Background
Martin Maier was born January 20, 1840 in Langensteinbach (Baden).
Martin Maier was born January 20, 1840 in Langensteinbach (Baden).
His company was one of the largest distributors of luggage and leather goods in the mid-west, based in Detroit at 55 Monroe Avenue, then moved to 102 Woodward Avenue in 1873. He learned the saddler"s trade eventually becoming a master saddle maker. Later, he moved to burgeoning Detroit, where he would key up with the Wolfe Brothers in the trunk and saddlery business.
From there, he moved to Saint Louis when the Civil War would break out.
He joined the Union around 1863-1865, and is believed to have participated in the March to the Sea Campaign from Atlanta. His profound knowledge in saddlery prompted him to fashion a saddle for General Tecumseh Sherman, which bolstered his aspiration to start a saddlery business.
His job in the Army is relatively unknown, but he might have managed artillery because his section in History of Detroit states he "became quite deaf" due to the constant "roar of cannon" although the extent of his deafness is uncertain. After the war, he moved back to Detroit where he would marry Elizabeth Dorman on May 3, 1866, and have six children.
The trio built a business block on 55 Monroe Avenue, each occupying one-third of the block.
The joint company specialized in a shoe store, and Maier managed a trunk and harness shop, until the business was burned out. Maier left the group and moved his business to 102 Woodward Avenue in 1873, where it would remain until his death. The high commercial integrity of Martin Maier & Company was a result of an unbroken policy of fair treatment to patrons, the "practice of only dependable merchandize".
Before his business flourished, he contracted the manufacture of trunk parts that were made elsewhere, which was usually the case for many beginning trunk companies.
But his company prospered so that Maier expanded the business to a four-story block on Twelfth Street, between Portuguese and Abbott streets, where his trunks would be constructed entirely. Maier was prolific in producing patented designs that would make his trunks have a unique style.
A distinguishing high-quality feature was the issuing of uniquely built oak slat trunks. On much of his trunks, two M"s would be stamped in pieces of the metal hardware, particularly his dome-tops.
He was also a Republican, but avoided politics as to keep to the integrity of his business and maintain a bipartisan profile for the sake of some of his patrons.
On November 9, 1893, he died and was buried in Woodmere cemetery. Later, she would give proprietorship to Frederick Paquette, who had previously worked for the Military Medal Company at the age of sixteen.
Maier was a devout Lutheran, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.