Alfred Dolge

Alfred Dolge (* 22. December 1848 in Chemnitz , † 5. January 1922 in Milan ) was an in New York City and Dolgeville active piano maker and industrialist , inventor and author.

Originally an importer and manufacturer of piano building materials , he later became a manufacturer of felt products . In 1874 Alfred Dolge went to Brockett's Bridge, Fulton County , New York , looking for suitable spruce wood for building soundboards . In 1887 the townspeople asked Washington authorities to change the name from Brockett's Bridge to Dolgeville .

resume

Alfred Dolge's life stages with a view of the factory. Dolgeville around 1890

Alfred Dolge was born on December 22, 1848 in Chemnitz in Saxony. He went to school in Leipzig and at the age of 17 joined his father's company as an apprentice, A. Dolge and Co., piano manufacturing. He graduated from high school with the Freemasons in Leipzig and received his degree. He first came to the United States when he was 17 years old. He stayed until 1868 and worked in piano making in New York City.

He first came to Brockett's Bridge, now called Dolgeville after its name, in 1874, looking for a place to manufacture felt products. In April 1875 he began manufacturing in the old Brockett Company building that he had bought. This complex later became the Dolge factory complex. Within a few years, the town grew from 325 inhabitants to more than 2,000, many of whom were emigrated Germans whom he had recruited through advertisements and agents. Dolge built felt mills, made felt shoes, autoharps ( zither- like instruments), piano cases , soundboards , piano hammers, he ran a wood warehouse and contributed to the local infrastructure and the education of the residents. Alfred Dolge ultimately had to file for bankruptcy and left Dolgeville in May 1899. He then lived in California and began to build a new company there. He died in Milan , Italy , on January 5, 1922 while traveling around the world. He is buried in the Dolgeville cemetery.

philosophy

Inspired by previous reading by Karl Liebknecht , Karl Marx , Mill and Adam Smith , Alfred Dolge founded a form of what is now called social security in Dolgeville , an attempt at an idealistic society or a social utopia . Around 1876, when his new company was first well established, Dolge began creating a pension plan that remained practically unchanged over its life. The plan was very generous, it guaranteed pensions of 50 percent of earnings after a severe handicap up to 100 percent after 25 years of service.

He later added a life insurance scheme , which the company paid for contributions. He also started a company earnings-sharing program in which an employee was co-paid based on the intellectual contribution they made in the form of improvements or inventions and in which they were judged on the value of their work. These shares were not paid out, but remained in the company as an investment. The employee did not have to pay anything into the pension plan. The company paid for it all. When the Dolge company went bankrupt in 1899, however, few of the benefits he had intended had been paid out, but his ideas proved to be very long-lasting and gained worldwide attention. The government of the German Empire officially asked for his plans and implemented them by changing some details. In 1889 the French government asked for detailed data. Insurance, retirement, and other benefits in Dolgeville were copied and implemented by railroad companies and many other US companies. In 1896 Dolge brought out a book of 243 pages entitled "The Practical Applications of Economic Theories in the Factories of Alfred Dolge and Son".

legacy

Because of Dolge's activity, Dolgeville had:

• from 1876 the first social insurance ,
• from 1876 the first public garden in the Dolgeville area,
• from 1879 the second electric hydroelectric power station (the first was by Edison ),
• from 1881 the first American-made felt slippers and felt shoes,
• from 1889 the first kindergarten in New York State, and
• from 1891 the first system of electrical street lighting in Dolgeville.

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1. ^ Alfred Dolge : Pianos and Their Makers (book), (fulltext on Google Books link). Edition, Volume 1, Covina / Dover, 1911, ISBN 0-486-22856-8 , p. 482pp.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Doris Manley and Eleanor Franz: National Register of Historic Places Registration: Dolge Company Factory Complex . New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . undated. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2010.

Web links

• The Dolgeville Mill