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Another Port Washington industry
which never attained the dignity of 100 years is
nevertheless worth mentioning because of the
large number of people employed and its
remarkable record of continuous work throughout
the depression of the 1930s. This was the
Wisconsin Chair Company, organized in 1889. John
Bostwick, a local jeweler and son-in-law of Barnum Blake, was
one of the largest investors and eventually owned most of the shares and
became president of the company. The first plant built by the
Wisconsin Chair Co. "became the largest employer in the area, providing |
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work for one-sixth of the Ozaukee County
work force. Its presence was most likely the chief reason that the city's
[Port Washington] population increased from 1659 in 1890 to more than 3000
by 1900. Surviving the financial crisis of 1893, the Chair company
suffered its severest blow in 1899 when it was totally leveled by fire.
The company showed its resiliency by immediately rebuilding, and for many
years remained the backbone of Port Washington's economy. The incredible
success story eventually ended as sales and profits became smaller and
production slowed down." By 1959, the company had closed its doors
and its sprawling but inefficient 1900 plant, which, like the 1889 plant,
was located behind and east of the N. Franklin Street business district,
partially encircling the city's inner harbor, has now been completely
demolished. |
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