Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Primary location of additional data: Çe preliminary determination of individual listing (36 XXState Historic Preservation Office - Other State agency -previously listed in the National Register - Federal agency - previously determined eligible by the National - Local government L University - designated a National Historic Landmark - Other L recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # 1914-1949 Industry Bibilography Register Architect/Builder religious purposes. individual distinction. Criteria Considerations Significant Person Significant Dates significant in our past. Theodor Kundtz Company Building Period of Significance Applicable National Register Criteria Areas of Significance Ohio Historic Inventory Name of repository: our history.
Property is: Cultural Affiliation G less than 50yearsof age orachieved significance CFR 67) has been requested distinguishable entity whose components lack (Enter categories from instructions) recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey for National Register listing.) 1914 part: White and Shupe Architects Previous documentation on file (NPS): County and State (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) NPS Form 10-900-a National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Criterion A. The building is a tangible reminder of the dynamic period of innovation and invention that characterized Cleveland's commercial expansion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In this period, Cleveland businesses and industries experienced a creative ferment that had a national impact and played a significant role in shaping American business and industry. picture, and the building is representative of the creative forces at work in the city in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th. Cleveland's role in American business and industrial development often is misunderstood and under-appreciated. In the period from the Civil War to the Depression, the city went through a complex and dynamic evolution from a small lakeside commercial city to the fifth-largest industrial center in the United States.
During this time, Cleveland grew from 43,000 citizens to In the period immediately after the Civil War, Cleveland had an ideal location astride the water to this was its geographic location at a point where raw materials -- particularly those of the iron plants. In addition, Cleveland attracted, or was the birthplace of, talented and entrepreneurial From this "melting pot" of ingredients grew some of the nation's most powerful and best-known industrial firms, as well as some lesser-known ones that were nonetheless nationally important for their inventiveness and innovation. Perhaps best known, and one with national and international impact still felt today, was John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company of Ohio and his later Standard Oil Trust.
Under Rockefeller's hand, Cleveland long was the nation's primary Not as well known but of similar importance was the Hanna family, particularly Marcus A. Hanna years the Lake Superior region had become the world's leading producer of iron ore, and it Industrial Context Continuation Sheet Theodor Kundtz Company Building businessmen and industrialists and had a working-class population recognized for its high level of skills and productivity. National Register of Historic Places from the Lake Superior region, eventually organizing as the M.A. Hanna Company. Within 30 nearly a million.
and steel industry --could be transported efficiently and inexpensively to mills and processing The Theodor Kundtz Company Building is qualified for listing in the National Register under The industrial processes housed in the Kundtz Building were part of Cleveland's larger industrial routes on the Great Lakes and the growing network of rail routes between east and west. Related United States Department of the Interior oil-refining center, and his new methods of vertical integration shaped the modern oil industry. and his brothers. As early as the mid-1860s, the Hannas began mining and processing iron ore OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Page - Section number 8 (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH remains a major producer today.
The Hanna firm played a major role in proving the feasibility of Hannas formed the National Steel Corporation in 1929, a firm which survives today. As will be seen later in this nomination, part of Cleveland's industrial success was due to interconnections between industries. The paint and varnish industry, for example, relied in part on petroleum products for raw materials. Clevelanders Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams in 1870 formed a paint manufacturing company which in 1880 introduced an immediately-successful ready-mixed paint which supplanted the traditional and laborious mixing of vehicles and pigments company. Today both Sherwin-Williams and Glidden remain widely-known names in the coatings industry, and The Sherwin-Williams Company is still headquartered in downtown Cleveland.
Toward the end of the 19th century, Cleveland made major contributions in the new field of commercial production of electricity and electrical products. Clevelander Charles Brush developed an effective dynamo capable of producing large amounts of electricity, and in 1878 became world-famous for his development of the arc light. Demonstration of the arc light on Public Square in 1879 proved the effectiveness of this type of outdoor lighting, and within three years the new light had changed the character of cities all over the world. Though supplanted by Detroit after 1913, when Henry Ford began mass production of his Model T, Cleveland was a major center of automobile manufacturing. Indeed, during the first two decades of the 20th century, Cleveland and Detroit were considered of nearly equal importance in the industry.
Over 80 makes of automobiles were produced in Cleveland plants up to 1931, including the Peerless, one of the best-known. (The city today remains a major supplier of auto Innovators in the automobile industry included Alexander Winton, Walter Baker, and Thomas White, the "Big 3" of the industry in Cleveland. Winton was the pioneer and was producing cars by early 1897. Early in 1898 his firm was the first company to sell an American-made gasoline- powered automobile. After ceasing auto production in the 1920s, Winton concentrated on development of diesel power, and his diesel engines were used in the first commercially successful diesel railroad locomotives in the mid-1930s. Within 25 years this new form of power had completely replaced the steam engine on the nation's vast rail network.
parts.) National Register of Historic Places Theodor Kundtz Company Building Continuation Sheet United States Department of the Interior that painters had to doon-site.In 1875Francis H.Glidden established a varnish and enamel lake steamers, coal properties, coke works, blast furnaces, and steel processing plants. The NPS Form 10-900-a Page _10 Section number 8 NPS Form 10-900-a National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Cleveland was the source for a vast array of consumer products, too. Beginning around 1876, for example, Canadian immigrant William J.
White entered the chewing gum business and by the late 1880s had developed a chicle-based peppermint-flavored gum that became an instant success and chewing gum.) White went on to develop the flat stick form in which gum is now universally Theodor Kundtz -- Theodor Kundtz Company It was in this context of experimentation and innovation, an environment in which small start-up businesses grew into industrial giants, that a Hungarian immigrant began a woodworking business he established a five-decade business relationship with another of the city's major industrial Theodor Kundtz was born July 1, 1852 in Metzenseifen, Hungary. He learned cabinetmaking from his father, who died when Theodor was 14. The son ran the family business himself for four years after that but left for America in 1873.
