This file part of www.watertownhistory.org website
Watertown Table Slide
DOES NOT make tables,
only the table
sliding mechanism
Ad from Watertown Daily Times,
Profile of the Company
The Watertown Table-Slide Company was established in 1889 with Emil W. Schultz (early business man) as president, Max H. Gaebler and Richard Blaesius; the business was
incorporated in 1891. Its capital in 1917 is twenty-five thousand dollars
with an earned surplus of sixty thousand dollars also in the business.
The company's plant is located on Hart Street south of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad tracks and has its own spur track. Here they
have three and a half acres of ground on which are several buildings and three
dry kilns. They manufacture patented slides for extension tables and their
product is sold exclusively to table manufacturers, mostly in carload lots,
throughout the United States and Canada.
The material used is principally birch and the annual consumption is a
million and a half feet of lumber. The dry kiln capacity is two hundred
thousand feet and the equipment of the plant is first class, all special
machines used being designed by the company's secretary and treasurer, Max H. Gaebler. Employment is furnished forty hands,
one-half of whom are skilled workmen and over thirty thousand dollars are
annually paid out in wages.
This is today one of the most prosperous and successful enterprises of
Watertown and its success is largely due to the stubborn energy of its former
president, Emil W. Schultz, who was its manager until his death, June 27, 1916.
The officers are now Mrs.
Estella Schultz, president, widow of the former president, William C. Schultz, vice president,
and H. Gaebler,
secretary and treasurer. Its superintendent, Henry Winkler, has been in charge of the factory since the
establishment of the business.
It is the only concern in its line in Wisconsin and one of the two
largest in this class of manufacture in the United States.
Above derived from Jefferson County Wisconsin and its People: A
Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II, S.
J. Clarke Publishing Co (Chicago), 1917.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Watertown Table Slide stock
certificate
______________________________________________________________________________________
Table Slide Firm Formed Here in 1889
Blaesius Brothers Had Original
Plant Here
Watertown
has been making nationally famous table slides since 1889 when the Watertown
Table Slide Co., now a corporation, was organized by E. W. Schultz, Max H. Gaebler and Richard Blaesius.
Prior to that time there had been a small table slide shop here operated by Blaesius Brothers and the Watertown company, launched in
1889, was the outgrowth of that earlier concern.
1889
Jefferson Banner, 10 10 1889.
Tuesday
evening a fire destroyed Edward Blaesius’ furniture factory
and his dwelling house at Watertown, together with machinery, lumber and stock,
the entire loss being estimated at about $8,000, upon which there is not a cent
of insurance. This is the most serious
fire that has visited this town in several years. The fire department fought hard against the
flames, but without avail. The furniture
factory is adjacent to the depot, and was one of the best employing
manufacturers in the city. The cause of
the fire is as strange as the absence of insurance.
In 1924
another table slide company, known as the Perfection Table Slide Manufacturing
Co., was launched here under the leadership of E. W. Schultz. That concern continued to operate until last
year when announcement was made that it was going out of business, that the
factory building had been sold to the Hevi Duty Electric Co. of Milwaukee, and that the
Watertown Table Slide Co. had purchased its equipment and inventory.
Mrs.
Muriel Thauer, wife of Attorney Wallace Thauer, was president of the company at the time the
announcement was made last July 15 that it was going out of business. She had
headed the company for many years, being a daughter of the late E. W. Schutz. She was not connected with the Perfection Table
Slide Manufacturing Co. at the time her father helped organize it, but became
interested in the company a few years after it was organized.
She
became head of the company upon the death of her father and had also been
general manager. As a girl she had assisted her father in his office and
accompanied him on many of his business trips and was practically brought up in
the table slide business, gaining much experience which was to prove valuable
in a business way for the company when she later became head of the concern.
Last year, after many years in business, she decided to retire and began
negotiations for the sale of the property.
At the
time of her retirement, Mrs. Thauer acknowledged the
efficient and helpful services to the company of Benjamin R. Krueger who was
for 19 years the company's secretary and treasurer. Fred W. Pfeifer of this
city was for many years associated with the company and had-served as its first
vice president. Otto Fischer was superintendent since the company was
organized and had over 50 years experience in the manufacture of table slides.
Several other employees had more than 40 years experience.
One Company Now
Today
the Watertown Table Slide Corp. the remaining such plant in Watertown, is one
of five table slide manufacturing concerns in the United States. From the start
its policy had been to turn out the best and most efficient product that could
be produced and its products have been used throughout, the United States, and some foreign countries as well.
Approximately
one million board feet of lumber is used in the company plant. Only hard
wood, such as birch and maple, is used. One of the secrets of its successes
always has been in the long and special treatment of the wood used.
In
addition to standard size table slides, the company has turned out a great
number of special contract jobs, with slides ranging to vast sizes for special
tables.
