Ferdinand Thun (entrepreneur)

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Ferdinand Thun (* 14. February 1866 in Barmen ; † 25. March 1949 in Wyomissing ) was a German textile machinery - entrepreneurs .

Life

Ferdinand Thun, son of the brass caster Ferdinand Thun (1830–1911) and his wife Julie b. Westkott and grandson of the dye works owner Reinhard Thun (1796–1836), attended the trade school in Barmen from 1875–1882. At the invitation of emigrated friends, he worked in the United States from 1886 to 1888 as a correspondent and accountant for a wool factory in Stony Creek near Reading (Pennsylvania) . Then he returned to Barmen to learn more about the manufacture of Barmer articles .

In 1889 Thun returned to the USA and initially worked in a ribbon knitting factory in New York City . Through his Barmer friend Max Mittendorff, he met Henry Janssen from Barmen, with whom he quickly became friends. They had a common interest in textile machines, so in 1892 they opened a small workshop in Reading for the manufacture of braiding machines under the name Textile Machine Works, Thun & Janssen . Their relationship with the workforce was based on mutual trust, so that they were soon seen as social entrepreneurs. They developed machines for the production of packing cords and suspender tape. In 1896 they moved the company to Wyomissing . In 1899 the company received an award at the Philadelphia National Export Show . In 1900 they founded the Narrow Fabric Company to manufacture the Barmer articles . In 1906 they set up the Berkshire Knitting Mills for the manufacture of women's stockings from cotton , later also from silk and synthetic fibers using machines from their Textile Machine Works . The machine parts were manufactured in our own foundry .

The extensive company premises with the extensive factory facilities were designed to be sustainable, there was medical care, pension provision and facilities for recreation and education. Thun was always the careful businessman and careful organizer. The Reading Hospital received steady support and the Reading Museum and Art Gallery received support.

1936-1937, the works of which was the American Federation of Hosiery Workers on strike for 13 months to the work of trade unions to organize. There were injuries and the death of worker M. Earl Schlegel, but the plant was never unionized.

In 1930, Thun and friends founded the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation to maintain German-American cultural relations, which also survived the attacks during the Second World War . From the University of Heidelberg Thun received the honorary doctorate . In the years after the First World War and the Second World War, Thun helped his homeland Barmen socially and economically with advice and support from the Ahr, Krath & Co. in Wuppertal-Barmen, which worked with the American Nuplax Corporation in Reading, Pa. was connected. The Ferdinand-Thun-Strasse in Barmen is reminiscent of Thun .

literature

  • Walter Dietz: Ferdinand Thun and Henry Janssen . In: Wuppertal Biographies 1st episode . Contributions to the history and local history of the Wuppertal Volume 4, Born-Verlag, Wuppertal 1958, pp. 79–87.
  • Horst Heidermann , Klaus Vollmer: Millionaires & Patrons. Ferdinand Thun and Heinrich Janssen from Barmen, Gustav Oberländer from Düren . Ed. Köndgen, Wuppertal 2014, ISBN 978-3-939843-46-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d readingeagle.com: The Berkshire . Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  2. ^ Federal Archives: Bankhaus Ahr, Krath & Co. Accessed on January 29, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Thun, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German textile machine entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Barmen
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1949
Place of death Wyomissing