In the period following the Civil War, Cleveland was Kundtz's first job was with the Whitworth Company, in the Flats, making sewing machine cabinets. He did so well and found economic success so quickly that, based on glowing reports expression in his native town. According to a family history, even today in Metzenseifen it is said of someone who has been lucky and has prospered, "He has it as good as Tori in America." In 1875, Whitworth Company owner John Whitworth could not pay his workers after a fire Thomas H. White. White ordered 100 sewing machine cabinets in December of 1876, the first year of operation of the White Sewing Machine Company and the first transaction in a successful business relationship that would endure for many decades. entrepreneurs. set the standard for other gum makers.
(Even today, peppermint is the flavor of some 50% of all National Register of Historic Places Theodor Kundtz Company Building sold, and his company was for a period the largest gum maker in the world. Continuation Sheet damaged the business.Kundtz and three other employees purchased the business and renamed it this fact, or possibly connections with emigrant family and friends, that drew Kundtz to Ohio. United States Department of the Interior the Cleveland Cabinet Company. It was at this time that it appears Kundtz first dealt with one of many industrializing American cities with growing immigrant populations;it may have been sent back by a friend,"Tori (the diminutive by which Kundtz was known) inspired a local that would become one of Cleveland's largest employers in the early 20oth century.In the process, OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Section number . Page - (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Kundtz did not get along with his partners and bought them out one by one fairly quickly after purchasing the Whitworth firm. By 1878, Kundtz was in business by himself at 122 and 124 Elm Street in the Flats, his company now called Theodor Kundtz Cabinet Work, later the Theodor of White's sewing machine cabinets. In what must be one of the earliest examples of corporate sponsorship of a social cause, in the early 1880s White Sewing Machine Company (and therefore Kundtz's firm, too) received a large increase in business due to an encounter with Susan B. Anthony. As the story is told in Kundtz's biography (Eiben, Tori in Amerika), Anthony arrived in Cleveland one night and saw lights burning in houses all over the city.
Upon inquiring why, she was told that women stayed up late approached White with an advertising idea: if he would pay for it, she would distribute literature across America with White's sewing machines advertised on one side and an appeal for women's Following the naturalization process common at the time, which required residence in the United States for several years as well as a written declaration of intention to become a citizen, Kundtz petitioned for citizenship in October of 1883. He was by this time well established as a major Cleveland businessman and a vigorous entrepreneur. In 1890 Kundtz expanded his business into the manufacture of church furniture and school desks. In 1895 he started a bicycle wheel factory which had 300 workers and made 2,000 wheels per White at that time made bicycles and purchased all his wheels from Kundtz.
By 1900, Kundtz's firm had become widely known for the skill of his woodcarvers. His craftsmen did the woodwork for Trinity Cathedral (NR, 1973) in downtown Cleveland and, later, for the developed the last piece of agricultural land in Lakewood, a west side Cleveland suburb, into a complex including a lumberyard, a sawmill, drying kilns, a plywood and veneer factory, and a storage facility. The facility covered 50 acres from Lake Erie to Lorain Avenue and provided all to downtown Cleveland. Theodor Kundtz Company Building Continuation Sheet National Register of Historic Places suffrage on the other.White agreed, and his sales increased dramatically. day. In the latter product line there was again there a connection with Thomas H.
White, since United States Department of the Interior to mend their families' clothing (byhand) because their days were too busy.Anthony then Probate Court and the Court of Appeals in the Cuyahoga County Courthouse.In 1900Kundtz NPS Form 10-900-a Section number - Kundtz Company. He retained the White Sewing Machine account and by 1879 was supplying all Page NPS Form 10-900-a National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Sometime in the first decade of the 1900s, the products of Kundtz's "Bending Work" division evolved from bicycle wheels to auto bodies.
The firm provided bodies, which at the time were the automobile business, and once again he turned to his old business associate for his auto bodies The Theodor Kundtz Company's ability to laminate and bend wood in commercial quantities gave 2500 workers occupying five plants totaling over a million square feet; two sawmills; a stockpile of millions of linear feet of lumber; and a consumption rate of 18,000 pounds of glue in the production of 10,000 cabinets every month. At the turn of the 20th century, Theodor Kundtz Company was the largest consumer of hardwood in Ohio. In the summer, logs were delivered by ship, and in the winter they arrived by rail. As Kundtz's success grew in the period between 1890 and the early 1900s, so did his involvement in the community and his commitment to those of Hungarian heritage.
In 1904, 92% of Kundtz's workforce was Hungarian, and by this time he had founded both the Theodor Kundtz Workers Benevolent Society, which provided workers and their families with financial security in cases of factory. Kundtz also built a Hungarian Hall on Clark Avenue as a social center for workers and their families; provided funds to start the publication of Szabadsag, which became the most in Budapest. In 1902, Kundtz received the Order of Franz Joseph, the Hungarian equivalent of knighthood. Asked to become the Consulate for Austria- Hungary in Cleveland, Kundtz demurred but established an office in his factory for a visiting consulate from Pittsburgh. By 1915, however, Kundtz's seemingly boundless business success seemed to wither a little.
Despite his paternalistic efforts, his workforce no longer had its earlier esprit de corps, and in February of 1915, 2,500 workers went on strike; the cause was the extension of working hours to fulfill an order from the Russian army for truck bodies, but at no increase in pay. Within a few days, Kundtz agreed to many worker demands, including proposals to incorporate the company Kundtz became one of the largest employers in Cleveland. Peak production was in 1910, with Continuation Sheet illness or death; and the Hungarian Savings and Loan Company, which had offices at Kundtz's as well.
