Background
Charles L. Fleischmann was born on November 3, 1835, near Budapest, Hungary, of Jewish stock, the son of Abraham and Babette Fleischmann. His father was a distiller and yeast maker.
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Charles L. Fleischmann was born on November 3, 1835, near Budapest, Hungary, of Jewish stock, the son of Abraham and Babette Fleischmann. His father was a distiller and yeast maker.
Fleischmann was educated in Budapest, Hungary, Vienna and Prague.
Charles Fleischmann, the second of seven children, all of whom emigrated to the United States, established himself in New York as a distiller and later in Cincinnati, where he formed a partnership with James W. Gaff.
Between 1866 and 1872 he patented a plow, a cotton-gin and its improvements, and several processes and devices used in distilling.
In 1870, at the instigation of his partner, he began to make yeast by a Hungarian method with which he had been long familiar. The patent for making compressed yeast from the froth or scum formed during the manufacture of malt or spirituous liquors was taken out, however, by his brother Henry, who assigned it to Fleischmann & Gaff in return for an annuity. This yeast was slow in finding a market, so that the partners nearly failed.
As a last resort they put on a huge exhibit at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, at which spectators could see the yeast made, the dough set, and the bread baked, and could then adjourn to a restaurant and eat the bread. The exhibit was popular; the restaurant yielded a cash profit; and the advertising value of the enterprise was enormous. Thereafter there was no trouble in selling Fleischmann’s yeast. He devised an elaborate system, perhaps the first of its kind, for delivering his product fresh to the grocers; formerly the dapper Fleischmann yeast cart with its neatly groomed horse was a common sight on American streets.
After Gaff’s death in 1879, Fleischmann bought his share in the business for $500, 000. His wealth grew rapidly. He became a director in some twenty-five Cincinnati enterprises and was president of a cooperage company, a large vinegar works in Illinois, a newspaper company, and the Market National Bank.
He took a hand in civic affairs, was fire commissioner in 1890, was elected as a Republican to the state Senate in 1879 and again in 1895, and was a friend and adviser of William McKinley.
Fleischmann was a shrewd, far-sighted, masterful businessman, but there was nothing stingy or cautious about him.
He liked long chances and venturesome risks, and took them frequently. He exercised a paternal watchfulness over his employees, let them know what he thought of them, and pensioned them when they were too old or ill to work.
Fleischmann gave lavishly to local charities and educational institutions, raised the debt on St. Peter’s Cathedral, and was reputed to spend one hundred dollars a day on private largesse. His life insurance policy, his $80, 000 sea-going yacht Hiawatha, and his "Schloss" at Fleischmann’s in the Catskills were famous in their time.
Characteristic of his generosity, and of his sense of power, was his treatment of the cashier of the Market National Bank, who absconded in 1893 with the bank’s reserve of $160, 000. Fleischmann, fearing a disastrous run, made up the loss out of his own pocket, accepted a deed for the cashier’s house, and kept the whole transaction a secret until after the man’s death. Then he deeded the house back to his widow.
Fleischmann stocked his residence at Avondale with costly French oil-paintings and bronzes, installed a Steinway in the conservatory, and for hours at a time would play by ear any music that he had heard, whether grand opera or ragtime, while his guests, according to their own reports, sat spellbound.
In 1890 his doctor ordered him to spend as much time as possible outdoors and suggested that a horse would be the thing. Fleischmann thereupon bought a string of expensive blooded horses, established a trotting farm at Millstone, New Jersey, and made himself one of the foremost patrons of the turf. It was estimated that in six years’ time he had spent at least $800, 000 on his new hobby. Charles L. Fleischmann died on December 10, 1897, in Cincinnati, Ohio, at his home of apoplexy.
Charles Louis Fleischmann was a well-known yeast manufacturer and inventor. In the late 1860s, he and his brother created America’s first commercially produced yeast, which revolutionized baking in a way that made today’s mass production and consumption of bread possible. Charles Fleischmann was inducted into the American Society of Baking’s Baking Hall of Fame on March 3, 2008, at the Society’s annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois.
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
Charles L. Fleischmann was elected as a Republican to the state Senate in 1879 and again in 1895.
Fleischmann was a shrewd, far-sighted, masterful businessman, but there was nothing stingy or cautious about him.
Charles L. Fleischmann was married to Henriette Robertson in New York. The couple had several children.
William McKinley was the 25th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897, until his assassination six months into his second term.
