Josef Durrer

Josef Durrer-Gasser (born October 24, 1841 in St. Niklausen , Kerns municipality , † April 26, 1919 in Sarnen ) was a Swiss engineer and politician.

Life

Josef Durrer was born in St. Niklausen in the municipality of Kerns in 1841 as the son of master carpenter Franz Joseph Durrer and his wife Anna Maria. His mother died early. Durrer only attended elementary school , but later became self-taught . He trained as a carpenter with his father. In 1868 he married Anna Maria Gasser.

At the beginning of 1863, Franz Josef Bucher , Franz Josef Durrer and his three sons founded the company «Bucher und Durrer» . Josef Durrer became the technician of the company that operated sawmills and built barns and simple houses. From this company a parquet factory emerged in 1868, which received an award for its products at the 1878 World Exhibition . The company also went into hotel construction - in 1869/70 the Hotel Sonnenberg in Engelberg and 1871–73 the Grand Hotel Bürgenstock - and operations. The company was dissolved in 1877 when the co-owner Bucher took over everything. However, the connection was renewed as early as 1879 and the company «Bucher und Durrer» was founded a second time. Durrer subsequently converted the parquet factory in Kägiswil into a construction business. He is also active in Eastern Europe, where he bought forests for logging or acquired rights of use. In 1885 he set up a parquet factory in Bucharest , which was followed by a second in the Balkans. A planned deal with Prince Dadian of Mingrelia , for which Durrer had expanded his capacities, failed. At the same time, his uninsured factory in Bucharest burned down. However, Durrer was not discouraged and built it up again. From 1886 the company also built trams , funiculars and power stations . Usually Bucher was responsible for the acquisition of orders, and Durrer drew plans, calculated the costs and also took over the construction management.

In addition to private business, he also worked for the common good. He was bankrupt officer and justice of the peace and was as FDP -member in the cantonal parliament of Obwalden selected. In 1906, the rural community surprisingly elected him to the government council . The choice was actually made against his will, as he was busy building the Braunwaldbahn at the time. After one term in office, he resigned in 1910.

literature

• Roland Sigrist: Durrer, Josef. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Romano Cuonz , Christof Hirtler : Hotel king - Franz Josef Bucher, mountain railway pioneer - Josef Durrer. Brunner, Kriens 2015, ISBN 978-3-03727-063-9 .
• Romano Cuonz, Hanspeter Niederberger : hotel king, manufacturer: Franz Josef Bucher - mountain railway builder, inventor: Josef Durrer - painter, dreamer: Beda Durrer. Brunner, Kriens 1998, ISBN 3-905198-45-2 .
• Werner Latscha: Seven mountain railway pioneers. Association for economic history studies, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-909059-34-1 , pp. 69–76 ( Swiss pioneers in business and technology. Vol. 81).
• The stroke of luck Durrer. Article in: New Year's Messenger for the Glarner Hinterland. Neujahrsbote, Linthal 1982, pp. 85–89.
• Julian Stockmann-Durrer: Josef Durrer. 1944.