Henry Harnischfeger

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Henry Harnischfeger (born July 10, 1855 in Salmünster , Schlüchtern district , Hessen-Nassau as Heinrich Harnischfeger , † November 15, 1930 ) was an American entrepreneur of German origin.

Life

Harnischfeger was born as the son of the tanner Konstantin Harnischfeger and his wife Christina in Salmünster, Hesse. After his apprenticeship as a locksmith , he emigrated to the United States on March 23, 1872, where he arrived in Castle Gardens, New Jersey on April 9, 1872 . After his arrival, he lived and worked for his cousin Michael, a bakery owner.

Harnischfeger soon found a job in the factory of the sewing machine manufacturer Singer , but was laid off in the same year due to a company crisis. After six months as a locksmith at another local company, he moved to Providence , Rhode Island , where he worked first for the Rhode Island Locomotive Works and later for Brown & Sharpe . During another economic crisis he lost his job again and moved to New York for a short time . When Singer opened a new factory in Elizabeth , New Jersey, in 1874 , he returned to his former employer and stayed there until 1881. He developed a sewing machine that contained the first automatic screwdriver and now also studied technology.

In 1881 he moved to Milwaukee , where he became a foreman at the White Hill Sewing Machine Company, where he met his future business partner, the pattern maker Alonzo Pawling. On December 1st, 1884, both founded the company P&H Mining , which is now part of Joy Global .

By 1903 his company had 100 employees. From 1901 to 1903, William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson, the founders of Harley Davidson Motor Co., worked together at Pawling & Harnischfeger in Milwaukee. In 1911 Pawling fell seriously ill and Harnischfeger acquired his company shares a short time later. After the partner's death, the company was renamed the Harnischfeger Corporation .

In 1892 Harnischfeger married Marie Kauwertz, with whom he had four children. In Milwaukee he had a house built in the neo-Renaissance style by the architect Eugene Liebert in 1905 , which is now a listed building.

Harnischfeger always remained connected to his hometown Salmünster. In 1930 he traveled to Salmünster and founded a school, today's Henry Harnischfeger School . In the same year he died of a heart attack and was buried in the Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee. At that time, his company employed 1,500 workers and manufactured cranes, excavators and construction machinery.

In 2009, Harnischfeger was inducted into the United States' National Mining Hall of Fame along with Pawling.

Henry Harnischfeger School

The Henry Harnischfeger School is located in Bad Soden-Salmünster, Hesse . It was supported by Henry Harnischfeger and named after him. Today it is a modern and integrated comprehensive school in the Main-Kinzig district . Currently (as of 2017) around 1200 students attend the school.

swell

  • Anthony Hallett, Diane Hallett: Entrepreneur magazine encyclopedia of entrepreneurs . John Wiley and Sons, 1997, pp. 248f
  • Usher, Ellis B: Wisconsin, Its Story and Biography, 1848-1913 . Vol. 8. The Lewis Publishing Company, 1914, pp. 2142-2144

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HISTORIC DESIGNATION STUDY REPORT - HENRY HARNISCHFEGER HOUSE (PDF; 22 kB)
  2. ↑ National Mining Hall of Fame to honor five during 22nd ceremony
  3. ↑ a b c OUR SCHOOL . Official website of the HHS (Our School). Retrieved September 7, 2017
  4. ↑ HENRY HARNISCHFEGER: The founder of our school: Henry Harnschfeger . Official website of the HHS (About Us). Retrieved September 7, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Harnischfeger, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harnischfeger, Heinrich (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur of German origin
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Salmünster , district of Schlüchtern , Hessen-Nassau
DATE OF DEATH November 15, 1930