Theodor Kundtz Company Building National Register of Historic Places the firm a distinct advantage during the early years of the automobile industry.During this period United States Department of the Interior in University Circle on Cleveland's east side;and helped place a monument to George Washington OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Section number - Page - still made primarily of wood, for Winton, Peerless, Stearns, and Murray. White, too, had entered of the Hungarian National League; participated in the placement of a monument to Louis Kossuth widely circulated Hungarian language newspaper in the country; was instrumental in the founding OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH and give the workers a pension plan.
Kundtz's labor relations at this time were complicated by the fact that most of Cleveland's automobile makers had gone out of business as auto-making began to consolidate in the Detroit area, with a resulting significant decline in demand for Kundtz's products. The workers struck again later in 1915. At this time Kundtz was nearing the age of 70, and it appears that he must have wearied of the demands of business. About 1919 he started selling parts of the Theodor Kundtz Company to Thomas White. In May of 1920 the Lakewood lumber plant was destroyed in a huge fire that burned for two full days. Kundtz had sold the property to White Sewing Machine the year before; the lumber operation was largely uninsured, and White did not rebuild it.
Any economic loss would have been cushioned or even completely compensated by the fact of high demand for homesites in the burgeoning suburb of Lakewood; White sold the property for residential development, and he consolidated lumber operations -- sawmill, drying racks, and all -- at the According to the Cleveland city directory of 1920, Kundtz had become First Vice President of the had begun an orderly transfer of his business to White. Sometime in the early 1920s, White option for White to purchase Kundtz's company. White exercised this option soon after, and on May 9,1925, the deal was signed and White became the owner of Theodor Kundtz Company. Probably because of the firm's reputation in the field of wood products and fine carving, White's firm used the Theodor Kundtz Company name until 1947.
The Cleveland city directory of 1928 shows the same officers for the Theodor Kundtz Company as for the White Sewing Machine Company, located at 2120 Elm Street in the Flats. After the sale of the company, Theodor Kundtz retired to the mansion he had built in Lakewood between 1898 and 1902. This large and elegant house was located on the northernmost part of the Lakewood lumber plant and was not affected by the 1920 fire. It had magnificent Kundtz woodwork and was a true showplace but was torn down in 1961. Kundtz died on September 14, Theodor Kundtz's active business life covered five decades, from the mid-1870s to 1925. This 1937. Continuation Sheet National Register of Historic Places Flats manufacturing plant.
Theodor Kundtz Company Building White Sewing Machine Company;clearly he was disengaging as an independent businessman and United States Department of the Interior NPS Form 10-900-a Page - was a period of tremendous industrial growth and innovation, both nationally and in the rich Section number 8 NPS Form 10-900-a National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH context of Cleveland. Kundtz was a major player in Cleveland industry, innovative and entrepreneurial, and his business success resulted directly from these qualities. By the early 1900s, Kundtz's woodworking and cabinetmaking firm was among the early steps of the production process. It met all its needs internally, controlling every aspect of the process of turning hardwood trees into finished products.
The company owned extensive hardwood forests, harvested its own trees, stockpiled and sawed its own logs, and milled and seasoned its lumber at its own 50-acre plant in Lakewood. It made its own plywood, varnish, and sandpaper and then designed and manufactured the wide range of final products. employees who had the same or similar names. For example, there were more than a dozen workers by the name of John Gedeon; to differentiate them, payroll records would contain such entries as "Wood finishing dept., red hair, spectacles." Kundtz himself held 44 patents, 32 of which were improvements on mechanisms to allow a sewing machine to fold or swing into a well-executed cabinet. Often these served as desks or storage cabinets, thus performing a dual household role.
Before Kundtz's innovations, manufacturing of inlaid wood rules and an improved tire rim, made from bent and laminated wood, that was both strong and inexpensive. The Smithsonian Institution maintains the largest and most complete collection of sewing machines in the world, and among the hundreds of machines is a White machine in an elaborate cabinet that serves double duty as a desk. The cabinet was built by Kundtz in the late 1880's at his plant on Elm street in Cleveland's Flats. Curator Barbara Janssen of the Smithsonian described Theodor Kundtz appears to have been instrumental in helping White's company gear up for mass production of automobiles. Skill in laminating and bending wood was a major strength of developed numerous applications for this new material.
This capability was an advantage in auto collection." Theodor Kundtz Company Building Continuation Sheet body manufacture:laminated wood was perfect for providing the strong material required to most sewing machines were simply bolted to small tables. Other Kundtzpatents covered the National Register of Historic Places vertically integrated American businesses.The company was almost entirely self-sufficient at all United States Department of the Interior Kundtz focused on smaller matters as well.He devised a system to identify his many Hungarian the"exquisite"sewing machine as having"the finest cabinetry in the entire Smithsonian Kundtz's firm. He was recognized in his day as a pioneer in wood lamination and veneer, and he OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Section number . Page (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH withstand the wear and tear of poor early road conditions. In addition, it could provide the stylish bodies, with curves and bends, that appealed to the buying public. Kundtz even was able to offer auto bodies with ash-wood frames and custom-made aluminum shells. He was known for his genius in producing high volumes while maintaining high quality, and the association with Kundtz clearly was critical to Thomas H. White's success. Just as Theodor Kundtz began business with a small operation and a limited product line, so did Many patents, American, English, and in other countries, were issued as far back as 1755 for sewing products such as needles; Thomas Saint's "Alternative New Method of Making and Completing Shoes"; a stitching machine to manufacture belting from strands of rope: and early versions of sewing machines.
The earliest American patent, #2,466, dated from 1842 and was issued to John Greenough for a running-stitch machine with an alternative back-stitch. However, it was Elias Howe's U.S. Patent #4,750 that signaled the creation of the "modern" sewing machine of the 19th century. Howe received his patent on September 10, 1846. Like most innovations, Howe's achievement was a combination both of his own hard work and that of his predecessors.
