Ferdinand N. Kahler

Ferdinand N. "Ferd" Kahler, Sr.
Born Ferdinand Nickolas Kahler, Sr.
(1864-11-20)November 20, 1864
Hermsdorf, Czech Republic
Died November 14, 1927(1927-11-14) (aged 62)
New Albany, Indiana, United States
Occupation Inventor, Entrepreneur

Ferdinand Nickolas 'Ferd' Kahler, Sr. (November 20, 1864 – November 14, 1927) was an American inventor, entrepreneur and automobile pioneer who founded The Kahler Co. in New Albany, Indiana.

He was a manufacturer of wood and lumber products, founded two early American automobile companies and was granted patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for his inventions.

Biography

Kahler was born in Hermsdoren, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). He immigrated to Reading, Pennsylvania in 1881, visited Louisville, Kentucky and moved to nearby New Albany, Indiana in 1884.

Exterior photo of Ferdinand N. Kahler home built in the Airplane Bungalow style on Cedar Bough Place, a private street in New Albany, Indiana.
Exterior photo of Ferdinand N. Kahler home built in the Airplane Bungalow style on Cedar Bough Place, a private street in New Albany, Indiana.

Kahler built the last home constructed on Cedar Bough Place. The home was built in the Airplane Bungalow style of American Craftsman architecture. In 2011, the Kahler home earned a New Albany Historic Preservation Commission "Facelift Award" for "outstanding restoration and rehabilitation".

Kahler was buried in the City Vault on November 17, 1927 and later reinterred in the Kahler family vault, located in New Albany's Fairview Cemetery on April 23, 1929.[1] The Kahler family vault was built by the Peter & Burghard Stone Company of Louisville, Kentucky.[2]

Early woodworking career

Kahler began his career as a bench carpenter, building rail cars, street cars, double-deck cars and their interiors at the American Car and Foundry Co. in nearby Jeffersonville, Indiana.[3] Originally named the Ohio Falls Car Manufacturing Co., this plant was responsible for most of American Car and Foundry Co.'s considerable interurban car production.

He founded The Kahler Co. in New Albany, Indiana in 1907, manufacturing custom wooden case goods, ice boxes, folding tables and other products. Early advertising mentions "store fixtures, saloon fixtures, special furniture and anything in the wood line that has to be made to order." [4]

Kahler's success allowed him to build a new factory in New Albany in 1910. The factory had its own power plant, generating its own electricity. The plant featured highly efficient, direct geared electric motors at each work station instead of the then common practice of using belt driven tools powered by overhead shafts. The Kahler Co. plant had its own dry-kiln and a long rail siding, allowing both inbound and outbound freight to be handled under cover.[5] His rail siding was connected to a rail line that carried freight for four railroad companies allowing Kahler great flexibility in shipping.[6]

Automobile pioneer

Kahler's entry in automobile manufacturing started in 1908 with The Kahler Co. providing the wooden frames and wooden body components for many automobile companies.[7]

The Kahler Co. Inc. Auto Body Advertisement - b/w magazine ad
The Kahler Co. Inc. Auto Body Advertisement, The Carriage Monthly, March, 1912

In 1911, the Kahler Co. won a contract to build the frames and other wood components of the American Automobile Manufacturing Company automobile being assembled in New Albany, Indiana. Founded in Kansas CIty, Missouri in 1908, the American Automobile Manufacturing Company acquired the Jonz Automobile Company of Beatrice, Nebraska and moved its offices to Louisville, Kentucky in December, 1910, setting up manufacturing by moving its manufacturing equipment to the idle New Albany Woolen Mills factory.[8] The factory buildings were two and three stories in height, located on a six-acre tract on Vincennes Street in New Albany. The factory was reported in 1914 to be "one of the very largest factories in the state of Indiana... and is equipped with machinery, tools, raw materials, parts and accessories for the manufacture of motor cars."[9]

Promising huge potential profits, the company sold $900,000 worth of stock (over 22 million dollars in 2014 equivalent value) [10] and produced a limited number of cars which were marketed as "The Jonz," named after the patented "Jonz 'Tranquil Motor'" developed by the three Jones brothers in Kansas. The American Automobile Manufacturing Company built the two-stroke engine American from 1911 - 1912 in New Albany. The American Automobile Manufacturing Company was reincorporated as The American Automobile Corp. in Arizona on March 13, 1912 with a capitalization of $500,000.[11] That corporation went bankrupt, and Kahler purchased its assets in June, 1912.[12] In December, 1912, he reorganized the company, changing the name to Ohio Falls Motor Company, largely to protect the assets of his woodworking business.[13] In June, 1913, the company was dissolved and reincorporated in July of that year as The Falls City Motor Company.[14][15] Kahler served as president of the new automobile company as well as president of The Kahler Co.[16]

