Ohio County, West Virginia         Biography of Christian STEINMETZ

This biography was submitted by Joan Wyatt,
E-mail address:  <mewyatt@uakron.edu>

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume 11
Page 177

Christian Steinmetz

   Proprietor of the Steinmetz paper box manufactory in the city of
Wheeling, was born in the town of Oestrich, on the Rhine, Germany,
December 27, 1843, and is today one of the veteran business men and
honored and influential citizens of Wheeling, in which city he
established his home in 1868. He is a son of Christian and Sophia
(Steinmetz) Steinmetz, both of whom passed their entire lives in
Germany, the father having died when the subject of this sketch was a
child and the mother having passed the closing years of her life at
Frankfort-on Main.
   He whose name introduces this sketch was the only child of his
parents and gained his early education in the parochial schools of his
native town. At Frankfort-on-Main he learned the trades of book-binding
and paper-box making, to which he continued to devote his attention in
his native land until 1866, when he came to the United States and
settled in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Later, he entered the employ of
English & Osgood, book-binders in the City of Pittsburgh, that state,
where he remained until 1868, when he came to Wheeling and here engaged
in the manufacturing of paper boxes for the Wheeling Hinge Company. From
this modest inception he has labored earnestly and effectively in the
developing and building of the substantial manufacturing enterprise of
which he is now the owner. His former factory was at 1221 Main Street,
and November 19,1919, he removed to the modern factory plant which he
erected and equipped for the purpose at the corner of Twenty-fifth and
Woods streets, the building being four stories in height and 66 by 87
feet in dimensions. The mechanical facilities and all accessories of the
plant are of the most approved modern type, and the output includes not
only paper boxes in endless varieties but also various types of wooden
boxes, including cigar boxes. The products are sold throughout the trade
territory normally tributary to Wheeling for a radius of 100 miles, and
in the factory is retained a force on an average of from 75 to 100
employees, many of whom are skilled mechanics. Mr. Steinmetz continued
as the active executive head of this prosperous industrial enterprise
until January, 1920, when he turned the business over to the control of
his three sons and one daughter.He is a director of the Citizens Trust
Company, is a stockholder in the Wheeling Steel Corporation and various
local enterprises, and is one of the capitalists of the city that has
long represented his home and had the stage of his constructive
activities here. His residence is at 2134 Chapline Street. He is
affiliated with the Knights of St. George of America, in which he is a
director, and is an earnest communicant of St. Alphonsus Catholic
Church.
   In 1870 Mr. Steinmetz wedded Miss Amelia Walter, and she died at
Wheeling at the age of twenty-eight years. Agnes, younger of the two
children of this union, died at the age of one year; George F., the
elder, is one of the owners of the business founded and developed by his
father.
   In 1877 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Steinmetz to Miss
Bernadine Schafer, who was born in Germany, in 1855, and whose death
occurred in 1914, she having been a young women when she came from her
native land to the United States and became a resident of Wheeling. Of
the children of this second marriage the eldest is Sophia, who is the
wife of George P. Erb, of Wheeling. Clement A. and Lawrence C. are
associated with their elder brother in the Steinmetz box-manufacturing
business, which is a closed company, all stock being owned by members of
the family only.
   Mr. Steinmetz was far advanced in his foresight of the possibilities
that the Wheeling District held, and from time to time invested in many
industries that have helped make Wheeling one of the prominent
manufacturing cities of this county.


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