Dick & Kirschten
Dick & Kirschten was a German company for coach and wagon construction in Offenbach am Main . It was founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1782 and produced luxury and utility carriages in Offenbach from 1795 to 1912, which were sold throughout Europe, and later axles and wheels for automobiles.
Company history
The master saddlers Johann Christoph Dick and Johann Georg Kirschten first founded a saddlery in Frankfurt am Main in 1782 for the manufacture of carriages under the name Hofwagenfabrik Dick & Kirschten . The Frankfurt guilds did not tolerate a carriage manufacture in their sphere of influence and the factory was relocated to neighboring Offenbach am Main 13 years after it was founded. There it was possible to produce without guilds, the craftsmen such as saddlers, joiners, locksmiths, blacksmiths, varnishers, trimmers , wheelwright, leather goods craftsmen , pen makers and wagon tensioners could work under one roof. This division of labor marks a milestone away from the strict regulations of the guild system towards the beginning of industrialization . The demand for carriages was very great at that time. Up until then, the aristocracy and bourgeoisie had ordered the vehicles they needed abroad, primarily in Brussels , Paris and London . Thanks to the Offenbach factory, the demand could now be satisfied at home. In 1805 production was relocated to Offenbacher Geleitsstraße. Due to the high quality of the products, it was soon possible to export to almost all European countries and in 1808 branches were established in Amsterdam and Hamburg . The most prominent customer from this period was the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte , who preferred to have his carriages built by Dick & Kirschten.
Around 1843, Johann Heinrich Dick , a son of the company's founder Johann Christoph Dick and later mayor of Offenbach, took over management of the company. In 1856 he sold the company to Karl Theodor Wecker (1828-1893) in order to be able to concentrate on his local political tasks. Wecker relocated the factory to Offenbacher Westend near today's Dreieich-Park and had spring and patent axles manufactured in addition to carriages. The Villa Wecker, the factory owner's residence, was built on this site in 1876, based on a design by the renowned Frankfurt architects Carl Jonas Mylius and Alfred Friedrich Bluntschli . At the Paris World Exposition 1900 Dick & Kirschten was awarded a gold medal.
The history of Dick & Kirschten ends with the advancing development of the automobile. Although production was once again relocated to a larger factory site on Odenwaldring in what is now the Lauterborn district , carriage production had to be discontinued due to a lack of demand. Axles, springs and the first automobiles were produced in small series, in which individual elements of horse-drawn carriages were still installed. In 1912 the more than one hundred year history of the traditional company ended with a takeover.
Web links
- 1900: Paris World Exhibition - Gold medal for the Dick & Kirschten company. on the website of the city of Offenbach am Main