Howe's machine was very similar to that of Walter Hunt, who built three models of sewing machines between 1832 and His major contribution to the development of the machine was the eye-pointed needle and the seamstresses out of work; agreeing with her concern, he abandoned development of the machine Howe had no money to advertise or promote his new machine, lacked the art of salesmanship, and, said not to be an energetic man, relied on friends and his parents for support. Howe had his brother Amasa take the machine to England, which at that time had advanced more than the United States in the mechanization of industry and seemed a more likely market. William Thomas, a manufacturer of corsets, umbrellas, shoes, and other leather goods signed a deal to patent the machine in England and pay Howe a royalty for each one sold.
Later, when the Sewing Machines Continuation Sheet National Register of Historic Places Theodor Kundtz Company Building and never pursued a patent. United States Department of the Interior Thomas H.White.In White's case, the product was sewing machines.Some background on this 1834.Hunt placed the eye of the needle down nears its point and used two threads and a shuttle. lockstitch.Ironically,Hunt''s daughter convinced him that the sewing machine would put NPS Form 10-900-a critically important machine will help place White's Cleveland operations in context. Page Section number 8 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH 1847 to work for Thomas to modify the sewing machine, but the relationship ended in disagreement and Howe returned to the United States.
Back home in 1849, Howe discovered that others had made improvements on his design and were manufacturing and selling sewing machines. Some of those were John A. Bradshow, John Bachelder, and Allen B. Wilson. Wilson, under the company name Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing company, was the first to make a lightweight machine as a home appliance. James A. Gibbs made a machine that sold for under $50.00. Isaac Merritt Singer patented a machine in Howe investigated all these machines and realized that they used an eye-pointed needle and a shuttle for the lockstitch, elements for which he held the patents. He wrote the various firms and offered to sell them a license or, in the alternative, prepare a legal case against them. Many came to terms with Howe and agreed to pay a royalty of $25.00 for each machine sold, but Singer would not settle.
Howe undertook the manufacture of his own machines and faced Singer in court in 1854. Singer was one of the few men capable of competing with Howe. He had been on his own since age 12, married at age 19, and had held such jobs as mechanic, cabinetmaker and actor. He A natural tinkerer, while fixing it he redesigned it. His boss was so impressed that he gave Singer time to create a new sewing machine. Within 11 days the work was done, and with the financial backing of his boss, Orson Phelps, and of publisher George Zieber, Singer began manufacturing sewing machines at the repair shop. He designed a straight needle, a vertical presser foot that held the cloth down, and a foot treadle to power the machine that left the operator's hands free. However, he also used Howe's eye-pointed needle and his lockstitch.
When taken to court by Howe, Singer's attorney argued that the original inventor of the disputed elements had been Walter Hunt, but the court ruled that Hunt had not patented them and that therefore Elias Howe should be deemed the inventor of the sewing machine and the public should be "indebted" to him for it. Singer had to pay Howe $15,000.00 in back royalties, and Howe additionally was due a Machine War," in which there were repeated lawsuits back and forth, even against Howe, for patent infringements. The industry was facing self-destruction when one executive suggested (8-86) Theodor Kundtz Company Building Continuation Sheet National Register of Historic Places became interested in sewing machines when he saw his first one as a mechanic at a repair shop. 1851,although he was manufacturing and selling machines before that date.
royalty on every sewing machine made and sold in the U.s. What ensued was "the Sewing United States Department of the Interior machine became successful, Thomas became a very wealthy man.Elias Howe went to England in NPS Form 10-900-a Section number - National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Howe, Singer, and two other large manufacturers. Howe was to receive a royalty of $5.00 for each machine sold domestically and $1.00 for each exported. Howe died in 1867, the same year his patents expired, and the Combination ended in 1877. From that time, the sewing machine's basic features became available to the public without restriction. This led naturally to an abundance of independent manufacturers entering the business, and the lively competition led to lower prices and widespread ownership of sewing machines.
Even so, selling the public on the revolutionary new machine was the primary task facing the machines' manufacturers. New promotional methods included posters, billboards, newspaper ads, and carpeted, frescoed showrooms where attractive women would demonstrate the ease of the machine. As acceptance grew, competition increased and manufacturers continued improving their designs. It was in this period that Thomas H. White and Theodor Kundtz joined forces in Cleveland to produce a line of sewing machines that would rise above the crowded market. (As late as 1960 there were still some 60 U.S. sewing machine manufacturers.) White's machines in themselves did not appear to have a particular technological edge over competing products, but the well-crafted and innovatively-designed cabinets from Kundtz put them in a class of their own.
At the time, most sewing machines were mounted on iron bases or flat-topped tables. Very few were sold with their own cabinets, and almost none of these was as elaborate as what Theodor Kundtz was producing down in the Flats. Thomas H. White -- White Sewing Machine Corporation Thomas H. White was born on April 26, 1836 in Phillipston, Massachusetts. His father was a manufacturer, and the younger White devoted himself to mechanical studies. By 1857 he had invented a small hand-operated single-thread sewing machine. With an initial capital of $500.00, he started making "The New England Sewing Machine" in Templeton, Massachusetts, with William Grothe as his partner. The machine retailed for $10.00. White wanted a more central location and moved to Cleveland in 1866.
His business was called Continuation Sheet (8-86) National Register of Historic Places United States Department of the Interior Machine Combination"was formed, a unique business arrangement for its time. It included Theodor Kundtz Company Building the White Manufacturing Company at that time and was located in a small factory on Canal Street in the Flats.White began his Cleveland venture with capital of $350.00. that the leading companies pool their patents and end the lengthy court battles. Thus the "Sewing NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Section number - Page NPS Form 10-900-a National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Thomas White is said to have held a sewing machine patent at this time, but it is not known what the patent covered. He also is said to have received another patent in 1872, but again for what is not known.
