Theophil Roniger

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Memorial fountain for Theophil Roniger, Magden, Christian Catholic Church St. Martin
Memorial fountain, maids

Theophil Roniger (born December 2, 1844 in Magden ; † May 16, 1913 in Rheinfelden ) was a Swiss brewer , entrepreneur and politician . In 1876 he was the co-founder and driving force of the Wüthrich & Roniger brewery in Rheinfelden. From this the Feldschlösschen Getränke AG developed , the leading brewery and the largest beverage retailer in Switzerland .

biography

Roniger grew up in Magden in the lower Fricktal in modest smallholder circumstances. His father Josef served as the mayor . In 1865 he added an inn to his small farm; from this the still existing country inn "zur Sonne" developed. It is not known exactly where Theophil Roniger got his technical and commercial skills, especially since he did not receive any higher education. In 1867 he began a two-year apprenticeship as a brewer in Säckingen . Roniger embarked on a three-year wandering in 1869 . This led him to Munich , Ulm and finally to Grafenrheinfeld . Back in Magden, he brewed beer for his father's guests.

When the Bözbergbahn opened in 1875 , Roniger and his friend Matthias Wüthrich developed the idea of ​​producing beer industrially using the latest technology and conquering the Swiss market. Matthias' father Johann, a wealthy farmer from neighboring Olsberg , agreed to support the two financially and bought the facilities and grounds of a disused aniline factory in Rheinfelden . It was there in 1876 that the "Wüthrich & Roniger Brauerei zum Feldschlösschen" collective company was founded. Matthias Wüthrich's wife Marie, who was responsible for all the bookkeeping in the first few years, also played an important role.

In 1879 Roniger married Alice Blatt, the only daughter of the beekeeper Johann Blatt-Bright from Rütschelen . After a resinous start (in 1877 the beer output was only 4000 hectoliters), rapid growth began. Roniger insisted on ingredients of the highest quality and the Feldschlösschen beer soon acquired an excellent reputation. He pursued an expansive strategy by taking over other breweries and consistently using the railroad as a means of transport. From 1882 a building complex in the castle style was built on the company premises , which is now a listed building. In 1890 the previous general partnership was converted into a joint stock company. Roniger was a member of the Rheinfeld city ​​council for several years , from 1893 to 1897 he sat on the Grand Council of the Canton of Aargau (as a member of the FDP parliamentary group).

In 1913, the year of his death, his older son Adolph Roniger took over the management and made Feldschlösschen the leading brewery in Switzerland. His younger son was the writer and publisher Emil Roniger .

literature

  • Theophil Roniger , Biographical Lexicon of the Canton of Aargau 1803–1957 . In: Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau (Ed.): Argovia . tape 68/69 . Verlag Sauerländer, Aarau 1958, p. 632-635 .
  • Emil Roniger: Theophil Roniger-Blatt The man and his achievement, publishing house, Willy Schaffner, 1955, Rheinfelden

Web links

Commons : Theophil Roniger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Hochreiter, Eva Gschwind, André Salvisberg , Dominik Sieber, Claudius Sieber-Lehmann : Inside, outside, there. History of the city of Rheinfelden . Ed .: City of Rheinfelden [Switzerland]. regional culture publisher, Ubstadt-Weiher 2014, ISBN 978-3-89735-800-3 , p. 185-186 .
  2. ↑ a b Urs Widmer:  Roniger. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 28 f. ( Digitized version ).
personal data
SURNAME Roniger, Theophil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss brewer, entrepreneur and politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 2, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Maids
DATE OF DEATH May 16, 1913
Place of death Rheinfelden