Rehbach (pencil factory)
The Rehbach pencil factory was built from 1834 in Regensburg on Marschallstrasse at Aegidienplatz in the buildings and on the grounds of the “New German House”, which was built in 1720 according to plans by the builder of the Teutonic Order, Franz Keller . The founder of the factory was Johann Jakob Rehbach (* 1774; † 1849) from Vienna, who was granted citizenship in Regensburg in 1803. He was supported by his sons Johann Michael Rehbach (* 1809; † 1859) and Johann Christoph Rehbach (* 1805; † 1884), who became partners in the company in 1835. The company existed until 1934.
Development of production 1821–1834
In 1821, the Regensburg businessman Johann Jakob Rehbach, who came from Vienna, bought the facilities of a pencil factory in Obernzell near Passau, which was operated with little success by the Kingdom of Bavaria and which made use of the local graphite deposits . Rehbach had all the machines, tools and materials brought to Regensburg by ship, where he had bought a house in Untere Bachgasse, through which the Vitusbach at that time still flowed. The attempt to use the water of the Vitusbach to drive a machine with a water wheel failed because the water flow in the creek was too low. The merchant then left all technical problems to his two technically gifted sons Johann Michael and Johann Christoph. After experimenting with the greatest endurance, they found out that special additives and firing processes were necessary to give the available graphite such a high quality that one could make usable pencils with it. In the end, they managed to produce pencils that could compete in price with pencils from England and Vienna that were already well-known and also with pencils from the Faber company in Stein (Middle Franconia) near Nuremberg and even exceeded these pencils in quality. Because the house in Untere Bachgasse was too small for an expansion of production, the father Johann Jakob Rehbach acquired the "New German House" with garden and stables for 18,000 guilders from the heirs of Alexander Ferdinand von Lilien , who died in Regensburg in 1818 former advisor to the Princes of Thurn and Taxis. Von Lilien bought the complex in 1809, after Napoleon dissolved the Teutonic Order, from Prince-Primate Karl Theodor von Dalberg , to whom the Order's possession had passed.
Largest industrial company in Regensburg
The two sons, who had only worked for “miserable earnings” for a long time, were accepted by their father as partners in the company in 1835 and subsequently managed the company with ever increasing profits, because the large number of rooms and the size of the premises allowed one extensive production and economic management. In 1840 the first steam engine was put into operation in the factory in Regensburg. Her tall chimney became a landmark on many paintings. In 1845 the father withdrew completely from the company. In 1847, the sons expanded production with a boring mill for the manufacture of gas, water and well pipes made of limestone or marble. This made the company the largest industrial company in the city and a visit from King Maximilian I Joseph (Bavaria) .
The company and its owners were also active early on in the social and political life of the city. Since the company was founded, there has been a health support association for employees and, from 1850, an old age support association with a pension fund. The father Johann Christoph Rehbach was involved in the election of the mayor as a municipal representative from 1818 to 1836 and was himself a member of the city's magistrate. His son Johann Jacob was also involved from 1839 to 1869, who was also put up as a left-liberal candidate in the election to the Bavarian state parliament in 1863. When unrest broke out in front of the town hall in Regensburg in the pre- March period and then also in the weeks of the revolution , a company of 50 men was set up from the workers of the pencil factory to maintain order.
After his father and his brother died in 1859, Johann Christoph Rehbach took his son-in-law Friedrich Hendschel and in 1864 his son Fritz into the company. In 1869 the factory employed 300 people and with an annual production of 21 million pencils the company held the second position in Germany. When Johann Jacob died in 1884, he bequeathed 10,000 guilders to the Protestant hospital and to the school fund for Protestant elementary school teachers.
Downfall of the company
In the 20th century the economic situation of the company deteriorated under the direction of Fritz Rehbach and from 1920 under the direction of his son-in-law Ammon. In 1934 the Rehbach company went bankrupt. It was taken over by the Pensel & Sohn company, production relocated to Nordhalben , continued under the name JJ Rehbach until 1970 and then discontinued.
In Regensburg, apart from the main building of the New German House on Marschallstrasse, no other former manufacturing buildings have survived. A parking lot has been created on the extensive grounds of the former garden of the New German House. A plaque was attached to the north facade of the New German House in 2004, reminiscent of the Rehbach pencil factory.
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . 6th edition. MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 198 .
- ^ A b c Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . 6th edition. MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 334 f .
- ↑ Dieter Albrecht: Regensburg im Wandel, studies on the history of the city in the 19th and 20th centuries . In: Museums and Archives of the City of Regensburg (Hrsg.): Studies and sources on the history of Regensburg . tape 2 . Mittelbayerische Druckerei und Verlags-Gesellschaft mbH, Regensburg 1984, ISBN 3-921114-11-X , p. 33, 69, 127 .
- ↑ buettner-nuernberg.de / vgbleistift33.htm accessed on Feb. 28, 2019.