For ten years after the founding of his Cleveland firm, he made sewing machines under different trade names such as the "Oxford" and, possibly, the "Bartlett." In that time, sales had increased from 25 to 2,000 units per week, and in 1876 White formed the White Sewing Machine Corporation. The Cleveland city directory listed the firm's manufacturing plant at 24-28 Canal Street and the office and sales forces at 358 Euclid Avenue. According to The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the Canal Street property was a five-story factory employing 600, where White produced a White Rotary Bobbin sewing machine every four minutes. As was noted earlier, he placed his first order for wood sewing machine cabinets with Theodor Kundtz's Cleveland Cabinet Company on December 18, 1876. Since this would provide how well the cabinetmaker could meet White's production needs.
The subsequent history of business between the two men speaks for itself and for the good fit between White's machines and By 1878, White's sales were $2.5 million. Business in the 1880s was greatly spurred by the "joint advertising campaign," discussed earlier, that White and Susan B. Anthony undertook. By 1900, During the second half of the 19th century, there were more than 200 sewing machine companies annual sewing machine production was devoted to the newly-introduced electric machines. Working with his sons Rollin, Windsor, and Walter, early in the 20th century White diversified the company into several other lines of business. By 1903, the firm produced automatic lathes, screw machines, roller skates, bicycles (with wheels supplied by Kundtz), kerosene lamps, and thought the car was just a "passing fancy," but his sons felt otherwise.
In 1899 Rollin invented the automobile flash boiler for the steam-powered cars which at the time seemed to hold much promise. With the help of his brothers, he introduced a line of trucks and the White Steamer in 1900; the steam cars had elaborate bodies supplied by Kundtz. The automobile company's office Singer. (8-86) Continuation Sheet Kundtz's cabinetry. National Register of Historic Places White was the second largest manufacturer of sewing machines in the U.s., behind only Isaac automobiles.The automobile business at the time was growing rapidly in Cleveland.White Theodor Kundtz Company Building in the United States.Only a small percentage of these were in business for more than ten years, United States Department of the Interior OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Section number cabinets for less than seven hours' production, clearly White was simply trying out Kundtz to see and of those that lasted longer, all but a few dozen had disappeared by 1910. By 1919, 7% of Page United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Section number - was located across the street from White Sewing Machine in the Flats, and the sons started White Motor Car Company in 1906 and split off from their father's business. Cars led their sales, but during World War I they shifted entirely to trucks, staying with that business after the war and In 1914, the year Thomas H. White died, Rollin left White Motor Car to organize the Cleveland 79th Street in 1913 and prospered through the 1910s and 1920s, but during the Depression sales plummeted.
White Motor merged with Studebaker in 1932, but after Studebaker was reorganized two years later, White again became independent as White Motor Corporation. During World War II, White Motor produced heavy-duty trucks and buses, scout cars, half-tracks, tank destroyers, and personnel carriers. After the war, White Motor purchased small truck makers and prospered throughout 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s, White Motor tried unsuccessfully to merge with Cummins Engine, but did purchase Euclid, Incorporated, the heavy-hauler division of General Motors. In 1970 White Motor attempted a merger with White Consolidated Industries, the old sewing machine business. White Consolidated at the time was embroiled in a merger fight with Allis-Chalmers, a farm-machinery maker, and the U.S. Department of Justice prohibited the instead on large custom trucks well-engineered, high-style cabs.
During the 1973-74 recession White Motor sold of a third of its assets, including Euclid, in 1978 it moved truck production from its 65-year-old plant on East 79th Street to a new Virginia facility. The company ceased to exist after filing for bankruptcy in 1980. Though Thomas H. White had died in 1914, in the period following World War I the White Sewing Machine Company continued to prosper through a network of dealers across the country and in England. In 1924 White Sewing Machine contracted with Sears, Roebuck, & Company to supply its private-label machines. White then acquired the Domestic Sewing Machine Company, Machine moved its production into all the buildings of the Theodor Kundtz Company, which by this time covered several blocks in the Flats just north of the old Superior Viaduct.
The main plant was at 2120 Elm Street, with the other manufacturing plants, a machine shop, and lumberyards filling adjacent blocks. White's production remained at the Flats site until 1949, Page Continuation Sheet merger because White Motor had heavy farm-equipment holdings.White Motor concentrated Theodor Kundtz Company Building the King Sewing Machine Company, and, as discussed earlier, the Theodor Kundtz Company, which had long supplied cabinets to White as well as to other manufacturers. White Sewing becoming the country's principal maker of trucks and custom vehicles. Motor Plow Company and began producing tractors.White Motor Car built a new plant on East National Register of Historic Places OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 NPS Form 10-900-a United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH when it moved into a new plant and headquarters at 11770 Berea Road, on Cleveland's far west side. The new facility was designed for straight-line production and could turn out 2,000 sewing machines a day. However, White had improved its production at a time when imported sewing machines began to flood the U.S. market. By 1954, sales were $20 million a year, but the three executives from White Motor came over to White Sewing Machine and in a short time changed it from a sewing machine maker to an importer of machines built overseas.
The company had by that time lost the Sears account, which had been 40% of the company's business, but once The firm's name was changed to White Consolidated Industries in 1964, during a time when it continued to diversify away from sewing machines. White Consolidated acquired an appliance such as the Kelvinator Appliance Division of American Motors (1968) and the appliance division of Westinghouse (1975). White acquired major appliance competitors Philco and Frigidaire, and also tool companies such as Sunstrand Corporation (1977) and the American Tool Company (1980). From 1972 to 1985 sales increased from $1.2 billion to S2 billion, and in March of 1986 White Consolidated signed an agreement to merge with Swedish manufacturer Electrolux.
