website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Blaesius Table
Slide Company
Watertown Table Slide
Perfection Table Slide
Manufacturing
The Watertown Table-Slide
Co. DID NOT make tables.
The company patented and manufactured
wooden slides for extension tables.
Furniture manufacturers from
all over the country bought
extension slides from the
Watertown Table-Slide Co.
The firm was sold to Reiss
Industries in 1985.
Ad from Watertown Daily Times,
Profile of the Company
The Watertown Table-Slide Company was established in 1889 with Emil W. Schultz (early business man) as president, Max H. Gaebler and Richard Blaesius; the business was
incorporated in 1891. Its capital in 1917 is twenty-five thousand dollars
with an earned surplus of sixty thousand dollars also in the business.
The company's plant is located on Hart Street south of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad tracks and has its own spur track. Here they
have three and a half acres of ground on which are several buildings and three
dry kilns. They manufacture patented slides for extension tables and their
product is sold exclusively to table manufacturers, mostly in carload lots,
throughout the United States and Canada.
The material used is principally birch and the annual consumption is a
million and a half feet of lumber. The dry kiln capacity is two hundred
thousand feet and the equipment of the plant is first class, all special
machines used being designed by the company's secretary and treasurer, Max H. Gaebler. Employment is furnished forty hands,
one-half of whom are skilled workmen and over thirty thousand dollars are
annually paid out in wages.
This is today one of the most prosperous and successful enterprises of
Watertown and its success is largely due to the stubborn energy of its former
president, Emil W. Schultz, who was its manager until his death, June 27, 1916.
The officers are now Mrs. Estella
Schultz, president, widow of the former president, William C. Schultz, vice president,
and H. Gaebler,
secretary and treasurer. Its superintendent, Henry Winkler, has been in charge of the factory since the
establishment of the business.
It is the only concern in its line in Wisconsin and one of the two
largest in this class of manufacture in the United States.
Above derived from Jefferson County Wisconsin and its People: A
Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II, S.
J. Clarke Publishing Co (Chicago), 1917.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Watertown Table Slide stock
certificate
______________________________________________________________________________________
Table Slide Firm Formed Here in 1889
Blaesius Brothers Had Original
Plant Here
Watertown
has been making nationally famous table slides since 1889 when the Watertown
Table Slide Co., now a corporation, was organized by E. W. Schultz, Max H. Gaebler and Richard Blaesius.
Prior to that time there had been a small table slide shop here operated by Blaesius Brothers and the Watertown company, launched in
1889, was the outgrowth of that earlier concern.
1889
Jefferson Banner, 10
10 1889.
Tuesday
evening a fire destroyed Edward Blaesius’ furniture
factory and his dwelling house at Watertown, together with machinery, lumber
and stock, the entire loss being estimated at about $8,000, upon which there is
not a cent of insurance. This is the
most serious fire that has visited this town in several years. The fire department fought hard against the
flames, but without avail. The furniture
factory is adjacent to the depot, and was one of the best employing
manufacturers in the city. The cause of
the fire is as strange as the absence of insurance.
In
1924 another table slide company, known as the Perfection Table Slide
Manufacturing Co., was launched here under the leadership of E. W.
Schultz. That concern continued to
operate until last year when announcement was made that it was going out of
business, that the factory building had been sold to the Hevi Duty Electric Co. of Milwaukee, and that the
Watertown Table Slide Co. had purchased its equipment and inventory.
Mrs.
Muriel Thauer, wife of Attorney Wallace Thauer, was president of the company at the time the
announcement was made last July 15 that it was going out of business. She had
headed the company for many years, being a daughter of the late E. W. Schutz.
She was not connected with the Perfection Table Slide Manufacturing Co. at the
time her father helped organize it, but became interested in the company a few
years after it was organized.
She
became head of the company upon the death of her father and had also been
general manager. As a girl she had assisted her father in his office and
accompanied him on many of his business trips and was practically brought up in
the table slide business, gaining much experience which was to prove valuable
in a business way for the company when she later became head of the concern.
Last year, after many years in business, she decided to retire and began
negotiations for the sale of the property.
At the
time of her retirement, Mrs. Thauer acknowledged the
efficient and helpful services to the company of Benjamin R. Krueger who was
for 19 years the company's secretary and treasurer. Fred W. Pfeifer of this
city was for many years associated with the company and had-served as its first
vice president. Otto Fischer was superintendent since the company was
organized and had over 50 years experience in the
manufacture of table slides. Several other employees had more than 40 years experience.
