Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
PFOHL, Louis
Family History: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=haverhill_iowa&id=I47376
PFOHL, Louis. (Dubuque, IA, Mar. 31, 1903-New York, NY, July 26, 1986). Pfohl grew up just east of the DUBUQUE COUNTY COURTHOUSE through the first part of his college career. He attended ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY and completed his college education at the Armor Institute of Technology (Illinois Institute of Technology) in Chicago. While working for a Chicago architecture and engineer firm, he attended law school at night and received his degree. (1) In 1930 he moved to New York to work for the well known Holabird and Root architectural firm. Otis Elevator Company soon asked his to direct its designing department. (2)
Pfohl was part of the designing tea for the famous Sky Ride at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. Focusing on the design and installation of escalators which were becoming popular, Pfohl designed, sold and installed the escalator in the Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center in New York. Closer to home, he was hired by the Rhomberg family to be the designer and architect for the Rhomberg fur store in Davenport and then the store in Dubuque. (3)
Pfohl, one of Dubuque's most successful land developers, married Julia Fischer Mathis, the grand-daughter of Maria Carolina Rhomberg FISCHER. When his mother-in-law died, he purchased the business in the 1940s. It was Pfohl as president of FISCHER COMPANIES (THE) in Dubuque who diversified the company into real estate to include Fischer and Company, Inc; Fischer Investment Company; Fischer, Inc.; and Fischer Artificial Ice and Cold Storage Company. (4) Pfohl's Dubuque real estate holdings included the Fischer Building, the Julien Motor Inn (later HOTEL JULIEN DUBUQUE), Kirby Building, Fischer Apartments. (5) He assisted with the Locust Street parking ramp project and participated in urban renewal by constructing the Fischer Arcade.
In 1938, Pfohl had just left his position with Otis Elevator when he was commissioned by Lederle Laboratories to construct a transparent dome for a drug store vitamin display. Finding no one had much of an idea what to do with plastics in this way, Pfohl took advice from Monsanto Company and made a plastic model. In the development, he obtained several very good patents and invented a method to shape plastic called “thermoforming. He started a company named “Plaxall" which became, in its advertising, "the world's leading producer of thermoformed plastic products." Among its products were "blisters," the packing surrounding products like most small items hung on hooks for sale. (6)
In searching for location for his business, Pfohl visited Long Island City and realized the area would one day become linked to New York City’s continued growth. In 1950 he purchased property on 46th Avenue in the Hunters Point section of Long Island City. Plaxall operated a factory at this same location for over 50 years. In addition to the factory operations, Pfohl also began purchasing and renovating older properties in the area.
Locally Pfohl served as a member of the board of AMERICAN TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK. In 1948 he was among those who filed incorporation papers for the Mathis-Pfohl Foundation. This was organized to "engage in and support charitable, scientific, religious, literary and educational activities. Also listed as purposes were "to foster and promote the science and art of medicine, extend relief to the poor and indigent, and to distribute income to other organizations" with similar purposes. (7) He was honored with the naming of the Louis Pfohl Health Science Library for MERCY HEALTH CENTER. (8)
One of the many properties Pfohl purchased in Dubuque was the Julien Motor Inn. The historic site had been owned locally until 1928 when the interest owned by Augustin A. COOPER was purchased by Harold Hayes of Chicago. Local residents had no idea that Hayes "investment company" was simply a "front" for the Chicago mobster, Alphonse CAPONE. (9)
William J. KLAUER and Walter E. KLAUER returned the ownership to Dubuque around 1930. Pfohl bought the property in 1962. (10) The same year he wrote to the city council expressing his belief that construction of a PARKING RAMP in the downtown area would "do more than any other action" to improve the business climate. (11)
Pfohl's ownership of the Julien and his interest in collecting art from historically rich premises came together in a spectacular fashion. He obtained eight stained glass panels from a stone staircase in a Gothic mansion in New York. It's owner, Arthur Curtis James, gained his fortune from railroads and left his $250 million estate to charity. Pfohl, tipped off to the panels by a demolition contractor, purchased the panels and had them shipped to Dubuque. Dan and Mary Gasell of the KEY CITY DECORATIVE GLASS WORKS restored them. (12) A mirror in the hotel's lobby came from the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York, an oval mirror was first used in the New York World's Fair, and the escalator that led from the Julien's back parking lot came from a racetrack outside New York. (13)
In 1967 Pfohl unveiled an extensive renovation of the building housing his bowling alley, Fischer Lanes. The building was to be renovated into an "Arcade" with shops, stores, and office space on the first three floors and the bowling alley remaining on the upper two floors. (14) In December the Dubuque City Council signed a tentative commitment promising the site of the Lincoln Building which was to be torn down as part of URBAN RENEWAL. Located next door to the Fischer Bowling Lanes building, the Lincoln Building at Eighth and Locust housed the BAYLESS BUSINESS COLLEGE and several small businesses. (15)
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Source:
1. Kirchen, Louis, "Louis Pfohl Dies of Heart Attack," Telegraph Herald, July 27, 1986, p. 1
2. "Pfohl Served as Architect," Telegraph-Herald, July 18, 1937, p. 24
3. Ibid.
4. Bulkley, John, "After 113 Years Fischer Moves to New Headquarters," Telegraph-Herald, August 10, 1969, p. 16
5. Ibid,
6. Schwar, Kathy, "Louis Pfohl: Self-Made Legend, Part Myth," Telegraph Herald, March 27, 1978, p. 1
7. "New Foundation Organized Here," Telegraph-Herald, January 8, 1948, p. 5
8. "People of Note," Telegraph Herald, January 2, 1983, p. 10
9. Hemmer, Paul, Entertaining Dubuque, The Untold Story 1900-1999 Copyright, 2019, p. 363
10. "Did Capone Own Property in Dubuque?" Telegraph Herald, February 11, 2010, p. 3
11. "Louis Pfohl Supports Building Parking Ramp," Telegraph-Herald, September 3, 1962, p. 1
12. Schwar, Kathy, "Julien Stained Windows Delight Glass Expert," Telegraph Herald, November 12 1978, p. 21
13. Schwar, "Louis Pfohl..."
14. "A Private Push for Renewal," Telegraph-Herald, April 16, 1967, p. 3
15. "Promise Lincoln Site to Pfohl," Telegraph-Herald, December 5, 1967, p. 4
"Rich History for Fischer Companies," 175 Years Volume II, Telegraph Herald, June 23, 2008
New York Times, July 30, 1986 (on-line)