As the two companies' histories have shown, there was a long and close business relationship and out of various locations and ultimately ended up occupying the same complex of buildings. Only one of those buildings, the nominated structure, survives today and serves as a reminder of Theodor Kundtz, after separating from his partners, located his firm, Theodor Kundtz Cabinet Work (sic), at 122 and 124 Elm Street, in a building previously (and coincidentally) owned by the bankrupt Cleveland Sewing Machine Company. This factory was destroyed in a fire in the mid-1880s, but before that occurred Kundtz had opened a second factory. The 1884 city directory shows two addresses for this facility, at 31 and 101 West Center Street; by 1888 Kundtz is shown only at 31 West Center.
Theodor Kundtz Company Building Continuation Sheet White began importing sewing machines it regained the Sears business and became the giant National Register of Historic Places (8-86) Cleveland's Flats and stayed there through their periods of greatest growth.Both firms moved in OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Page the size and vitality of Cleveland's early 20th century industrial base. manufacturer and several industrial supply houses, and it made other major appliance acquisitions between Theodor Kundtz Company and White Sewing Machine Company. Both began in Section number 8 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH In 1887-89 Kundtz built the first building at the Flats site where his operations would grow over the next thirty years.
Located west of the Superior Avenue Viaduct, the site was at what today is a vacant parcel at 2120 Elm Street, a full block bounded on the east and west by Washington and bounded by Center, Washington, and Winslow, which was the block to the south across Elm from the original factory. By 1896 Kundtz appears to have built a third plant, west of the second building and located on the south side of Center between Main and Winslow. These buildings would eventually be known as Theodor Kundtz Company plants #1, #2, and #3, but they were not numbered in order of construction. Plant #3 was the original 1887-89 building; #2 was the third built, at the southwest corner of Center and Main; and #1 was the second built, on the south side of Elm across from the 1887-89 building.
Kundtz had a machine shop complex opposite Plant #1, east of Washington and partly tucked under the large arches of the Superior Avenue Viaduct. It was identified as Plant #4 even though no actual production took place there. The entire complex was served by the Erie Railroad on the south and the Baltimore & Ohio on that filled the city blocks on which they sat. They had numerous windows, modest designs with some ornamental brickwork and raised parapets to provide some ornamentation; and flat roofs. The nominated building was the last constructed and was designated Plant #5. Building permit records indicate that the 6-story portion received a permit on November 21, 1912 and that construction started five days later on November 26. The architectural firm for the project was White and Shupe, which was located in the Citizens Building on Euclid Avenue. St.
Rose School on West 116th Street was also done by White and Shupe, but little else is currently known of the firm's work. An additional permit was issued on October 20, 1913 for a bridge across Winslow to connect to Plant #1 at the third floor level; the scar from that structure remains visible on the east elevation. Eventually there were three bridges connecting Plant #1 with plants #2, #3, and #5. Following construction of the first part of Plant #5, in 1920, Kundtz's Lakewood lumber and apparently took the opportunity to consolidate his lumber operations in the Flats, adjacent to his factory and to good rail and water transportation. Maps show three city blocks covered by Plant #5was completed and occupied in the summer of 1914. National Register of Historic Places Theodor Kundtz Company Building Continuation Sheet operation was destroyed by fire.
Kundtz sold the Lakewood property (except for his mansion) the north.Plants #1,#2,and #3 all were similar in design:large four-to-six story brick structures United States Department of the Interior Section number - Page - Winslow avenues, respectively, and on the north by Sycamore Street. By 1891 the firm occupied two buildings: the Cleveland city directory contained a large ad and located the business on Elm, NPS Form 10-900-a National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Section number . log and lumber years around this period, all located north and west of the factory buildings and close to the river and to the B&O Railroad. The building permit for the four-story addition was issued on June 13, 1924. The addition was to front on Elm and Main, to the west of the original structure. Wallace A.
Hatch was the architect (about whom little is currently known), and the contractor was Reaugh Construction Company, a prominent local builder that did many downtown buildings. With completion of the addition, the building took its current form. It always occupied only the northern portion of the block on gable-roofed industrial structures. They dated at least to the 1880s and were unrelated to Kundtz's operation, and there never was a physical connection between this complex and Kundtz's building. After its expansion, Plant #5 housed operations such as finishing and varnishing of machine shop located adjacent to the Old Superior Viaduct.
The permit for the addition to Plant #5 was issued less than a year before Theodor Kundtz sold Although the building permit was issued to Theodor Kundtz Company, the addition may have been undertaken at White Sewing Machine's request, in anticipation of that firm's acquisition of all of Kundtz's real estate in the area. After the sale, White Sewing Machine moved all of its operations into Kundtz's factory buildings, absorbing the woodworking operations into White Sewing Machine Company and changing the firms address from Canal Road, its longtime home, to Main and Elm. This lasted until the 1949 move to the Berea Road plant. The next 45 years saw various occupants in the former Kundtz buildings, and they gradually were demolished until by 1990 only the former Plant #5, the nominated building, was left.
By 1956 it was known as the Acme Building, with various tenants such as Acme Wholesale & Distribution Terminal, National Yeast Company, Merchants Creamery, Rapid Flow, Acme Answering, and Louden Machinery Company. It continued to be called the Acme Building through the 1960s, with various other tenants, and by the late 1980s the building was in use by Cordage Paper certified historic rehabilitation. The original 1914 eastern portion has been converted to Page Theodor Kundtz Company Building Continuation Sheet which it sat; the southern portion was occupied (and is occupied today) by a complex of National Register of Historic Places woodwork;Plant #1 housed the manufacturing of sewing machine cabinets;Plant #2primarily the entire company to the White Sewing Machine Company; the sale took place on May 9,1925.
United States Department of the Interior made auto bodies; and Plant #3 housed the sawmill and planing departments. Plant #4 was the Company.The current owner purchased the building in the early 199os and hasundertakena OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH residential units and uses the address of 2249 Elm Street; the 1924 western addition houses oftices and is located at 1231 Main Avenue. Cleveland has many National Register listings, both individual properties and historic districts, but the lakefront were listed but have been destroyed; other important properties such as the Glidden :and Winton plants, which still survive in the Berea Road industrial corridor near the recently-listed Chicle Building, have not been listed; nor have several extant properties associated with the steel, publishing, and aircraft industries, to name only a few.
