John Michael Kohler
| John Michael Kohler | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 3, 1844 Schnepfau, Schnepfau, Austria |
| Died |
November 5, 1900 (aged 56) Sheboygan, Wisconsin |
| Known for | Founding of Kohler Company |
| Spouse(s) |
|
John Michael Kohler II (November 3, 1844 – November 5, 1900) was member of the Kohler family of Wisconsin and was a prosperous industrialist and mayor of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Kohler founded what later became known as the Kohler Company, a large producer of bathroom and kitchen products.
Kohler was born on November 3, 1844 in the Alpine village of Schnepfau, Austria, the fourth child of dairy farmer John Michael Kohler Sr. (1805–74) and his wife, the former Maria Anna Moosbrugger (1816–53). After his wife's death, the elder Kohler remarried, and he and his large family emigrated to the United States. With help from a relative, the Kohlers built up a promising dairy business.
After a limited formal education, John Michael Kohler found work in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1865 he moved to Chicago, Illinois and became a traveling salesman. In Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 56 miles north of Milwaukee on Lake Michigan, he met Lillie Vollrath (1848–1883), the daughter of local steel and iron industrialist Jacob Vollrath (1824–1898). The couple was married in 1871.
Shortly after his marriage, Kohler worked at the steel and iron factory his father-in-law partly owned. He took over the company two years later during the Panic of 1873. By the early 1880s, the firm was producing a variety of iron and enamelware products. In 1883, Kohler put ornamental feet on a cast-iron water trough and sold it as a bathtub. Four years later, more than two-thirds of the company's business was in plumbing products and enamelware. In 1888, Kohler and two partners had the firm incorporated.
In 1899, Kohler purchased 21 acres of farmland four miles west of Sheboygan, intending to move his entire company to the location. Shortly after the new factory was constructed, in 1900, Kohler died at 56, likely of heart failure.
Five years later, 30-year-old Walter J. Kohler assumed his father's corporate presidency and began to guide the firm. In 1912, it was officially designated the Kohler Company, and the property surrounding the plant became the Village of Kohler.
...
Wikipedia