Stock company for roads and bridges

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The stock corporation for roads and bridges was an Austrian company based in Vienna , was founded in 1872 and sold as a whole to Anton Poschacher (industrialist, 1841) on October 31, 1876 .

The corporation was a company of the Mauthausen stone industry , which dealt with the mining, processing and distribution of Mauthausen granite and at that time the largest granite factory of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy . After the reorganization phase initiated by Poschacher was completed, the stock corporation was incorporated into the already existing family company Poschacher.

Emergence

The company was created when, in the first phase, several quarry owners from Mauthausen, Neuhaus an der Donau, Perg and Schwertberg brought their companies, land and buildings into the new stock corporation in return for shares. In addition to quarries, there were too

  • the Berger brothers' plaster business in Vienna
  • the hydraulic engineering company Poschacher in Mauthausen
  • the hammer forge of Enengl and Erblich in Perg

Major shareholder and first president was Anton Poschacher (1812–1873). The initial capital was initially 1,800,000 guilders and was increased by 900,000 guilders in December 1872 and used for further expansion through acquisitions in the area ( Langenstein / Gusen ) and more distant locations in Schärding , Bavaria and Bohemia . The first financial year went very well. The share price was 50 percent above the acquisition cost. In 1872 the company employed around 1,500 people in several quarries in Mauthausen, Neuhaus an der Donau, Perg and Schwertberg.

After the death of his father, Anton Poschacher (1841–1904) joined the company as director in 1873. In particular, he did not agree with the expansion plans, left the company in the spring of 1876 and went to the world exhibition in Philadelphia, USA on behalf of the high government as a reporter for architecture and public buildings.

Crisis and takeover by Poschacher

In May 1873 there was a stock market crash and the share price plummeted. Due to the subsequent recession , there was a significant decline in construction activity and the stock corporation had to end the financial years 1874/1875 with losses. In 1876 it was decided to liquidate and the public limited company as a whole was advertised for sale. On November 1, 1876, Anton Poschacher (1841–1904) came into the possession of the stock corporation with the help of family loans and was thus the sole owner of the largest granite works of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

The subsequent reorganization of the company began with the sale of the more distant quarries and properties in Schärding, Bavaria and Bohemia and was continued by improving the cooperation between the seven remaining locations, each with extensive land and house ownership, as well as the modernization of business operations. The hydraulic engineering company was spun off into its own company and was still profitable. Even after the consolidation phase, the company remained the most important granite producer in the country for many years and was able to carry out large orders for paving, hydraulic and bridge constructions, building construction projects and monuments, especially in Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest .

The granite works gradually became more efficient through the purchase of steam engines, diamond saws, crushed stone and steam-powered grinding systems. The transport fleet was expanded and a tugboat was acquired. The product range could be expanded significantly.

Quarries

Quarries in the founding phase

  • Quarries Dombaubruch, Schindelbergerbruch and Schlagerbruch of the Neuhauser Granitgewerkschaft (Reign of Neuhaus an der Donau, municipality of Sankt Martin im Mühlkreis , Eduard Planck von Planckburg )
  • Poschacher quarries (A. Poschacher Granitwerke Limited Liability Company, Mauthausen )
  • Leopold Heindl's quarry , Mauthausen
  • Walk-in quarry, Mauthausen
  • Carl Berger quarry in Josefstal, Schwertberg
  • Josefa Herndl's quarry in Lanzenberg, Perg
  • Michael Burgholzer's drum mine in Perg
  • Quarries in the Hammerleiten from Georg Willnauer in Perg

Quarries in the first phase of expansion

In addition to the quarries acquired in the founding phase, others came in

  • Bavaria
  • Bohemia: Jechnitz - Woratschen (north of Pilsen ), Petersburg -Jechnitz (north of Pilsen ) and others
  • Bettelberg in Mauthausen
  • Langenstein / Gusen: Dirnbergerbruch, Kastenhof, Pierbauer
  • Lasberg (forge)
  • Moravia
  • Schärding

Quarries in the consolidation phase

During the consolidation phase, the number of quarries was reduced to seven:

  • Drum mountain quarry in Perg
  • Hammerleite quarry in Perg
  • Herndl quarry in Lanzenberg in Perg
  • Quarry Bettelberg in Mauthausen
  • Josefstal quarry in Schwertberg
  • Dirnberger quarry in Langenstein
  • Neuhaus quarry on the Danube

Quarries in the second phase of expansion

After the consolidation was completed around the middle of the 1880s, new quarries, houses and real estate were purchased, so that at the time of his death in 1904 Poschacher had around 400 hectares of land, 62 houses, 20 quarries in operation, 25 quarries that were closed or under construction. About 2,000 people were employed. The stock corporation was only active at the beginning of this expansion phase; it was brought into the Poschach family business after the consolidation phase was completed.

Competitor

The company was in competition with

  • Schärdinger Granit Aktiengesellschaft, founded in 1871 and dissolved in 1877, taken over by Carl Normann and finally merged into Bayerische Granit AG
  • Municipality of Vienna, bought land and quarries in Marbach (municipality of Ried in der Riedmark) and in Windegg (municipality of Schwertberg) from 1872 and leased them to Löwenfeld for five years and to Emmanuel Tichy from 1878 to 1888. She later ran the quarries on her own.
  • Leopold Heindl - now Mayor of Mauthausen - became active again in a working group with Schreiner and Rockenschaub in Mauthausen, in Josefstal and in the New World in Schwertberg.

literature

  • Josef Stummer: GRANIT - building block from Pulgarn to Gloxwald , manuscript of a lecture, held on March 17, 2010 in Perg PDF ( Memento from August 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  • Josef Stummer: The history of the Perger granite quarries , in: Heimatbuch der Stadt Perg , publisher: Heimatverein Perg, Stadtgemeinde Perg, 1st edition, March 2009, page 426ff
  • Franz Mathis: Poschacher , in: Big Business in Austria: Austrian Large Companies in Brief Descriptions , Oldenbourg 1987
  • Andreas Resch:  Poschacher, Anton. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 648 f. ( Digitized version ).