One Company Now
Today
the Watertown Table Slide Corp. the remaining such plant in Watertown, is one
of five table slide manufacturing concerns in the United States. From the start its policy had been to turn
out the best and most efficient product that could be produced and its products
have been used throughout, the United States, and some foreign countries as
well.
Approximately
one million board feet of lumber is used in the company plant. Only hard
wood, such as birch and maple, is used. One of the secrets of its successes
always has been in the long and special treatment of the wood used.
In
addition to standard size table slides, the company has turned out a great
number of special contract jobs, with slides ranging to vast sizes for special
tables.
Much
machinery and special equipment, some of it being of the most ingenious nature
and design, is required to turn out the many types of table slides produced in
the plant.
Years
ago the special wood treatment process employed in the Watertown table slides
attracted the attention of U. S. government wood experts who came here to study
the method.
A. M.
(Dip) Ellington has been president of the Watertown Table Slide Corp., for many
years. He is also secretary. Lois P. F. Ellington is vice president and
treasurer. Edward Dobbratz
is the firm's sales manager. [Profile of Ed Dobbratz,
1924-2008]
Watertown
Daily Times / Centennial Edition, June 26, 1954
1890
10 15 NEW TABLE FACTORY
BUILDING
Blaesius
Bros. have commenced a building for their new table factory, near the site of
the old Blaesius factory in the Seventh ward. The boys deserve encouragement and should
receive all the help that can be given them in the attempt to establish a
manufactory in our midst. WR
1898
05 04 PAY RAISES
A certain indication of
business prosperity comes from the Blaesius Table Slide Company. On the 1st of May the company made an
increase in the wages of all its employees of from 10 to 25 per cent. The advance is no doubt very welcome to the
workmen, and we are glad to note it. WR
1899
03 29 BLAESIUS TABLE SLIDE changed to WATERTOWN TABLE SLIDE
Notice is hereby given that the name of The Blaesius
Table Slide Company, of Watertown, Wis., has been duly changed to Watertown
Table Slide Company, and that the business of said Blaesius
Table Slide Company will be conducted under the name of said Watertown Table
Slide Company.
Dated Watertown, March 28, 1899.
MAX H. GAEBLER,
Secretary of Blaesius Table Slide Co. WR
05 23 CRIME COMMITTED AT THE
PLANT
A
desperate crime was committed Saturday night at the plant of the Watertown
Table Slide company, in the Seventh ward.
Between the hours of 11 and 12 o'clock five men with their faces
partially hidden by red bandana handkerchiefs entered the factory and at the
point of revolvers overpowered the night watchman, John Bliese,
one of the desperadoes hitting him on the head with the butt end of his
shooter, after which they bound and gagged the victim and also relieved him of
what money he possessed, amounting to about $5.
The men helped themselves to necessary tools and proceeded to the
office, where they demolished the front of the safe with three charges of
powder. All the money contained in the
safe, some $15 was taken, together with about $500 worth of negotiable paper
held by the company against the Wisconsin company, of North Milwaukee; H.W.
Klink, of Leavenworth, Kan., and the North St. Paul Table company, of North St.
Paul, Minn. The job consumed some two
hours, after which the robbers made good their escape. Bliese succeeded in
releasing himself shortly after the departure of his assailants and hurried to
give the alarm, but thus far the police have located no clue, aside from the
finding of some of the company's papers which were taken from the safe and
hidden in a freight car on the Milwaukee railway. These were of no value to the thieves. WR
06 06 The preliminary hearing of
George Roberts and James Murphy, who were arrested at Tomah on suspicion of
being confederates in the robbery of the Watertown Table Slide company's safe
on the night of May 20, was held before Justice Stacy Friday last. Both men waived examination, and on the sole
evidence of John Briese, the night-watch, they were
bound over for trial at the next term of the circuit court. Bail was fixed at $300 each, and failing to
secure it they were remanded to the county jail. Later Roberts and Murphy confessed to Chief
of Police Block that they were two of a party of five who blew open the safe
and committed the robbery. They kept the
cash they found, but hid the papers in a box near the railroad tracks, where
they were subsequently discovered, but in a different location than that
indicated by the prisoners. WR
1901
05 31 STENOGRAPHER
Miss
Maude Stapleton is now filling the position of stenographer for the Watertown
Table Slide Co. WG
1906
11 28 The Leader
is pleased to note the evident prosperity of one of the local manufacturing industries,
which has grown from modest beginnings, till it is now an important factor in
the industrial activity of Watertown and gives promise of becoming an
institution of far greater importance, due in a large measure to the excellence
of management.
