Conrad Poppenhusen

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Conrad Poppenhusen, (b April 1, 1818 in Hamburg, Germany, d December 21, 1883 in New York City) like William Steinway, was of German origin and operated a successful manufacturing business in Queens, NY where he also established a workers' village. Poppenhusen's interests expanded over time from his core rubber business into other areas, in his case railroading. (4) The Steinway and the Poppenhusen families shared a common background as well business interests, especially the Blackwell Island Bridge and this also developed over time into close social ties.

Conrad Poppenhusen was born into a manufacturing family in the free city of Hamburg, Germany. After schooling and compulsory military service, his father instructed him in the whalebone manufacturing process. He married Bertha Kaerker in 1840. A year after the Great Hamburg Fire of 1842 young Poppenhusen and his wife immigrated to the United States, bringing with him the knowledge of natural whalebone manufacturing learned from his father. Once in the United States, together with a fellow German, Conrad established a partnership for the production of natural whalebone in Williamsburg, Long Island. In 1852 he secured a license to produce artificial whalebone from vulcanized rubber and in 1854 moved the operation to College Point where he built the Enterprise Rubber Works Company and began to manufacture combs and dress stays from vulcanized rubber. He and Bertha had four children between 1843 and 1850: Adolph C., Herman C., Marie, and Alfred L. (4)

Over the next twenty years Poppenhusen and his sons built the company into a very successful business while also constructing a village for his workers. On his 51st birthday he endowed the Poppenhusen Institute in College Point with $100,000 in cash and a vast area of properties to be used for social, religious, and educational purposes. (3) Like William Steinway Poppenhusen was active in the German-American business community of New York. William and Poppenhusen were jointly interested in the Blackwell Island Bridge project, (Diary, 1875-06-09) also referred to by William as the N.Y. & L. Isl. Bridge. (Diary, 1875-12-16) Along with C. F. Theodore Steinway the families enjoyed a social outing together on the steamer Mary Powell going to West Point. (Diary, 1875-09-10) Poppenhusen had served as Treasurer of the German Society from 1846 to 1848 and was a director of the Germania Life and Fire Insurance Companies and also the German-American Fire Insurance Company. (4) In 1876 Poppenhusen became President of the Long Island Railroad Company and set about consolidating the numerous competing railroads on Long Island into a single entity under his control. By late 1877 he had overextended his credit and was forced into bankruptcy proceedings due to 4 million dollars in debt. (Dairy, 1877-11-18)(1) Poppenhusen returned to Germany with his second wife, Caroline Hueterott, whom he had married in 1857, two years after Bertha's death. (4) Back in Germany, he again established a successful hard rubber manufacturing company. He frequently visited his family in New York and happened to be on board the steamship Pommerania when it was run down in dense fog by another ship and sunk with the loss of 58 lives.(5) Luckily he was one of the survivors. (Diary 1878-11-26) (4) He died during another visit to New York at his son Alfred's home. (Diary 1883-12-21) His remains were returned to the city of his birth, Hamburg (4). In 1884 the citizens of College Point, Long Island, erected a twelve foot high granite monument in honor of Conrad Poppenhusen inscribed with: POPPENHUSEN. To the Memory of the Benefactor of College Point. November 1, 1884. (2)

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Sources:

  1. Conrad Poppenhusen's Bankruptcy, The New York Times, August 4, 1878.
  2. In Honor of Conrad Poppenhusen, The New York Times, November 3, 1884.
  3. A Princely Gift, The New York Times, April 7, 1868.
  4. Schlegel, Arthur. Schlegel's German-American Families in the United States, Edition Deluxe, Volume II, The American Historical Society, New York (1917), pp. 99-105 (available on Google)
  5. A Steamship Sunk at Sea, The New York Times, November 27, 1878.