Given the depth and breadth of Cleveland's industrial history, its accomplishments in entrepreneurship, innovation, and modern forms of industrial organization, it is unfortunate that this history has not been better recognized and more widely documented through the National Register. Nomination of the Theodor Kundtz Company Building, which survives largely in its original form and with a high level of integrity, is intended to help reduce the deficit of Cleveland industrial past and a tangible document of the city's economic contribution to the nation. Conclusion Continuation Sheet Theodor Kundtz Company Building National Register of Historic Places life of Theodor Kundtz, a major innovator and factory owner during Cleveland's most important industrial listings.
The building is the only surviving structure associated with the active business United States Department of the Interior National Park Service period of industrial development. As such it is an important reminder of Cleveland's business and industrial properties are not well represented. The Hulett iron ore unloaders at Whiskey Island on NPS Form 10-900-a Section number - Page (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Campbell, Thomas F. and Edward M. Miggins. The Birth of Modern Cleveland, 1865-1930. Cleveland, Ohio: Western Reserve Historical Society, 1988. Cleveland City Directories, various issues 1876-1942. Cleveland Landmarks Commission building permit records, various dates. Condon, George E. Cleveland: Prodigy of the Western Reserve. Tulsa, Oklahoma: Continental. Condon, George E. Yesterday's Cleveland. Miami: E.A.
Seemann Publishing, Inc., 1976. Cooper, Grace R. The Sewing Machine: Its Invention and Development. Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1976. Eiben, Christopher J. Tori in Amerika: The Story of Theodor Kundtz. Cleveland, Ohio: Orange Blossom Press, 1994. Herrick, Clay Jr. Cleveland Landmarks. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Landmarks Commission, Jewell, F. Brian. Antique Sewing Machines. Tunbridge Wells, England: D.J. Costello (Publishers) Ltd., 1985. Jewell, F. Brian. Veteran Sewing Machines: A Collector's Guide. South Brunswick, N.J. and New York City: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1975. Ohio Historic Preservation Office, Ohio Historic Inventory files. Bays, 1998. 1986. Bibliography Continuation Sheet National Register of Historic Places Theodor Kundtz Company Building United States Department of the Interior Heritage Press, 1979. NPS Form 10-900-a Bays, Carter.
The Encycopedia of Early American Sewing Machines. Columbia, S.C.: Carter (8-86) Page Section number NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Page - Company, 1886, 1896, 1903, 1912, 1922. Siegel, Beatrice. The Sewing Machine: Inventions That Changed Our Lives. New York City: Walker and Company, 1984. Van Tassel, David D. & Grabowski, John J., eds. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1987. Wise, David B. Classics of the Road. Seacaucus, N.J.: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978 Bibliography, cont. Continuation Sheet National Park Service Theodor Kundtz Company Building Sanborn Map Company. Insurance Maps of Cleveland, Ohio. New York City: Sanborn Map National Register of Historic Places Section number 9 United States Department of the Interior Cuyahoga, OH Name of Property 10.
Geographical Data Acreage of Property Less than one (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.) - See continuation sheet (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By Benjamin D. Rickey & Co. September, 2000 593 S. Fifth Street street & number _ - telephone city or town - State _ zip code Submit the following items with the completed form: A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location. A Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Representative black and white photographs of the property.
(Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) 1231 Main Avenue Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.). instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form tothe Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.O.
Box 37127,Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of 43206 Zone date Northing Photographs organization Columbus Additional Documentation Continuation Sheets Boundary Justification Additional items UTM References Verbal Boundary Description Cleveland Property Owner County and State (614)221-0358 Theodor Kundtz Company Building (Complete this item at the request of SHPO or FPO.) Easting Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Projects (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. 44113 name Maps (216)861-4080 Nautica Peninsula Land L.P.and Apartments at Nautica L.P. [4|41040 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Park Service Theodor Kundtz Company Building Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Situated in the City of Cleveland, County of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio and known as being Sublots No. 501 to 504 inclusive, Sublots No. 512 to 517 inclusive and the Northerly part of Sublot No.
505 in Block "V" in the Buffalo Company's Allotment of part of Original Brooklyn Township Lots Nos. 51 and 70, as shown by the recorded plat in Volume 3 of Maps, Page 51 of Cuyahoga County Records, and together forming a parcel of land, bounded and described as Beginning at the intersection of the Southerly line of Elm Street, N.W., 66 feet in width, with the Easterly line of Main Avenue, N.W., 80 feet in width, being also the Northwesterly corner of said Sublot No. 501; thence South 71 degrees 18 minutes 05 seconds East along the Southerly line of Elm Street, N.W., a distance of 229.415 feet to its intersection with the Westerly line of Winslow Avenue, N.W., 66 feet in width, being also the Northeasterly corner said Sublot No.
517; thence South 18 degrees 45 minutes 20 seconds West along the Westerly line of said Winslow Avenue, N.W., a distance of 100.53 feet to the Southeasterly corner of said Sublot No. 517; thence North 71 degrees 13 minutes 45 seconds West along the Southerly line of Sublots 517, 516, 515, 514, 513, 512 and the Westerly prolongation of said Southerly line, a distance of 229.415 feet to the Easterly line of Main Avenue, N.W., as aforementioned, being also the thence North 18 degrees 45 minutes 00 seconds East along the Easterly line of Main Avenue, and which was associated with the building during the period of significance. follows: (8-86) Boundary Justification Boundary Description Continuation Sheet National Register of Historic Places all legal highways.
