Wisconsin Leather Company Building

Last updated
Wisconsin Leather Company Building
Wisconsin Leather Co Store.jpg
Wisconsin Leather Company Building
Location320 E. Clybourn St.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Coordinates 43°02′12″N87°54′24″W / 43.03655°N 87.90657°W / 43.03655; -87.90657
Built1874
Architect E. Townsend Mix
Architectural style Italianate
NRHP reference No. 05000250
Added to NRHPMarch 30, 2005

The Wisconsin Leather Company Building was built in 1874 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as the central office and store of one of the first leather companies established in Milwaukee and by the 1870s one of the largest. [1] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. [2] [3]

History

Leather-making in the mid-1800s required animal skins, of course. It also required tanning agents, which could be extracted from the bark of oak, chestnut, and hemlock trees. And it required water for washing away the waste and for transportation. Northern Wisconsin had vast stands of hemlock, the Midwest produced skins, and the Milwaukee River supplied water for washing and access to the Great Lakes for transportation. The first tannery in Milwaukee was started by Daniel Phelps in 1842. [1]

Out in central New York state, Rufus Allen, Sr. had established a tannery in Cazenovia by 1809. [4] By the 1840s the tanning bark out there was exhausted, so the family moved their tannery west to Milwaukee. In 1846, Rufus's son William and Edward P. Allis opened the Empire Leather Store at 149 East Water Street in Milwaukee, describing their business as "wholesale and retail dealers in sole and upper leather of every description, including harness leather, bridle skirting, linings, and findings." By 1850 the firm's name was "Wisconsin Leather Company." [1]

In 1850 the company also bought 1,200 acres of hemlock in Manitowoc County and set up a tannery for upper-leather at Two Rivers. Supplies were shipped to it from Milwaukee and finished leathers were shipped back to Milwaukee. The Two Rivers tannery had 134 tanning vats on the ground floor and drying and storage on the second floor. In 1850-51 it was considered the largest in the Midwest, requiring 7,000 tons of tanbark and processing 60,000 hides. [1]

In 1870 the company built another tannery - this one for upper and harness leather - in the Kinnickinnick basin, which included a receiving building, a beam house, tanning vats, an engine house, a grinding and leeching house, and a finishing building. It was said to be the largest tannery of its kind in the country at that time. By 1872 Wisconsin Leather was one of the largest tanners in the country. [1]

In 1874 Wisconsin Leather decided to move the store and offices to Milwaukee. Edward Townsend Mix designed the building that is the topic of this article on Huron Street - a 3-story cream brick building with Italianate styling evident in the hood moulds over the windows and the pilasters at the corners. The top is capped with a cornice with a pediment in the center. The storefront with its cast iron columns was probably added around 1890 to replace a simpler original. [1]

The company was finally incorporated in 1881. Wisconsin Leather's tannery at Two Rivers closed in 1887, due to the dwindling supply of tanbark there, and in the same year the company failed financially. By 1888 the company had relocated its offices and production had shrunk to $250,000, with 100 employees. In 1889 the remains of Wisconsin Leather were bought by competitor Pfister and Vogel. Wisconsin Leather's failure may have been due to old-fashioned business practices. It was not due to dwindling demand for leather, since the leather industry in Milwaukee continued for another 30 years - peaking during World War I. [1]

Charles L. Kiewert bought the building on Huron Street in 1885, and sold brewing and bottling supplies there until 1920. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanning (leather)</span> Process of treating animal skin to produce leather

Tanning is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acton, Ontario</span> Rural area in Ontario, Canada

Acton is a community located in the town of Halton Hills, in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. At the northern end of the Region, it is on the outer edge of the Greater Toronto Area and is one of two of the primary population centres of the Town; the other is Georgetown. From 1842 until 1986, the town was a major centre for the tanning and leather goods industry. In the early years, it was often referred to as "Leathertown".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zadock Pratt</span> American politician

Zadock Pratt Jr. was a tanner, banker, soldier, and member of the United States House of Representatives. Pratt served in the New York militia from 1819–1826, and was Colonel of the 116th regiment from 1822 until his resignation from the militia on September 4, 1826.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grahamsville Historic District</span> Historic district in New York, United States

The Grahamsville Historic District is a historic district located along both sides of NY 55 just east of that hamlet in the Town of Neversink in Sullivan County, New York, United States. Its church is across the road from Tri-Valley Central School. In 1979 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The United States Leather Company (1893-1952), was one of the largest corporations in the United States circa 1900, and one of the original companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It was often referred to by contemporary sources as the "Leather combine" or "Leather trust".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Mills Homestead Historic District</span> Historic district in Maryland, United States

Union Mills Homestead Historic District is a national historic district at Westminster, Carroll County, Maryland, United States.

