Heinrich Schmid (entrepreneur)

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Heinrich Schmid

Heinrich Schmid (born February 2, 1806 in Thalwil ; † March 12, 1883 ibid) was a Swiss industrialist and politician .

Live and act

Heinrich Schmid was the son of Hans Jakob Schmid-Beerli (1796–1839), Dorfmüller von Gattikon and Seckelmeister von Thalwil. His father had founded a mechanical cotton spinning mill above his mill in Gattikon in 1815 with capital from the Kölliker and Pfister families. From 1812 to 1822 Heinrich graduated from the Hüni brothers' teaching institute in Horgen. He then worked in his father's cotton spinning mill, Pfister, Schmid & Cie. and became its head around 1825. In 1829 he married Anna Kölliker. After the death of Hans Jakob Schmid in 1841 his sons Hans Jakob jr. the mill and Heinrich the spinning mill, which he brought into his sole possession in the same year ( Heinrich Schmid, mechanical cotton mill ) and expanded in 1854.

From 1859 he expanded the business with a new mechanical cotton weaving mill on the Sihl. As a result, he and Wolfgang Henggeler took part in other textile factories between Lake Zurich and Lorze (cantons of Zurich, Zug and Aargau).

He bought the Ottenbach mill from his cousin Jakob Beerli, converted it into a textile factory ( Mechanische Seidenstoffweberei Zürich ) and sold it in 1869 to Messrs. Bodmer and Hürlimann.

He was seen as a social employer in that he took over the hospital and care costs of his workers, introduced a compulsory savings bank and made affordable workers' housing available. In 1870 he had the first school house built in Gattikon.

From 1836 to 1843 he was the mayor of Thalwil and from 1850 to 1869 he was the Grand Councilor of the Canton of Zurich. He campaigned for the development of the Sihltal, which was realized in 1884 with the Sihltalstrasse , in 1892 with the Sihltalbahn and in 1897 with the Gotthard feeder Thalwil – Arth-Goldau through the Zimmerberg tunnel .

Heinrich Schmid withdrew from his company in 1873. His son Karl took over the spinning mill in the village and Robert the cotton weaving mill on the Sihl.

Mechanical cotton spinning and weaving mill Schmid in Gattikon

The foundation stone for the company was laid below the mill and spinning axis Chrebsbach in Gattikon on the banks of the Sihl . There the father and mill owner Hans Jakob Schmid acquired the right to use the Sihl water from the canton of Zurich in 1833.

In the 1850s, the cosmopolitan Heinrich Schmid planned his new factory based on the latest technology and based on the English model. In 1859 the first large-scale flat factory building in Switzerland was built, which was illuminated with sawtooth roofs ( Shed roof ) according to the British Shed patent. By 1863 a structural ensemble had been built in Gattikon with a high-rise factory building, the most modern low-rise factory building, cost houses for the workers, a villa, a peacock enclosure and a factory park.

The 15 buildings were supplied with energy by a steam engine (steam boiler house with high chimney), a 1.5-kilometer-long Sihl water canal and, from 1863, a second pond (front Gattikerweiher or forest pond) as a pumped storage plant with a water lock , if the water volume in the Sihl was insufficient. The factory had its own gas works for lighting.

In 1892 the old spinning mill and in 1908 the cotton weaving mill were liquidated. In 1973 the cotton mill from 1815 "disappeared". The new factory remained in operation almost unchanged until 1911. In 1983, almost all parts of the plant except for the first shed roof in Switzerland were demolished from the new cotton spinning mill from 1859 despite the precautionary protection of the plant in 1981.

literature

  • Walter Senn-Barbieux: Heinrich Schmid, Wolfgang Henggeler etc. In: Schweizerische Ehrenhalle. Life pictures of highly deserved Edigenossen. Th. Wirth, St. Gallen 1884.
  • Johann Paul Zwicky von Gauen: Family and industrial history of the Schmid von Thalwil, 1318–1930. Publisher Hans Schatzmann, Horgen-Zurich 1930.
  • F. Hess: Thalwil in the 19th century. 1938.
  • Küngolt Kilchenmann: Heinrich Schmid (1806-1883). In: Swiss pioneers in business and technology , 10, Association for Economic History Studies, Zurich 1959.
  • Escher Wyss AG : List of 4079 turbines built from 1844 onwards. Zurich 1906.
  • Hans-Peter Bärtschi: Thalwil Gattikon, Villa Schmid with moated castle and factory. Expert opinion, Winterthur 1980.
  • Hans-Peter Bärtschi: Industrial culture - On the way to 333 witnesses of productive work. Volume 1: Bern, Volume 2: Zurich, Volume 3: Eastern Switzerland, Zurich 2006, 2009, 2012.

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Schmid  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the Gattikon mill.
  2. ^ Letter edition Alfred Escher: Heinrich Schmid, owner and partner
  3. ↑ Unterägeri spinning mills
  4. ↑ Langnau spinning mill: mechanical cotton mill Wieland, Schmid & Co.
  5. ↑ Cotton spinning mill Schmid & Cie., Adliswil-Oberdorf (formerly the Schoch brothers)
  6. ↑ Industry path on the Lorze
  7. ^ Industrial culture: Bruggmühle spinning mill, Bremgarten AG
  8. ^ Industrial culture : cotton spinning mill for Auw AG, Bremgarten AG
  9. ^ [1] The Felsenau spinning mill 1864–1975. An important chapter in Bern's industrial past
  10. ^ State Archives of the Canton of Zurich, files Wasserrechte Horgen 21–24
  11. ^ [2] Beautification Association Thalwil: Mechanical cotton spinning and weaving Schmid, Shedhalle, Gattikonerstrasse 127
  12. ↑ A pumped storage plant from 1863. Energy for the textile industry in Gattikon. Electrosuisse.
  13. ^ [3] Office for Spatial Development: Preservation of monuments, monuments that have disappeared
personal data
SURNAME Schmid, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss entrepreneur, social reformer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Thalwil
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1883
Place of death Thalwil