John Michael Kohler II (November 3, 1844 – November 5, 1900) was member of the Kohler family of Wisconsin and was a prosperous industrialist and mayor of
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Sheboygan () is a city in and the county seat of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 49,929 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a populatio ...
. Kohler founded what later became known as the
Kohler Company
Kohler Co., founded in 1873 by John Michael Kohler, is an American manufacturing company based in Kohler, Wisconsin. Kohler is best known for its plumbing products, but the company also manufactures furniture, cabinetry, tile, engines, and g ...
, a large producer of bathroom and kitchen products.
Early life
Kohler was born on November 3, 1844 in the Alpine village of
Schnepfau
Schnepfau is a municipality in the district of Bregenz in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, the fourth child of dairy farmer John Michael Kohler Sr. (1805–74) and his wife, the former Maria Anna Moosbrugger (1816–53). After his wife's death, the elder Kohler remarried, and he and his large family emigrated to the United States. With help from a relative, the Kohlers built up a promising dairy business.
After a limited formal education, John Michael Kohler found work in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1865 he moved to
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, and became a traveling salesman. In
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Sheboygan () is a city in and the county seat of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 49,929 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a populatio ...
, 56 miles north of
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
on Lake Michigan, he met Lillie Vollrath (1848–1883), the daughter of local steel and iron industrialist
Jacob Vollrath
Jacob Johann Vollrath (September 19, 1824 – May 15, 1898) was an industrialist in the city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin in the United States. He founded The Vollrath Company.
Vollrath was born on September 19, 1824 in Dörrebach in the Prussian Rhi ...
(1824–1898). The couple was married in 1871.
Business career
Shortly after his marriage, Kohler worked at the steel and iron factory his father-in-law partly owned. He took over the company two years later during the
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "Lon ...
. By the early 1880s, the firm was producing a variety of iron and enamelware products. In 1883, Kohler put ornamental feet on a cast-iron water trough and sold it as a bathtub. Four years later, more than two-thirds of the company's business was in plumbing products and enamelware. In 1888, Kohler and two partners had the firm incorporated.
In 1899, Kohler purchased 21 acres of farmland four miles west of Sheboygan, intending to move his entire company to the location. Shortly after the new factory was constructed, in 1900, Kohler died at 56, likely of heart failure.
Five years later, 30-year-old Walter J. Kohler assumed his father's corporate presidency and began to guide the firm. In 1912, it was officially designated the Kohler Company, and the property surrounding the plant became the Village of
Kohler
Kohler is a surname of German origin. The name was first found in Saxony. It means, "charcoal burner" so the first "Kohlers" were most likely of that occupation. Notable people with the surname include:
*Alan Kohler, Australian journalist
*Anton ...
.
Civic leadership
From 1880 until his death Kohler served in several governmental offices. In 1892 he became Mayor of Sheboygan. Citizens also admired Kohler for his generous contributions and leadership in the areas of art and culture, symbols of Sheboygan's desire to be more than a factory town.Thomas C. Reeves, Distinguished Service: The Life of Wisconsin Governor Walter J. Kohler, Jr. (Marquette University Press, 2006), pp. 19-29
The
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is an independent, not-for-profit contemporary art museum and performing arts complex located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, United States.restored Gilded Age home along with modern buildings), is named for Kohler,Richard E. Blodgett, A Sense of Higher Design: The Kohlers of Kohler (Greenwich Publishing Group, 2003)http://www.akohlerexperience.com/village/tours/art_center as is John Michael Kohler State Park, established on land donated in 1966 by the Kohler family. The main highway into Sheboygan, Kohler Memorial Drive (which is routed as
Wisconsin Highway 23
State Trunk Highway 23 (often called Highway 23, STH-23 or WIS 23) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The route is signed as a north–south route from Shullsburg to Wisconsin Dells and as an east–west route from Wisconsin Dell ...
), is also named for Kohler.
Personal life
The Kohlers had six children, including Walter Jodok Kohler, Sr. (1875-1940), who would later be Governor of Wisconsin. In 1887, four years after his wife Lillie's death, John married Lillie's sister, Wilhelmina (Minnie) Vollrath (1852–1929), and they had one child, Herbert Vollrath Kohler Sr (1891–1968). This Kohler was to become the dominant force in the Kohler company for many years, presiding over the longest strike in American history.
The large and fashionable Kohler family home in Sheboygan was filled with music, books, and constant lessons in ethics and public service. The entire Sheboygan area mourned Kohler's 1900 death. John's three daughters remained in the Kohler house, unmarried, for the rest of their lives, frequently wearing black.