. . .
It will be a source of pleasure to all . . . to know that [the Watertown Table
Slide Co] has commenced the erection of two large additions to its plant in
order to accommodate the rapidly increasing business . . . The plant at the
present time is being operated day and night in order to complete their
contracts at specified times. The
working force has been increased from time to time as necessity demanded, till
today there is a force of fifty people employed. The building operations of the new addition
is under the supervision of E. W. Schultz, the president of the company. WL
1916 DEATH OF EMIL SCHULTZ
07 06 Well-Known
Business Man and Manufacturer Dies at St. Mary's Hospital
At 5
o'clock on Thursday, June 29, 1916, Emil W. Schultz, one of Watertown's most
progressive business men, and a manufacturer of national reputation, died at
St. Mary's Hospital in this city of cancer of the bladder, with which he had
been a great sufferer for months. All
that medical skill could do was done for Mr. Schultz and he received every
attention from family and friends to comfort and assist him in his last
illness.
For
six weeks before his death he realized that the hand of Death was on him and he
prepared well to meet his Creator, having recourse to the bible many times each
day and having it read and explained to him.
The
news of his death was learned of by our citizens with sincere regret, for Mr.
Schultz had many warm friends here, and besides all our citizens realized that
he was a businessman who did much good here, not only by his own manufacturing
plant, but in other material ways and in charitableness also.
Deceased
was born on a farm, near Lake Mills in May, 1864, and on May 20, 1887, he was
married to Miss Estelle Drew of Lake Mills.
He was
a self-made man in every particular, and had he lived no doubt he would have
risen to be one of the largest manufacturers in the county, for his business
interests were being added to yearly, and just previous to his death a large
addition to his factory was built and another addition was being contemplated.
After attending school
a few years, he secured a position in a general store at Lake Mills, and
resigning that position he went to Fond du Lac and was employed in the
furniture store of his brother-in-law, Albert Blankenberg,
where he mastered the furniture business, and in 1886 he came to this city and
opened a furniture store in the building in West Main Street now occupied by
the Baumann Candy Co. In 1889 he disposed of that business and
associated himself with Max H. Gaebler and the late
Richard Blaesius in the Watertown Table Slide Co., a
business that grew and prospered up to the time of his death. He was also interested in many other
enterprises, notably in the Isle of Pines, where he had large land interest.
Mr.
Schultz was a big man physically, and a big man mentally and in a business way,
yet he had many traits of the great big-hearted boy, and many there are who
will miss him, for his bigness of heart found him on numerous occasions
extending charity and assistance to those less fortunate than he in a business
way.
The
writer knew him intimately for over 30 years, and, though like human beings, he
had his faults, his good traits of character were so many, that his faults sank
into insignificance alongside of them.
He is
survived by his wife and two daughters, the Misses Muriel and Helen Schultz,
one brother, W. C. Schultz of the Isle of Pines, and two half
sisters, Mrs. Wm. Gruetzmacher, Grand Forks,
N. Dak., and Mrs. Wm. Fuerstenau
of Lake Mills. He was a member of
Watertown Lodge B. P. O. Elks No. 666 and of Watertown Council United
Commercial Travelers.
His funeral was held
Sunday afternoon from his late home, Rev. N. Carter Daniell
officiating. Mr. Daniell
read the Congregationial service and preached an
eloquent funeral sermon. Song services
was rendered by a number of the Congregational choir. Nearly 75 of
the local Elks marched from the home to the Oak Hill
Cemetery, as did also a number of the local council of the Commercial
Travelers, and all of the factory force over which Mr. Schultz in life
presided.
At his grave in Oak
Hill the Elks held services . . .
The active pallbearers
were Otto Fischer, Wm. Draeger, Otto Draeger, Wm. Schmidt, Herman Neubauer and
Arthur Behling of the factory force. The
honorary pallbearers were Mayor Charles Mulberger, E.
J. Brandt, Geo. Koenig, James W. Moore, J. W. Wiggenhorn
and F. E. Woodard.
The out of town people who
attended the funeral were . . . WG
1918
02 13 WATERTOWN TABLE SLIDE FOUNDED 29 YEARS AGO
In
1889 three Watertown men, E. W. Schultz, Richard Blaesius
and M. H. Gaebler, organized what is now the
Watertown Table Slide Company. They as
progressive businessmen had foresight enough to see that at no distant future
there would be a great demand for the product they were to manufacture. Their venture was a success and in 1891 the
concern was incorporated at a capitalization of $7500. The Watertown Table Slide company today has a
capitalization and surplus of $90,000.