November 27,1935and recorded in Volume 4564, Page 473 of Cuyahoga County Records; United States Department of the Interior NPS Form 10-900-a Section number - Northwesterly corner of land conveyed to the Trebing Manufacturing Company by deed dated N.W., a distance of 100.24 feet to the place of beginning, be the same more or less, but subject to The nominated property contains all of the land upon which the Theodor Kundtz Building stands OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Page - Photos 1 through 10 were provided by the owner. Of these, photos 3 through 7 were taken by Mort Tucker Photography of Cleveland, Ohio; the photographer(s) for photos 1-2 and 8-10 is unknown. Photos 1-2 were taken about the late 1950s; photos 3-10 were taken circa 1992. The following information is the same for all photographs from 11 on: Jeffrey Darbee, Benjamin D. Rickey & Co.
593 South Fifth Street, Columbus, OH 43206 September 8, 2000 to Plant #1 visible on right. Demolition date unknown. Looking southwest at northeast corner of Plant #3, late 1950s. Demolition date unknown. Looking southeast at northwest corner of nominated building, Theodor Kundtz Company Building (Plant #5), circa 1992, before start of certified historic rehabilitation. 4 Looking south at north elevation before start of rehabilitation, circa 1992. 5 Looking east at west elevation, circa 1992. Looking north at south elevation, circa 1992. Trebing Company building in foreground is not part of nomination. Nominated building rises in background above Trebing building 8 Interior view, probably first floor, circa 1992. 9 Typical stairwell view before rehabilitation. 10 Interior view, probably upper floor, before rehabilitation. Continuation Sheet Photographer: Photo Log Date Taken: roof ridge.
Section number Log National Park Service Location of Negatives: Theodor Kundtz Company Building National Register of Historic Places Looking west at east elevation, circa 1992. Looking northeast at the southwest corner of Kundtz Plant #3 during late 1950s.Bridge United States Department of the Interior NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH beyond, to right of distant lighthouse structure. Trebing and Kundtz buildings are at left. Looking west along Elm Street. Kundtz building is to left, former foundry building (not related to Kundtz/White operations) on right. Main Avenue Bridge in background. Opposite view from photo 16, looking west along Elm Street toward Old Superior View looking east along Elm Street from beneath Main Avenue Bridge, showing west Looking east at west end of building, with downtown Cleveland skyline on left. South Log end of building.
Page Viaduct (NR). Kundtz Plant #1 was just past stop sign, on right; Plant #3 was on left. Photo Log, cont. Photo Looking west along south elevation of Trebing Manufacturing building; Kundtz building Looking west along Elm Street toward east end (on left) and north elevation (on right) of Continuation Sheet Section number Looking northwest at southeast corner of Trebing building, showing relationship to elevation of building is at extreme right. rises behind tree to right. Looking north from Center Street along Winslow Avenue toward Cuyahoga River. National Register of Historic Places Trebing building is on right, with Kundtz building behind. Kundtz building. Looking northwest up Winslow Avenue, showing reconstructed west side bay window. Kundtz building in background.
Theodor Kundtz Company Building National Park Service Looking north along Main Avenue, halfway between Center and Mulberry streets. United States Department of the Interior Kundtz Plant #1 once occupied vacant site behind fence at right;Plant #3 was in lot Looking southeast at north elevation(on left) and west side(on right). Looking northeast at west end(on left) and south elevation(on right). NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Park Service Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., OH Looking northeast at south elevation, with Trebing building in foreground and downtown Looking northeast toward north wall of first floor restaurant. Looking north in residential lobby, first floor along north wall. Residential section, second floor elevator lobby, looking south. Residential section, fifth floor corridor, looking east from west end. 29 Apartment 501, looking north. Apartment 315.
2nd floor offices, looking east. Photo Log, cont. Page Continuation Sheet National Register of Historic Places Third floor hall, looking east. Photo Same room on left in photo 29. skyline in background. Theodor Kundtz Company Building United States Department of the Interior NPS Form 10-900-a Section number Log Looking east in "back of the house" mechanical space, east end of first floor.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET NAME : DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF 45TH DAY: REASONS FOR REVIEW: N PDIL: N PERIOD: N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: COMMENT WAIVER: N V ACCEPT ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N TELEPHONE RETURN 2/19/01 2/02/01 1/04/01 MULTIPLE DATE DISCIPLINE REJECT REVIEWER RECOM./CRITERIA OTHER: DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Kundtz, Theodor, Company Building REQUEST: N STATE & COUNTY: OHIO, Cuyahoga PROPERTY SAMPLE: CLEVELAMO, CUYAHOGA CO., OH PNOTO 3 PHOTO S THEODOR KUNOTZ CO. BLOG.
PAPERS CORDAGE CLEVGLANO, CUYANDGA CO., ON THEODON KUNOTZ CLEVELANO, CUYAHOGA CO., OH CLEVELAND, CUYANUGA CO., DH CLENELAND, CUYANOGA CO., OH CLEVELINO, CUYANOGA CO., OH CLEVELINO, CUYAHUGA CO., OH STOP PNOTO 17 STOP Spaghetti Warehouse CLEVELANO, CUYANOGA Ca., ON TNEODORKUNOTZ CO.BUG. TNEODOR KUNOTZ CO. BLOG. CLEVELONO, CUYANOGA CO, OH S N TG30068 CLEVELNO,CUynNOGa C.ON EXIT TNEODOR KUNOTZ Co. B4G. CLEVELANO, CUYAHOGN CO., OH CLEVELINO, CUAHOGA CU., DH THGODONKUNOTZC.BLO6. PHOTO 32 TNEODON KUNDTZ CO. BLDG. OHIO-CUYAHOGA CO CLEVELAND SOUTH QUADRANGLE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 7.5 MINUTE SERIES (TOPOGRAPHIC) UNITED STATES ROAD CLASSIFICATION GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CLEVELAND SOUTH, OHIO 539-7-NW 217
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