Читать книгу Memoirs of Milwaukee County, Volume 2 - Josiah Seymour Currey - Страница 24

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 laudable ambition took him out of humble business surroundings and placed him with the leading and representative merchants and manufacturers of the Cream City. He developed a candy-making establishment second to none in Milwaukee and scarcely surpassed 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 business 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 shoe-making trade and after thoroughly mastering 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 buildings of brick and steel and cement rising story upon story above any low roof of that then frontier town? Did he hear the hum of half a million dollars' worth of machinery and the voices of half a thousand workers as they turned out sixty thousand pounds of candy a day in those buildings? Did he glimpse his own name in gilded letters over the proudest door of that noble pile? Surely he did, for this tavern boy was George Ziegler, founder of the candy house of Ziegler, one of the old and great houses of this country. If this boy had not been a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions he could not have built so greatly and so well.

"Really and truly, this story of the founding of the Ziegler candy business is a romance, nothing less. It is a brave and strange tale. It is a part of the history of the candy industry of Milwaukee, and should not be told apart as the achievement of an individual firm. The tavern boy served his three years of apprenticeship, and the industrial instinct being stronger than that of playing host to the public, he got a Job in a shoe factory. He married at the age of twenty-one and stuck to the shoe business closer than the wax stuck to the thread with which he sewed the shoes. He saved a little money out of his salary. Mark this well, he saved some money! This is the first and the imperative step in a successful business career. All the talent and energy in the world will not avail to start a boy in a big business unless he has the saving habit to begin with.

"In 1860 the Boll boys, John and Andrew, brothers-in-law of George Ziegler and candy workers in Chicago, were thrown out of work and came to Milwaukee to stay with their folks until business opened up again and they could resume work at their trade. But business showed no signs of resumption and time hung heavy on the hands of the two candy workers. Then it was that George Ziegler suggested to the Boll boys that since they could not make candy in a factory for someone else, they make it at home for themselves. They were more than willing, so George (who had saved his money) bought a barrel of sugar and started the boys to work making candy in the former home of Peter Boll on the corner of Thirteenth and Vliet streets, which had the partitions taken out and turned into a small factory. The fire they lighted that day under that little stove in that little kitchen was the first spark of a flame of industry that now gleams in that great factory on Florida street and occupies one hundred and eighty-four thousand square feet of floor space and makes a product known and sold in every state in the Union.

"Now, the Boll boys had a father who was a tailor, and he peddled the candy they made. He was probably the first candy salesman in Milwaukee. The boys made good candy and their father was a good salesman, so the business grew apace. George Ziegler furnished more capital and the Boll boys more energy over the kettle and very soon the business reached a point where a business manager was an imperative necessity. The candy workers persuaded the shoe worker to quit his job and handle the candy business, and so it was that on January 11, 1861, the firm of Boll Brothers & Company was established, George Ziegler looking after the business end and the Boll boys making the candy. After four years, the quarters on Thirteenth street being too small, the factory was moved in the Lutz building on Third street, which was located where the south end of the present Steinmeyer building is located. From there, after the quarters became too small, the business was moved to Nos. 3 and 5 Spring street, where Gimbels are now located on Grand avenue. In 1882, after a disastrous Are, the property at Nos. 233 to 239 East Water street was acquired, where the factory remained until April, 1908, when it was moved to its present location at Nos. 362 to 386 Florida street.

"After seven years of steady progress the firm name was changed to Boll & Ziegler, one of the brothers, Andrew, dropping out. Then six years later, which is to say in 1874, George Ziegler took over the entire business and conducted it in his name alone. Thirteen years passed over this candy house, and every year was kind. The farmer's son who would not be a farmer and who left the tavern after three years' apprenticeship, had a genius for business and under his guiding hand the business prospered. And as his business grew so did his sons, each one of them a chip off the old block and born and bred to the candy game. In 1887 the father took the sons in with him in the business and the firm name was changed to the George Ziegler Company, a name that it bears to this day. George P., Frank P. and H. T. Ziegler became associated with their father at this time. A year later Charles I. and Andrew I. Ziegler entered the firm." The father, George Ziegler, remained the executive head and directing spirit of the business to the time of his demise. In the interim he had carefully trained his sons, so that they were able to continue the business without a break and now the third generation of the family is represented in the active conduct and management of the business. The biographer continued: "George Ziegler, the founder, built well. He built up a great candy business and he raised a great family of candy makers. A house of steel and stone shall not endure unless there be hands and minds to keep it against the attacks of time and changing conditions and the offensive of the years. The first Ziegler laid down business principles in his office and installed manufacturing methods in his plant that were fundamental of success. These were carried forward by the second generation."

In 1851 George Ziegler was united in marriage to Miss Barbara Boll, also a native of Germany, and their family numbered nine children, as follows: George P., Frank P., Charles I., Andrew I., Mrs. Joseph L. Gottschalk, Mrs. Joseph L. Ripple, Mrs. Anna B. Verhalen, Mrs. Margaret Rolfs and H. T. Ziegler. The last two named are deceased.

In his political views Mr. Ziegler was always an earnest democrat and for two years he filled the position of alderman, while for a period of similar length he served as school commissioner. Mr. and Mrs. Ziegler were members of the Catholic church and in that faith reared their children. The family has long been prominently known in Milwaukee, enterprise and business honor being at all times associated with the family name. The great candy manufactory today stands as a monument to the undaunted spirit and progressiveness of its founder and promoter, and the life story of George Ziegler is one that should serve as a stimulating example to the youth of the present who must start out, as he did, empty-handed.