Griffins Mills is a hamlet in the town of Aurora in Erie County, New York, United States. It lies on the West Branch of Cazenovia Creek in the area once known as West Aurora. Griffins Mills was founded in the early 19th century at the site of a mill. It is located in zip code 14170.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igualada Leather Museum</span>

The Igualada Leather Museum, located in Igualada, Catalonia, was created in 1954 and was the first leather museum in Spain, and the third one in Europe. The collections are displayed in two nearby buildings in Igualada: the "Cal Boyer" building, a former cotton textile factory from the late 19th century, and the "Cal Granotes" building, an 18th-century tannery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph "Diamond Jo" Reynolds</span> American businessman

Joseph Reynolds was an American entrepreneur and founder of the Diamond Jo Line, a transportation company which operated steamboats on the upper Mississippi River. In his youth, while still living in upstate New York, he operated a butchery, a general store, a grain mill, and a tannery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bark mill</span>

Bark mills, also known as Catskill's mills, are water, steam, horse, ox or wind-powered edge mills used to process the bark, roots, and branches of various tree species into a fine powder known as tanbark, used for tanning leather. This powdering allowed the tannin to be extracted more efficiently from its woody source material. A barker would strip the bark from trees so that it might be ground in such mills, and the dried bark was often stored in bark houses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Tannery (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)</span> United States historic place

The Tannery is a historic tannery building constructed by the colonial Moravians in Bethlehem, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. It is a limestone building built in 1761, and is part of the Bethlehem Colonial Industrial Quarter.

Friedrich Vogel, more commonly known by the Americanized version of his name as Frederick Vogel, Sr., was an American tanner and businessman from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who spent a single one-year term as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. Together with his cousin Guido Pfister, he founded the Pfister & Vogel tannery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prentice Co-operative Creamery Company</span> United States historic place

The Prentice Co-operative Creamery Company in Prentice, Wisconsin was central to the community's transition from lumber to agriculture. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Russia leather is a particular form of bark-tanned cow leather. It is distinguished from other types of leather by a processing step that takes place after tanning, where birch oil is worked into the rear face of the leather. This produces a leather that is hard-wearing, flexible and resistant to water. The oil impregnation also deters insect damage. This leather was a major export good from Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries because of its high quality, its usefulness for a range of purposes, and the difficulty of replicating its manufacture elsewhere. It was an important item of trade for the Muscovy Company. In German-speaking countries, this leather was also known by the name Juchten or Juften.

Pfister & Vogel (P&V) was an American tannery business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August H. Vogel</span>

August Hugo Vogel (1862–1930) was vice-president of Pfister & Vogel leather tannery of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Albert F. Gallun was president of A. F. Gallun & Sons in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time, the company was one of the four largest leather-tanning operations in the United States.

A. F. Gallun & Sons was one of the largest tanneries in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and one of the four largest tanneries in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walker's Point Historic District</span> Historic district in Wisconsin, United States

The Walker's Point Historic District is a mixed working-class neighborhood of homes, stores, churches and factories in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with surviving buildings as old as 1849, including remnants of the Philip Best Brewery and the Pfister and Vogel Tannery. In 1978 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The NRHP nomination points out that Walker's Point was "the only part of Milwaukee's three original Settlements to reach the last quarter of the Twentieth Century with its Nineteenth and early-Twentieth Century fabric still largely intact," and ventures that "For something similar, one would have to travel to Cleveland or St. Louis if, indeed, so cohesive and broad a grouping of...structures still exists even in those cities."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alligator leather</span>

Leather is created when an animal skin or hide is chemically treated in a process called tanning to preserve them for long term use as material for clothing, handbags, footwear, furniture, sports equipment and tools. Alligator leather is also commonly used to create similar items as mentioned above.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Lorette Russenberger; Emily Pettis (October 2004). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Wisconsin Leather Company Building". National Park Service . Retrieved 2020-05-10. with eight photos.
  2. "Wisconsin Leather Co. Building". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  3. "Wisconsin Leather Company Building". Landmark Hunter.com. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  4. "1874 - Wisconsin Leather Company Building - Milwaukee, WI". Waymarking.com. Retrieved 2012-03-10.