Much
machinery and special equipment, some of it being of the most ingenious nature
and design, is required to turn out the many types of table slides produced in
the plant.
Years
ago the special wood treatment process employed in the Watertown table slides
attracted the attention of U. S. government wood experts who came here to study
the method.
A. M.
(Dip) Ellington has been president of the Watertown Table Slide Corp., for many
years. He is also secretary. Lois P. F. Ellington is vice president and
treasurer. Edward Dobbratz
is the firm's sales manager. [Profile of Ed Dobbratz,
1924-2008]
Watertown
Daily Times / Centennial Edition, June 26, 1954
1906
11 28 1906
The Leader is pleased to note the evident
prosperity of one of the local manufacturing industries, which has grown from
modest beginnings, till it is now an important factor in the industrial
activity of Watertown and gives promise of becoming an institution of far
greater importance, due in a large measure to the excellence of management.
. . .
It will be a source of pleasure to all . . . to know that [the Watertown Table
Slide Co] has commenced the erection of two large additions to its plant in
order to accommodate the rapidly increasing business . . . The plant at the
present time is being operated day and night in order to complete their
contracts at specified times. The
working force has been increased from time to time as necessity demanded, till
today there is a force of fifty people employed. The building operations of
the new addition is under the supervision of E. W. Schultz, the
president of the company.
1916 Death of Emil W. Schultz
07 06 Well-Known
Business Man and Manufacturer Dies at St. Mary's Hospital
At 5
o'clock on Thursday, June 29, 1916, Emil W. Schultz, one of Watertown's most
progressive business men, and a manufacturer of national reputation, died at
St. Mary's Hospital in this city of cancer of the bladder, with which he had
been a great sufferer for months. All
that medical skill could do was done for Mr. Schultz and he received every
attention from family and friends to comfort and assist him in his last
illness.
For
six weeks before his death he realized that the hand of Death was on him and he
prepared well to meet his Creator, having recourse to the bible many times each
day and having it read and explained to him.
The
news of his death was learned of by our citizens with sincere regret, for Mr.
Schultz had many warm friends here, and besides all our citizens realized that
he was a businessman who did much good here, not only by his own manufacturing
plant, but in other material ways and in charitableness also.
Deceased
was born on a farm, near Lake Mills in May, 1864, and on May 20, 1887, he was
married to Miss Estelle Drew of Lake Mills.
He was
a self-made man in every particular, and had he lived no doubt he would have
risen to be one of the largest manufacturers in the county, for his business
interests were being added to yearly, and just previous to his death a large
addition to his factory was built and another addition was being contemplated.
After attending school
a few years, he secured a position in a general store at Lake Mills, and
resigning that position he went to Fond du Lac and was employed in the
furniture store of his brother-in-law, Albert Blankenberg,
where he mastered the furniture business, and in 1886 he came to this city and
opened a furniture store in the building in West Main Street now occupied by
the Baumann Candy Co. In 1889 he disposed of that business and
associated himself with Max H. Gaebler and the late
Richard Blaesius in the Watertown Table Slide Co., a
business that grew and prospered up to the time of his death. He was also interested in many other
enterprises, notably in the Isle of Pines, where he had large land interest.
Mr.
Schultz was a big man physically, and a big man mentally and in a business way,
yet he had many traits of the great big-hearted boy, and many there are who
will miss him, for his bigness of heart found him on numerous occasions
extending charity and assistance to those less fortunate than he in a business
way.
The
writer knew him intimately for over 30 years, and, though like human beings, he
had his faults, his good traits of character were so
many, that his faults sank into insignificance alongside of them.
He is
survived by his wife and two daughters, the Misses Muriel and Helen Schultz,
one brother, W. C. Schultz of the Isle of Pines, and two half sisters, Mrs. Wm.
Gruetzmacher, Grand Forks, N. Dak.,
and Mrs. Wm. Fuerstenau of Lake Mills. He was a member of Watertown Lodge B. P. O.
Elks No. 666 and of Watertown Council United Commercial Travelers.
His funeral was held
Sunday afternoon from his late home, Rev. N. Carter Daniell
officiating. Mr. Daniell
read the Congregationial service and preached an
eloquent funeral sermon. Song services was rendered by a number of the Congregational
choir. Nearly 75 of the local Elks marched from the home to
the Oak
Hill Cemetery, as did also a number of the local council of the Commercial
Travelers, and all of the factory force over which Mr. Schultz in life
presided.
At his grave in Oak
Hill the Elks held services . . .
The active pallbearers
were Otto Fischer, Wm. Draeger, Otto Draeger, Wm. Schmidt, Herman Neubauer
and Arthur Behling of the factory force. The honorary pallbearers were Mayor Charles Mulberger, E. J. Brandt, Geo. Koenig, James W. Moore, J. W.