Directing its destinies today are Estella H. Schultz, president, W. C.
Schultz, vice president, and M. H. Gaebler, secretary
and treasurer. Of the three original
founders Mr. Gaebler alone survives. Henry Winkler,
superintendent of the factory, has been employ of the concern for 28 years.
In
speaking of the success of the business, Mr. Gaebler
said that it was owing to the equalizer ball-bearing equipped slide that the
firm’s prominence is due. The concern is
the sole owner of this device, which by drawing out one end of the table
automatically causes the other to move in proportion. The center leg of the table remains in the
center so that no matter how far the end of the table is pulled out the center leg
remains stationary. Several patents were
taken out on this invention. The late E.
W. Schultz was one of the inventors.
The plant
was recently enlarged, a $20,000 addition having been built. One of the principal features of the new
addition is the steam retort where all the lumber is first steamed under a
pressure of from ten to twenty pounds.
It is then put into the dry kilns, of which there are two, each 130 feet
long. This treatment of the birch
lumber, of which 1,500,000 feet are used each year in the manufacture of the
table slide, has attracted the attention of government experts, for it never
warps after it has gone through this process.
“That is the reason why Watertown slides are famous.” said Mr. Gaebler.
A
number of especially constructed machines take care of this specially treated
lumber after it comes from the kilns.
Automatic boring machines, of which there are two, one boring three and
the other twenty-four holes, make the lumber ready for the grooving and routing
machines, which were made for this work, completes the necessary machine
operations and the slide is ready to be assembled.
The
plant has a complete sprinkler system, employs 40 men, covers an entire city
block, and has a spur track connecting it with the Milwaukee Road. The
Watertown News, 02 13 1918
1953
07 18 PERFECTION PLANT SOLD TO HEVI-DUTY
Announcement was made today of plans to
open a new industry in Watertown in the fall which will employ between 100 and
150 persons. The announcement was made
by Harold E. Koch, an official of the Hevi Duty Electric Company of
Milwaukee, following reports of a new industry which have been in circulation
here in recent weeks. Negotiations have
now been completed. Mr. Koch said that the company will take over the building
of the Perfection Table Slide Manufacturing Company on Hart Street and convert
it into a plant for the making of electrical transformers for electric furnaces
which his company manufactures.
11 19 PERFECTION
INVENTORY SOLD TO WATERTOWN TABLE SLIDE
Announcement
was made by Mrs. Muriel Thauer, president of Perfection Table Slide
Manufacturing Company, of this city, that negotiations have been completed for
the sale of its equipment and inventor to the Watertown Table Slide Corporation
and for the sale of the Perfection factory building and real estate to Hevi Duty
Electric Company of Milwaukee. It is expected that the Hevi Duty Company will
take possession before the end of this summer and thus bring to Watertown a
substantial new industry.
The
Perfection Table Slide Manufacturing Company was organized about 1924 and has
since then been engaged in the manufacture and sale of high-grade extension
table slides to table manufacturers in various parts of the country.
Mrs.
Thauer had no connection with the Perfection Company when it was organized but
a few years later she became interested in the company and has since then been
its president and general manager.
A few
years later a separate corporation, the Perfection Realty Corporation, was
formed to take over the factory building and real estate.
1965
12 24 RAYMOND WINKLER
Raymond
Winkler, 814 South Third Street, has been honored by the Watertown Table Slide
Corp. on the occasion of his 42 years of employment with the concern. Mr. Winkler is chief maintenance engineer at
the plant. He began his work on Dec. 10, 1923, starting as an engineer on the
days when the company produced its own power.
He held that position until about 1945 when he became chief maintenance
engineer. At the time he joined the
company his father, the late Henry Winkler, was superintendent of the plant.
1973
-- -- BUILDINGS PRIOR TO THEIR REMOVAL. 200 Hart Street
1974
02 01 1974
Watertown Table Slide -
Pioneer in use of Aluminum for Slides
An
innovative approach using aluminum in the table slide industry, pioneered by
Watertown Table Slide,
The
Watertown firm had made wood table slides for many years, and which 15 years
ago began the use of steel in table slides, has now become the first company in
the nation to make use of aluminum in its table slide product. WDT
Wooden Table Slides Discontinued
The
wood line, which for many years was the only line made, was discontinued a year
ago and with the discontinuance came many changes in the plant.
Some
of the old buildings used in the old process were torn down and replaced by a
new 60 foot by 120 foot building with additional areas for office space.
