Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
KRETSCHMER MANUFACTURING COMPANY
KRETSCHMER MANUFACTURING COMPANY. Opening its business in Dubuque in 1907, the company was incorporated the same year with a capital stock of $40,000 to manufacture plumbing specialties and supplies.
The company began owning the patents for the Double Flush Closet, Combined Anti-Siphon Bath Trap and Connected Waste and Overflow, and the Anti-Siphon Lavatory Traps. These furnished the basis of the business which then expanded into new departments.
In 1910 the company also carried on a large business as a jobber for all the leading manufacturers of enameled ware, pipe fittings, pressure tanks, and similar products for water, gas and steam. The territory supplied included Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Dakotas, and Colorado. The firm had also done business in Canada and Mexico.
In 1911 the company advertised that it manufactured plumbing and heating supplies and had a specialty in bath trap and double flush water closets. Forty workmen were employed.
The 1915 Dubuque City Directory located this business at 9th and Washington.
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Source:
Dubuque's Youngest Plumbing Concern Supplies Three Countries," Telegraph Herald, February 4, 1910, p. 1