The Falls City Motor Company turned out two lines of hand-assembled "medium-priced gasoline runabout(s)",[17] the Ohio Falls (1913-1914) and the Pilgrim (1913-1914), which retailed for $1,800. Total production of the Pilgrim was about 20 completed cars. The Pilgrim retained the unique hexagonal bonnet (hood) and radiator design from the Jonz automobile. In 1914, the company was declared bankrupt. Kahler, named the receiver of the bankrupt automobile company, closed it and sold the plant for $50,000 to the Crown Motor Car Company (later renamed the Hercules Motor Car Company) headquartered in Louisville.[18] Kahler sold the remaining wood framing material on hand to the Kentucky Wagon Manufacturing Company of Louisville.[19]

In 1915, Kahler used his experience gained from manufacturing and assembling automobiles to become one of only four prime wooden component suppliers to the Ford Motor Company of Detroit, Michigan. The Kahler Co. provided Ford with wooden Model T car frames, floor boards, battery boxes and other components.[20] A serial number preceded by the lhe letters "KA" stamped on a Ford Model T's firewall or front frame member indicates the frame assembly was manufactured at The Kahler Co.'s New Albany factory. Regardless of the manufacturer, all Model T bodies were interchangeable, however the individual parts in a body would not necessarily fit a similar-looking body if it was made by a different manufacturer.[21]

The Kahler Co. also produced automobile components to order. In 1913, Kahler was the largest of seven Indiana based claimants against the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Co. asking a Federal Court in Indianapolis to judge the company bankrupt so the claimants could be paid by a court-appointed receiver.[22][23] A 1915 Chilton Automobile Directory lists The Kahler Co. as a component manufacturer in multiple categories, including "Dashes - wood, metal bound, veneered and solid, in the white (unfinished) and finished."[24]

In 1922, it was reported the Kahler Co. had been awarded a contract to produce car bodies for the Durant Star automobile.[25]

Factory destroyed and rebuilt

Kahler's factory, located on the corner of Grant Line Road and Vincennes Street in New Albany was destroyed by a tornado on the afternoon of March 23, 1917. The Kahler Co. buildings were reduced to a mass of twisted wreckage and left almost level with the street. Six employees were killed and 15 were injured.[26]

Hearing the factory had been destroyed, Michigan cities petitioned Kahler to relocate near Detroit. Kahler decided to remain in New Albany and in May 1917 started building a new, spacious manufacturing plant just north of the Monon Railroad "Y".[27] The new plant had 100,000 square feet of floor space, employed as many as three hundred men, and used lumber brought in from Kentucky and Tennessee in amounts up to a million board feet per month.[28] In 1918, Kahler moved to Bay City, Michigan, and for a short time took "active charge of a woodworking plant … manufacturing airplane parts which are shipped to other points for assembling."[29]

By 1921, The Kahler Co. was an exclusive automobile frame and component manufacturer for the Ford Motor Company, and had an annual production capacity of 93,000 car frames, many shipped directly from the New Albany factory to the Louisville, Kentucky Ford Assembly Plant (then located at Third Street and Eastern Parkway) for use in Model T production.[30]

Entrepreneur

In January, 1915, Kahler capitalized The Electric Popcorn Company in Indianapolis, Indiana with a $100,000 investment. The business proposed leasing popcorn machines to theaters instead of offering them for outright purchase which Kahler believed "would result in a larger business than if the sales were made outright."[31]

Six months later, Kahler reorganized the company, expanding its scope to include manufacture and sales of electric vending machines. He renamed it The Electric Machine Company and moved its operations to New Albany, Indiana.[32][33]

In September 1916, Kahler was one of three investors who organized the Broadway Motor Sales Company in Louisville, Kentucky for a $3,000 investment "to deal in automobiles, motor trucks, buggies and vehicles generally."[34] It was Louisville's first Chevrolet automobile dealership, selling 124 cars during its first year. Kahler was president of the company.[35] In 1928, the business was located at the intersection of Brook and Broadway streets in Louisville. A photograph of the storefront may be viewed by accessing the Caufield & Shook Collection at the University of Louisville (Kentucky) Photographic Archives website.

An image of the trade sign for National Ice & Products Co. office in New Albany, Indiana, circa 1921.

In 1921, Kahler was one of five investors who organized the National Ice and Products Co. in New Albany, Indiana for a $60,000 investment.[36] The plant was located at 322 East 15th Street in New Albany.[37]

In 1922, Kahler also incorporated The Auto Acceptance Corporation in Louisville, Kentucky.[38]

Early Florida movie theaters

Kahler was a winter resident of West Palm Beach, Florida. In 1927, he founded "West Palm Beach Enterprises, Inc." ultimately building a group of 14 movie theaters in the Palm Beach area. The first was "The Arcade", designed by architect W. Manly King. The Arcade opened in October 1927, at 325 Clematis Street,[39] then "the only first-run Independent theater" in West Palm Beach. The theatre featured 900 Heywood-Wakefield theatre seats said to have "…comfortable springs, at a cost of $12 each." The Arcade also featured a Mighty Wurlitzer organ and one of the first Vitaphone movie sound systems in Florida.