The
completely new facilities handle all manufacturing and business portions of the
company. The remaining old facilities
are used primarily for storage of the new raw materials and for some of the old
wood slides.
Dobbratz
said that while the steel table slides account for the biggest volume of the
business, the real future lies in the use of aluminum.
He
explained that use of steel is limited by its size and shape, but aluminum can
be shaped exactly to the requirements of any particular project.
Dobbratz
said “With aluminum there are no design restrictions. We can make any type of table slide or slide
for other purposes and can meet the needs of our clients with aluminum.”
The
firm is presently manufacturing slides only for tables with the aluminum and steel,
but future applications are limitless, Dobbratz emphasized. He said “There are many slides which remain
to be designed and we feel we will be able to produce them in our new
facilities.”
Can Expand Building
The
new structure was built with expansion in mind.
Dobbratz said future expansion is planned by adding to the west side of
the existing new building.
The
building was designed and constructed by Metal Structures, Inc., of
Oconomowoc. In addition to the bright production
area, the office space includes the president’s area, business office, private
meeting room, drafting room and waiting room and entrance. The floor is attractively carpeted.
Watertown
Table Slide functions with 27 employees handling both the aluminum and steel
lines.
The
president of the firm takes pride in the equipment used at the facility, most
of which was designed for its specific use by officials of the firm. Several of the machines were designed by Earl
Olson of Watertown.
Dobbratz
is proud of the accomplishments of the firm, noting that the company sells
slides in Australia, West Germany, Switzerland, England, Italy, Sweden, France
and other countries in addition to its business in the United States.
Has Long History
Watertown
Table Slide has a long history in Watertown, having been formed in 1889 as the
Watertown Table Slide Company. It is now
a corporation.
The
firm was originally formed by E. W. Schultz, Max H. Gaebler, and Richard
Blaesius.
Prior
to that time there had been a small table slide shop here operated by Blaesius
Brothers. The Watertown company was the outgrowth of that earlier concern.
In
1924 another table slide company, known as the Perfection Table Slide
Manufacturing Company, was launched under the leadership of Schultz. That concern operated until 1953 when it was
purchased by Watertown Table Slide.
A.M.
(Dip) Ellington has been associated with the firm since the late 1920s, having
served as its president for many years.
1985
11 01 REISS INDUSTRIES PURCHASED WATERTOWN TABLE SIDE CORP
As a
result of the company's recent growth, Reiss Industries has entered into
agreement to purchase Watertown Table Slide Corporation. The Watertown Table Slide assets will be
purchased by a newly formed subsidiary of Reiss, Consolidated Industries, Inc.,
Thomas Reiss, chairman of the board of Reiss, said. Reiss said the new subsidiary will retain all
of the employees of Watertown Table Slide.
He said Ed Dobbratz, current president of Watertown Table Slide, has
also signed with Consolidated and will maintain “a vital role” in the new
firm. Reiss Industries recently
celebrated its 10th anniversary and operates out of its 120,000 square foot
facility at 319 Hart Street. One of the
country's leading manufacturers of custom molded methane products, the firm's
products include parts for the office furniture, automotive, health care and
aerospace industries. WDT
1988
09 19 FACTORY EXPANSION
Reiss
Industries of Watertown has taken out a building permit for factory expansion
at its facilities at 319 Hart Street.
According to Thomas J. Reiss Jr., chief executive officer of the firm,
the project is part of a $5 million project that includes another Reiss
enterprise, Watertown Table Slide Company, 1207 Boomer St. Reiss recently purchased another company,
R-Way Furniture Company of Sheboygan, Wis.
The project includes facility expansion and major equipment acquisitions
for both Reiss Industries and Watertown Table Slide, according to Reiss. WDT
1993
10 15 TOUR BY AUTO CLUB MEMBERS
The Octagon
House neighborhood harked back to days of old on Friday when
vintage Willis Overland cars parked in the streets. The cars, manufactured between 1903
and 1941, lined the streets while the drivers and passengers
toured the Octagon House as part of regional meeting
activities of the Willis Overland Knights Register, an
international club. Tours were
also given at Reiss Industry Inc. and Watertown
Table Slide by owner Tom Reiss, who owns an Overland
car which is being refurbished. The group also toured the power
house being restored by Reiss on the lower dam of the Rock River. Co-chairmen of the regional meeting are
Connie and Carol Holcomb of Watertown, who have a 1920 Overland touring car,
and Ward and Chris Bruhn of Concord, who have a 1917 Overland touring car.
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin