Background
Frederick William Matthiessen was born on March 5, 1835 at Altona, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. A graduate of the Bergakadamie (school of mines) at Freiberg, Saxony.
manufacturer metallurgist philanthropist
Frederick William Matthiessen was born on March 5, 1835 at Altona, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. A graduate of the Bergakadamie (school of mines) at Freiberg, Saxony.
Matthiessen came to the United States in 1857 in company with E. C. Hegeler, who was afterward his partner in their joint enterprises. Landing in Boston, they went to New York, where they were engaged by Joseph Wharton, to design for him a zinc-smelting plant to treat the zinc ore mined at Friedensville, near Bethelehem, Pa. The project was abandoned, partly through Wharton's failure to agree with the designers and partly for financial reasons. Matthiessen and Hegeler then went West to build a plant to smelt the zinc ores from the Platteville district of Wisconsin, locating it at La Salle, Ill. , because of the coal there. Work was started December 24, 1858, and the plant was running successfully (the first commercial production of zinc in the United States) when the outbreak of the Civil War caused a temporary shutdown for lack of market. In 1862 a lively demand developed for zinc to be used in making the brass for cartridges. Together Matthiessen and Hegeler, though the latter was the chief technical man of the partnership and invented most of the improvements, built the first zinc rolling-mill in America at La Salle in 1866 and it has been continuously in operation, ever since, though many times redesigned and rebuilt. They began mining their own coal in 1874 and in 1881 Matthiessen started a sulphuric acid manufacturing plant. Matthiessen's contact with the public has a broad, though generally unrecognized phase, since he started at La Salle the Western Clock Manufacturing Company, which produces the widely known "Big Ben" alarm clock. The growth of its business to large proportions from small beginnings was the more remarkable because the manufacture of brass clocks had for so long been practically monopolized by Connecticut. His death occurred in February 1918, toward the close of his eighty-third year.
Matthiessen was one of the pioneers who developed the zinc industry in the United States. In his later years his contributions to education and philanthropy made his name well known. As a gift to the cities of La Salle, Peru, and Oglesby, Ill. , he endowed the Tri-City Hygienic Institute, which maintains a staff of health officers and facilities which include an isolation hospital, an infant-welfare station, and a free dental clinic as well as a milk station, a bacteriological laboratory, and a medical library. He made the La Salle-Peru township high school a model for secondary education in the United States, and he converted Deer Park into a model scenic resort, turning over the profits from its operation to the charities of La Salle. He was three times elected mayor of La Salle and contributed to the welfare and development of the city in many ways in addition to those already mentioned.
In 1864 he married Fannie Clara Moeller, of Mineral Point, Wis. There were five children.