Wiggenhorn and F. E. Woodard.
The out of town people who
attended the funeral were . . . WG
1953
11 19 1953
Announcement
was made by Mrs. Muriel Thauer, president of
Perfection Table Slide Manufacturing Company, of this city, that negotiations
have been completed for the sale of its equipment and inventor to the Watertown
Table Slide Corporation and for the sale of the Perfection factory building and
real estate to Hevi Duty Electric Company of
Milwaukee. It is expected that the Hevi Duty Company
will take possession before the end of this summer and thus bring to Watertown
a substantial new industry.
The
Perfection Table Slide Manufacturing Company was organized about 1924 and has
since then been engaged in the manufacture and sale of high-grade extension
table slides to table manufacturers in various parts of the country.
Mrs. Thauer had no connection with the Perfection Company when
it was organized but a few years later she became interested in the company and
has since then been its president and general manager.
A few
years later a separate corporation, the Perfection Realty Corporation, was
formed to take over the factory building and real estate.
1974
02 01 1974
Watertown Table Slide -
Pioneer in use of Aluminum for Slides
An
innovative approach using aluminum in the table slide industry, pioneered by
Watertown Table Slide,
The
Watertown firm had made wood table slides for many years, and which 15 years
ago began the use of steel in table slides, has now become the first company in
the nation to make use of aluminum in its table slide product. WDT
Wooden Table Slides Discontinued
The
wood line, which for many years was the only line made, was discontinued a year
ago and with the discontinuance came many changes in the plant.
Some
of the old buildings used in the old process were torn down and replaced by a
new 60 foot by 120 foot building with additional areas for office space.
The
completely new facilities handle all manufacturing and business portions of the
company. The remaining old facilities
are used primarily for storage of the new raw materials and for some of the old
wood slides.
Dobbratz said
that while the steel table slides account for the biggest volume of the
business, the real future lies in the use of aluminum.
He
explained that use of steel is limited by its size and shape, but aluminum can
be shaped exactly to the requirements of any particular project.
Dobbratz said
“With aluminum there are no design restrictions. We can make any type of table slide or slide
for other purposes and can meet the needs of our clients with aluminum.”
The
firm is presently manufacturing slides only for tables with the aluminum and
steel, but future applications are limitless, Dobbratz
emphasized. He said “There are many
slides which remain to be designed and we feel we will be able to produce them
in our new facilities.”
Can Expand Building
The
new structure was built with expansion in mind.
Dobbratz said future expansion is planned by
adding to the west side of the existing new building.
The
building was designed and constructed by Metal Structures, Inc., of
Oconomowoc. In addition to the bright
production area, the office space includes the president’s area, business
office, private meeting room, drafting room and
waiting room and entrance. The floor is
attractively carpeted.
Watertown
Table Slide functions with 27 employees handling both the aluminum and steel
lines.
The
president of the firm takes pride in the equipment used at the facility, most
of which was designed for its specific use by officials of the firm. Several of the machines were designed by Earl
Olson of Watertown.
Dobbratz is
proud of the accomplishments of the firm, noting that the company sells slides
in Australia, West Germany, Switzerland, England, Italy, Sweden, France and
other countries in addition to its business in the United States.
Has Long History
Watertown
Table Slide has a long history in Watertown, having been formed in 1889 as the
Watertown Table Slide Company. It is now
a corporation.
The
firm was originally formed by E. W. Schultz, Max H. Gaebler,
and Richard Blaesius.
Prior
to that time there had been a small table slide shop here operated by Blaesius Brothers. The Watertown company
was the outgrowth of that earlier concern.
In
1924 another table slide company, known as the Perfection Table Slide
Manufacturing Company, was launched under the leadership of Schultz. That concern operated until 1953 when it was
purchased by Watertown Table Slide.
A.M.
(Dip) Ellington has been associated with the firm since the late 1920s, having
served as its president for many years.
1985 Reiss Industries purchased Watertown Table
Side Corp
11 01 As a result of the company's recent
growth, Reiss Industries has entered into agreement to purchase Watertown Table
Slide Corporation. The Watertown Table
Slide assets will be purchased by a newly formed subsidiary of Reiss,
Consolidated Industries, Inc., Thomas Reiss, chairman of the board of Reiss,
said. Reiss said the new subsidiary will
retain all of the employees of Watertown Table Slide. He said Ed Dobbratz,
current president of Watertown Table Slide, has also signed with Consolidated
and will maintain “a vital role” in the new firm. Reiss Industries recently celebrated its 10th
anniversary and operates out of its 120,000 square foot facility at 319 Hart
Street. One of the country's leading
manufacturers of custom molded methane products, the
firm's products include parts for the office furniture, automotive, health care
and aerospace industries. WDT
