Louis Schmetzer & Co.

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Louis Schmetzer & Co.
legal form Partnership
Seat Rothenburg ob der Tauber , Ansbach
Branch Bicycles, children's furniture, wicker, wooden sleds, strollers, ambulance chairs

Louis Schmetzer & Co. was a company that was founded in Rothenburg ob der Tauber in 1873 and moved to Ansbach in 1900/01 , where it existed until 1955. The factory initially produced prams, toys and bicycles, and later also dolls' prams, children's furniture, wooden children's sleds and ambulance lifts. On an advertising stamp Schmetzer was named "kgl. Bayr. Hof-Holzwaren- und Kindermöbelfabrik “; At times Schmetzer apparently also operated as a basket goods factory.

history

The company founder Wilhelm Ludwig Louis Gottfried Schmetzer, called Louis , was born on May 24, 1843 in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. At the age of 19 he emigrated to the United States , became a US citizen and lived temporarily in Chicago . In 1873 he came back to Rothenburg od Tauber and founded the company Louis Schmetzer & Co. to manufacture prams and toys. The company was outside the city wall "Vor dem Rödertor 913", today Ansbacher Straße 15.

In 1879 Schmetzer applied for citizenship in Rothenburg od Tauber and then married Clara Straff (born July 4, 1855 in Meerane ; † January 27, 1926 there), a daughter of the factory owner and councilor Gottlieb August Straff from Meerane in Saxony .

Schmetzer's company developed successfully. According to an advertisement in the catalog for the 1st Bavarian State Exhibition in Nuremberg in 1882, the company employed 240 workers in the factory and another 200 at home. This means that the Louis Schmetzer & Co. company should have been the largest employer in Rothenburg od Tauber (1881 approx. 6,500 inhabitants). At this exhibition, the company was awarded a silver medal for its products. Louis Schmetzer & Co. also received a silver medal at the World Exhibition in Amsterdam in 1883.

In 1890/91 the company moved its headquarters to Ansbach. The reason given was the poor rail connection from Rothenburg od Tauber, which gave the company a competitive disadvantage. The factory was located southwest of the Ansbach train station and had the address D 128 (today Heilig-Kreuz-Straße). The company continued to expand in Ansbach. In the report of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Middle Franconia for the year 1893 it was said: "Likewise, the pram factory had increased sales and had to work during the daytime hours, especially in autumn, in order to meet the requirements." For the year 1895 the reported Chamber of Commerce and Industry Middle Franconia that the stroller factory can hold its own on the world market, is fully employed and employs around 700 people. The upswing continued in 1897: “Sales in the past year were again increased, large new buildings for workshops and storage rooms were built on the building site that was still exposed. Nevertheless, the spatial conditions recently turned out to be insufficient. The factory is extremely busy and exports to overseas countries in particular have increased significantly. "

In February 1897, Louis Schmetzer committed suicide in Zurich. In the report of a regional daily newspaper it was said that he was moody, i.e. depressed. Schmetzer's wife Clara inherited the factory and sold it to the Haas brothers, bankers from Rothenburg, who successfully continued the business. The names of two managing directors from the Haas family who were given the title of “Kommerzienrat” have been handed down: Theodor Haas (he managed the company until 1925) and his successor Hermann Haas.

In 1898, the Middle Franconia Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported: “During 1898, like in previous years, the factory was very busy and its turnover also experienced a further increase. The export business has expanded further and new connections have been made, especially in the South African countries. ”In 1907 the company was awarded the title“ Königlich Bayrische Hof-Holzwaren- und Kindermöbelfabrik ”. In the same year, the company bought a steam engine . In the mid-1920s, Louis Schmetzer & Co. is said to have been the largest factory of its kind in southern Germany.

In a bombing raid by the US Air Force on Ansbach on February 22, 1945, the Schmetzer factory was badly hit but not completely destroyed. The company existed until 1955, when "Noris Zündlicht AG" from Nuremberg acquired the factory in Heilig-Kreuz-Strasse.

There is a Louis-Schmetzer-Strasse in Ansbach. Company publications are in the holdings of the Deutsches Museum . Old Schmetzer prams are now being bought by collectors.

Bicycle production

Schmetzer presumably made contact with the local bicycle industry during his stay in the USA. In 1874 he started manufacturing children's bicycles in Rothenburg od Tauber, and from 1878 Velocipede ( high-speed bicycles ) for adults were also produced. In January 1883 Schmetzer received a US patent with the number 271,524 for a height-adjustable saddle spring. In June 1884 and July 1885 Schmetzer took part in bicycle exhibitions of the Munich Velociped Club , where his products were awarded prizes. In an advertisement from March 1889, the company described itself as the "oldest velocipede factory in the Continents."

In 1889 the Schmetzer company advertised a safety low wheel "Victoria", which was offered in the USA as "The Victor Safety" as early as 1887 by the Overman Wheel Company from Chicoppee Falls in Massachusetts . In 1890 Schmetzer was listed along with 24 other companies in the 1st member directory of the Association of German Bicycle Manufacturers.

After Schmetzer's death in 1897, bicycle production appears to have ceased. Later advertisements only feature children's bicycles, but they can be classified as toys. In the Ansbach address book from 1900, the company Louis Schmetzer & Co. was entered as a “pram factory”.

literature

  • * Peter Ullein: Louis Schmetzer & Co. in Rothenburg / Tauber and Ansbach. From 1873 to 1897 (=  Nuremberg bicycle history (s) ). Self-published, Nuremberg 2019.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Louis Schmetzer & Co., basket goods factory
  2. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , pp. 77 f, 86 f.
  3. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 2.
  4. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 3, p. 93.
  5. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 5, p. 82.
  6. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 25.
  7. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 74.
  8. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 27, p. 74.
  9. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 41, p. 94.
  10. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 42.
  11. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 43.
  12. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 45.
  13. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 46 f.
  14. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 47 ff.
  15. ↑ a b Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 53.
  16. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 49.
  17. ↑ Maschinenbau-Aktiengesellschaft Marktredwitz vorm. Rockstroh: steam engine
  18. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 7.
  19. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 7, p. 99.
  20. ↑ Company publications
  21. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 61.
  22. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , pp. 13 f, pp. 111–116.
  23. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 29, p. 56.
  24. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 21, p. 36.
  25. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 62 ff.
  26. ↑ Ullein, Schmetzer , p. 40.