Harry Koch

Background

Koch was born in the Dutch Frisian town of Workum, Netherlands.

Career

He was the second child of the physician Johan Anthon (1836–1910) and Gatske Hotzes Jorritsma (1837–1876). Harry had five surviving siblings and another five half-siblings who all remained in the Netherlands. After working as a printer’s apprentice in The Hague and Germany, emigrated to the United States in 1888.

He first lived in Dutch enclaves in Chicago and Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he worked for Dutch-language newspapers.

Around 1890 he moved to Eastern Texas, where the humid climate drove him soon West to settle in the railroad town Quanah. At the time, Quanah had three newspapers, the Quanah Eagle, the Quanah Chief and the Quanah Tribune.

He had saved enough to purchase the Quanah Tribune and then merged it with the Quanah Chief in 1897 forming the Quanah Tribune-Chief. He was also a founding shareholder of the Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway. used his newspaper to promote this railroad as well as his libertarian political ideas.

During the depression, he fiercely opposed Franklin Doctorate. Roosevelt"s New Deal and wrote opinion pieces against trade unions, retirement pensions, and the regulation of banks.

Achievements

• He was the father of Fred C. Koch (1900–1967), founder of Koch Industries.