eduard H. Karrer, president of the E. H. Karrer Company of Milwaukee, which was incorporated in 1908, has since carried on a wholesale and retail business in the handling of surgical, hospital and invalid supplies exclusively and in this connection has developed an enterprise of extensive and gratifying proportions. His birth occurred at Wayside, in Brown county, Wisconsin, on the 29th of July, 1868, his parents being John and Wilhelmina ( Wendland) Karrer, both of whom were natives of Germany, the former born in Bavaria and the latter in Pomerania. John Karrer was a young man of twenty-five years when he crossed the Atlantic to the United States and com- pleted his studies for the Lutheran ministry in St. Louis, Missouri. He afterward fol- lowed his holy calling to the time of his demise and his consecrated efforts proved an effective factor in the moral development of the different communities in which he labored.

Eduard H. Karrer obtained his early education in the public and parochial schools of Michigan and of Canada, while subsequently he attended Northwestern University (now Northwestern College) at Watertown, Wisconsin. He then took up the profession of teaching in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he was thus engaged for several years, imparting clearly and readily to others the knowledge that he had acquired. The year 1897 witnessed his arrival in Milwaukee and here he eventually became identified with the W. C. Hoya Company, dealers in surgical instruments and hospital supplies, with whom he continued until February, 1907. At the latter date he began business under his own name and in 1908 incorporated his interests under the style of the E. H. Karrer Company, of which he has since remained the president and wbich deals exclusively in surgical, hospital and invalid supplies, conducting both a wholesale and retail enterprise of this character. The success which has attended the undertaking is largely attributable to his excellent executive ability, sound judgment and untiring industry and these qualities have brought him to a foremost position among Mil- waukee's representative and prosperous business men. He is likewise the president and one of the directors of the General Industrial X-ray Company and a director of the Alsano Laboratories.

On the 24th of June, 1896, in Milwaukee, Mr. Karrer was united in marriage to Miss Louise Poppe, a daughter of the late Captain Albert Poppe, who was a mariner on the Great Lakes and at one time harbor master of Milwaukee. Mr. and Mrs. Karrer are the parents of two sons and a daughter, namely: Clarence A .. who is now twenty- five years of age and is associated in business with his father; Viola, who is twenty-

EDUARD H. KARRER

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two years of age and is the wife of A. C. Lange; and Milton, a youth of seventeen, who is attending the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Mr. Karrer maintains an independent attitude in politics and in former years took an active part in public affairs. On the 24th of May, 1922, he was appointed jury com- missioner for Milwaukee county. He belongs to the Kiwanis Club, to the Chamber of Commerce of the United States and to the American Concord Men and is district conn- cillor of the American Surgical Trade Association, while of the Chicago Surgical Trade Club he served as president in 1921. He has also been very active in religious work as a follower of the Evangelical Lutheran faith, being a leading member of the Mount Olive English Lutheran church, and he likewise has membership relations with the American Lutheran Association, now serving as chairman of its board of directors. Fishing and other ontdoor sports afford him needed rest and recreation, but the demands of his business leave him comparatively little leisure. The period of his residence in Milwaukee now covers a quarter of a century and he has won an extensive circle of warm friends here by reason of his many admirable characteristics and com- mendable qualities.

JOSEPH F. QUIN, M. D.

Dr. Joseph F. Quin, a physician and surgeon of Milwaukee, was born March 20, 1867, in the city which is still his home. He is a son of Jeremiah and Mary A. (Carey) Quin, now well known residents of Milwaukee, where they are living at an advanced age. Both are natives of Ireland bnt have for an extended period lived on this side of the Atlantic. Jeremiah Quin, now ninety years of age, is known to all Milwaukeeans, and his wife, eighty-three years of age, also has a wide acquaintance. They are un- donbtedly one of the most venerable couples in the city.

Dr. Quin has spent his entire life here and was graduated from the Milwaukee Medical College with the class of 1905 and from the Marqnette Medical College of 1912, receiving the M. D. degree from both institutions. He belongs to the Milwaukee Connty Medical Society, the Wisconsin State Medical Society and the American Medical Associa- tion. He has continuously practiced here since 1905, or for a period of seventeen years, and has made steady progress in his profession.

In 1906 Dr. Qnin was married to Miss Emma Dnbratz, of Kolberg. Door county, Wisconsin, and they have become parents of two children: Joseph E., fourteen years of age; and Grace M., aged twelve. The son is now a student in the Marqnette Academy. The religious faith of the family is that of the Roman Catholic church and they are ever loyal to its teachings and purposes.

EDWARD E. GILLEN.

Edward E. Gillen has done important work in connection with marine contracting and his judgment on all matters relating thereto is most sound. He has been con- nected with the solution of many of the involved and complex problems which are faced by those who engage in building operations of this character and throughont the middle west are seen substantial structures that are monuments to his skill and ability. Mr. Gillen is a native of Racine, born on the 29th of December, 1878. His father, Edward Gillen, was born near Mentor, Ohio, and served throughout the entire period of the Civil war as a member of Company I, Twenty-second Regiment of Wis- consin Infantry. Following the close of hostilities he became identified with the marine contracting husiness and was thus engaged until his death, which occurred in September, 1920. He wedded Mary Mulherin, a native of Ireland, who was brought to this country during her childhood.

Their son, Edward E. Gillen, pursued his education throngh attendance at the parochial, public and high schools and also a business college at Racine and he has ever been an apt pupil in the school of experience, learning new lessons day by day and finding keen pleasure in coming off victor in the battles which one must continnally wage in the business world. He turned to the line of business in which his father was engaged and in early manhood was connected with the construction of the railroad and traffic bridge at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Later he worked on the traffic bridge at Eighth street in Manitowoc. Wisconsin, and on the breakwaters of wood type con- struction in most of the harbors on the west shore of Lake Michigan. He was also active in the construction of rubble mound breakwaters at Cleveland, at Ashtabula and Conneant on Lake Erie and next was employed in the building of the White Shoals lighthouse west of the entrance of the Straits of Mackinac. One who is not familiar with this line of work can scarcely realize the difficulties attendant upon it when one must study the question of winds and waves and shifting sands as well as the problems

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of putting together a superstructure that will serve the designated purpose. As a marine contractor Mr. Gillen introduced the granite capped rubble mound breakwater on Lake Michigan, the first breakwater of this type being constructed at Milwaukee for the board of park commissioners. He has likewise been identified with the construc- tion of the rubble mound stilling basin enclosure for the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company's new Lakeside power plant and the State Street bridge at Racine, Wisconsin, is likewise one of the features of his life work. In 1914 he organized the Edward E. Gillen Company, now one of the foremost marine contracting concerns of the middle west.

On the 29th of December, 1915, in Racine, Mr. Gillen was united in marriage to Miss Mary O'Laughlin, a daughter of John O'Laughlin, who was one of the first of the big tunnel contractors in the city of Chicago. He opened the extensive quarries at Ives, Wisconsin, four miles north of Racine, ahout 1897 and after disposing of these opened the immense quarry properties at Waukesha, Wisconsin, now operated by the Waukesha Lime & Stone Company.

Mr. and Mrs. Gillen are of the Catholic faith and he is a charter member of Racine Council, Knights of Columbus, in which he held the office of lecturer for two terms, while he has served on various committees in the organization. He likewise belongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club and to the Wisconsin Club and has appreciation for the social amenities of life when opportunity affords him leisure therefor. His business interests, however, have long heen of an extensive character, involving many of the most complex and intricate construction problems, and with the passing years Mr. Gillen has developed and strengthened his powers until he may well be called a master of the line of business to which he has ever devoted his energies.

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History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III, Part 72

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