During an elaborate opening ceremony, E. J. Sparks, president of Sparks Enterprises, the company who first managed the West Palm Beach Enterprises theaters said of Kahler "The building of this theatre Is a tribute to Mr. Kahler's unswerving belief in the future of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach. It lakes a man with vision to build when business is dull. He (Kahler) believes absolutely in this community and this theatre stands as a monument to that belief."[40]

In 1933, Kahler's son, Ferdinand N. Kahler, Jr. filed a bankruptcy proceeding against the Stanley Company, the lessors of Kahler's theatre group, claiming he was owed $1,749.99 for back rental, on a basis of a $14,000 annual rental fee. Kahler's actions forced the theaters to close.[41]

Inventions

Kahler was granted a number of US utility patents for his inventions, among them: US 559,713 "Machine for Cutting Noodles" May 5, 1896;[42] US 635,401 "Extension Platform (for railway cars)" Aug 29, 1899;[43] US 656,379 "Brake" Aug 21, 1900.[44]

References

  1. ↑ The Indiana Southern Counties Collection, Fairview Cemetery Volume VII, January 1, 1920 to December 31, 1929, New Albany, Floyd County. New Albany, Indiana: Southern Indiana Genealogical Society.
  2. ↑ "PLAN KAHLER MAUSOLEUM.". The New Albany Weekly Ledger. New Albany, Indiana. December 2, 1927.
  3. ↑ Motor Body, Paint and Trim, Volume 47, March 1912. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  4. ↑ Wood Craft: A Journal of Woodworking Volumes 8-9 November 1907. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  5. ↑ Motor Body, Paint and Trim, Volume 47, March 1912. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  6. ↑ The Horseless Age: The Automobile Trade Magazine, Volume 24, September 1909. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  7. ↑ Motor Body, Paint and Trim, Volume 47. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  8. ↑ Cars: 1895-1965. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  9. ↑ Automobile topics, Volume 34. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
  10. ↑ Automotive Industries, Volume 29. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  11. ↑ Poor's Manual of Industrials; Manufacturing, Mining and Miscellaneous Companies. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  12. ↑ Automotive Industries, Volume 26. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  13. ↑ Automobile Topics, Volume 28. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  14. ↑ Motor Age, Volume 24. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  15. ↑ The Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana. July 11, 1913. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ↑ Automotive industries, Volume 31. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  17. ↑ The Horseless age. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  18. ↑ Motor Age, Volume 25. Retrieved April 27, 2012.
  19. ↑ Horseless Age: The Automobile Trade magazine, Vol. 32. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  20. ↑ The Southern Lumberman, Vol. 197. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Coachbuilt - C.R. Wilson Body Co.". Retrieved April 28, 2012.
  22. ↑ Horseless Age: The Automobile Trade Magazine, Volume 31. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  23. ↑ The Motor World, Volume 34. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  24. ↑ Chilton Automobile Directory, October 1915. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
  25. ↑ The Southern Lumberman, September 23, 1922. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  26. ↑ Never-To-Be-Forgotten 1917 City Tornado Killed 58 (PDF). Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  27. ↑ The American Contractor, Volume 38. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  28. ↑ Miller, Harold Vincent, 1934. The Industrial Development of New Albany, Indiana. PhD dissertation, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
  29. ↑ Hardwood Record, Volume 45. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  30. ↑ Motor Age, Volume 39. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  31. ↑ Electrical Review and Western Electrician with which is Consolidated Electrocraft, Volume 66. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  32. ↑ Iron Age, Volume 95. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  33. ↑ Iron Age, Volume 94. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  34. ↑ Automobile Topics, The Trade Authority - Volume 43. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  35. ↑ "Chevrolet Firm Opens New Home". The Courier-Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. May 6, 1928. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  36. ↑ Refrigeration, Volumes 27-28. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  37. ↑ The National Provisioner, Volume 66. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  38. ↑ "New Corporations". Richmond Daily Register. Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky. April 20, 1922. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  39. ↑ "Arcade Theatre". Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  40. ↑ "Movie Magnate Sweeps Streets for Patrons". The Palm Beach Post. West Palm Beach, Florida. October 8, 1927. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  41. ↑ "Seven Theaters in Palm Beach Section Closed". The Evening Independent. Palm Beach, Florida. August 29, 1933. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  42. ↑ "F. Kahler, Machine For Cutting Noodles". Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  43. ↑ "George E. Seymour and Ferdinand Kahler, Extension Platform". Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  44. ↑ "G. E.Seymour and F. Kahler, Brake". Retrieved April 24, 2012.
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