Louis Wollbrinck

1867 (age 61)

Saint Louis, United States

Friederich "Fred" Wollbrinck and Johannah (Hannah) Kottmeier had both come from Herford, in Westphalia. Louis Wollbrinck left school at twelve to become an errand boy for Woodward and Tiernan printing, then pressman, and stayed 5 years. He then worked as feeder and pressman for the Great Western Show Printing Company until he was 24. Turning to real estate and building, he was the youngest builder in Saint Louis, with 65 houses going up at once. The Historic American Buildings Survey documented the North side of the 4900 block of Page Avenue in 1986, when it was still covered in the moderately sized, modestly ornamented homes Wollbrinck built for a rising merchant-class. (images have been released to the public domain). Wollbrinck was nearly bankrupted in a downturn of the housing market, but under the name "Central Amusement Company" he ran "Old Saint Louis" and another concession at the 1904 Saint Louis World"s Fair, after which he became a clerk in the Assessor"s office (until 1908, when he was shuffled out in a change of administration). He returned to real estate, organized Everybody"s Amusement Company and ran an open-air theater at the corner of Taylor and Delmar. He was a staunch Republican, and though he lost the 1918 election for City Assessor (the Progressives split the bloc and gave the office to Democrat Frank Schramm) Saint Louis Mayor Henry Kiel took advantage of a provision of the new city charter to fire Schramm and appoint Wollbrinck. There followed a legal struggle and a nine-months suit before the Missouri Supreme Court. During his tenure, he instituted the state’s income tax, upheld in the often-cited Ludlow-Saylor Wire Company versus Wollbrinck case. On February 13, 1923, he was granted United States. patent #1444822, for improvements in the design of the spark plug. Louis Wollbrinck died of arteriosclerosis at the age of 61 on June 24, 1928, and was interred at Valhalla Cemetery, Saint Louis.

Louis Wollbrinck

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civil servant

Background

Wollbrinck was born in Saint Louis on Friday, February 22, 1867, to a German carpenter and his wife.

Career

Friederich "Fred" Wollbrinck and Johannah (Hannah) Kottmeier had both come from Herford, in Westphalia. Louis Wollbrinck left school at twelve to become an errand boy for Woodward and Tiernan printing, then pressman, and stayed 5 years. He then worked as feeder and pressman for the Great Western Show Printing Company until he was 24.

Turning to real estate and building, he was the youngest builder in Saint Louis, with 65 houses going up at once.

The Historic American Buildings Survey documented the North side of the 4900 block of Page Avenue in 1986, when it was still covered in the moderately sized, modestly ornamented homes Wollbrinck built for a rising merchant-class. (images have been released to the public domain).

Wollbrinck was nearly bankrupted in a downturn of the housing market, but under the name "Central Amusement Company" he ran "Old Saint Louis" and another concession at the 1904 Saint Louis World"s Fair, after which he became a clerk in the Assessor"s office (until 1908, when he was shuffled out in a change of administration). He returned to real estate, organized Everybody"s Amusement Company and ran an open-air theater at the corner of Taylor and Delmar.

He was a staunch Republican, and though he lost the 1918 election for City Assessor (the Progressives split the bloc and gave the office to Democrat Frank Schramm) Saint Louis Mayor Henry Kiel took advantage of a provision of the new city charter to fire Schramm and appoint Wollbrinck.

There followed a legal struggle and a nine-months suit before the Missouri Supreme Court. During his tenure, he instituted the state’s income tax, upheld in the often-cited Ludlow-Saylor Wire Company versus Wollbrinck case. On February 13, 1923, he was granted United States. patent #1444822, for improvements in the design of the spark plug.

Louis Wollbrinck died of arteriosclerosis at the age of 61 on June 24, 1928, and was interred at Valhalla Cemetery, Saint Louis.

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