Nicolas Koechlin

Nicolas Koechlin (* 1. July 1781 in Mulhouse , † 15. July 1852 ) was a French textile - and railway - entrepreneurs .

Life

Koechlin ran the family business with weaving mills in Masmünster , Mülhausen and Lörrach . He supported the Napoleonic regime . During the invasion of the Allied armies in 1814 after the Russian campaign in 1812 and Napoleon's rule of the Hundred Days , he and his brothers fought a partisan fight in the Vosges , for which he was accepted into the Legion of Honor . 1820-1832 he was chairman of the board of the Haut-Rhin company for the development of coal deposits . 1830–1841 he was a member of the Haut-Rhin department.

In 1837 Koechlin founded the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Mulhouse à Thann for the construction of a railway line from Mulhouse to Thann , which was approved in 1839. Three locomotives of Alsatian design from the factory of his cousin André Koechlin drove on the line at a top speed of 65 km / h, and the traffic soon exceeded all expectations. In 1838 he and his brothers founded the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Strasbourg à Bâle to build and operate the line from Strasbourg to Basel . The line opened in 1841 and was the first international rail link in Europe. The Compagnie du chemin de fer de Strasbourg à Bâle , which Koechlin had to sell due to his overwhelming debt burden, was taken over by the Chemin de fer de l'Est in 1854 .

The Koechlin family was related by marriage to the Dollfus family several times . Nicolas Koechlin's daughter Salomé married Mathieu Dollfus, partner of Dollfus-Mieg et Compagnie , whose daughter Anne-Marie (1837–1917) became the Empress Eugénie's maid of honor .

literature

Eugen Waldner: Koechlin . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 51, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1906, pp. 296-299.
A. Meyer: Koechlin, Nicolas . Biographies alsaciennes avec portraits en photographie, série 1, Colmar , 1884–1890, 4 pp.
André Brandt: Une famille de fabricants mulhousiens au début du XIXe siècle . Annales. Écomies, Sociétés, Civilizations, Volume 6, No. 3, 1951, pp. 319–330.

Individual evidence

↑ Bulletin No. 7, Société industrial de Mulhouse, p. 289.
↑ National Assembly: Nicolas KOECHLIN (accessed on 8 February 2016).
^ François Caron: Les grandes compagnies de chemin de fer en France: 1823-1937 . Librairie Droz, 2005, ISBN 978-2-600-00942-3 , p. 15.
^ Michel Hau: Le difficile financement du Strasbourg-Bâle . In: Michèle Merger, Dominique Barjot: Les entreprises et leurs réseaux . Presses Paris Sorbonne, 1998, ISBN 978-2-84050-122-0 , pp. 393-398.

personal data
SURNAME	Koechlin, Nicolas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French textile and railroad entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH	July 1, 1781
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mulhouse
DATE OF DEATH	July 15, 1852
Place of death	Mulhouse

[1] Bulletin No. 7, Société industrial de Mulhouse, p. 289.

[2] National Assembly: Nicolas KOECHLIN (accessed on 8 February 2016).

[3] François Caron: Les grandes compagnies de chemin de fer en France: 1823-1937 . Librairie Droz, 2005, ISBN 978-2-600-00942-3 , p. 15.

[4] Michel Hau: Le difficile financement du Strasbourg-Bâle . In: Michèle Merger, Dominique Barjot: Les entreprises et leurs réseaux . Presses Paris Sorbonne, 1998, ISBN 978-2-84050-122-0 , pp. 393-398.