METZ MANUFACTURING COMPANY

Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

Building in 2010

METZ MANUFACTURING COMPANY. Operating in a building constructed on the corner of 17th and Elm STREETS in 1903, the Metz Manufacturing Company, considered a planing mill, specialized in producing sash, doors, blinds, frames, mouldings and stair work. Their best customers were people ordering for churches, schools and other large public and private buildings. The president of the company was J.F. Johannsen.

By 1910 the company had moved into a larger building at 17th and Elm and specialized in church work. This included frames for church windows, church doors, and church mouldings. Between fifty and sixty men worked year round in the mills. The products were marketed throughout Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas. In 1970 the Dubuque City Directory listed the address as 1690 Elm.

The Metz Company published a hardcover catalog for customers to use in choosing their purchases. Photo courtesy: Dave Radloff

The catalogs are prized today for the ideas they continue to give craftsmen. Photo courtesy: Dave Radloff

FRANK HARDIE ADVERTISING INC. established by Frank HARDIE purchased the 71-year old building in 1972 after Metz closed down its custom woodworking business. At the time of the acquisition, Hardie Advertising had thirty-three employees. The move into the former Metz building was a return to Dubuque for the firm which had left the city for a location in Center Grove in 1951.

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Source:

"Metz Manufacturing Plant Leads in Production of Interior Finish," Telegraph Herald, February 17, 1910, p. 1

"Directory of Dubuque Industries." Prepared by the Dubuque Industrial Bureau, 1967

Flooding in 1951.