I have been facinated by the life of Paul Werner… a major contributor to the business history of Akron. The reason I’m interested in him is because he was a man of values… values which ultimately caused the ruin of his company.
As a business owner you have to hope that your values will not be the demise of your creation. But when push comes to shove what do you wish more: the death of your business or your integrity? He chose the death of his business and I respect that.
He built one of the more interesting buildings in Akron. You can see a picture of it here http://www.jfgood.com/. It’s on the corner of Perkins and Union here in Akron.
It’s on the register of historic places:
Werner Company Building (added 1976 - Building - #76001533)
Summit County - 109 N. Union, Akron
(less then 1 acres, 1 building)
And here is an article from the Beacon that gives a great rundown of his life:
Posted on Mon, Sep. 05, 2005
No longer in print
Grand castle is towering reminder of Paul E. Werner’s vanquished publishing empire in Akron
By Mark J. Price
Beacon Journal staff writer
Every few months, almost like clockwork, the question arrives. By phone, letter or e-mail, Beacon Journal readers make a familiar request at the cluttered desk of “This Place, This Time”:
• “I would like to know the history of the red brick building on the corner of Perkins and Union in Akron. Do you have any information?”
• “I have always been curious about the castlelike building on the corner of Perkins and Union. Do you know its history and what it is being used for now?”
• “When I come downtown, from the north, I’m always fascinated by the brick building at the corner of Perkins and Union. Do you think it would be possible to do an article on this building?”
Well, today is the day.
Many have ventured guesses about the origin of the structure. To set the record straight: It was never a mansion, school, church or fire station.
It was an office building.
Not just any office building. It was “the most complete and perfect office building in this city.”
The brick castle at Perkins and North Union streets is a towering reminder of a publishing empire. It is all that remains of an 11-building complex that was once “the world’s greatest printing plant.”
Before the rubber industry gained traction in Akron, the Werner Printing & Lithograph Co. — with about 1,500 workers — was the city’s largest employer.
German native Paul E. Werner was 16 years old when he immigrated to America in 1867. He worked as a clerk and bookkeeper at several Akron stores until he found his calling. In 1873, he entered journalism as an editorial writer for the Akron Germania newspaper. His editor was a Jewish rabbi.
The German-language publication was popular in the growing town. In those days, nearly one-third of Akron’s population was fluent in German. Werner liked the print business so much that he bought the
newspaper a year later and became publisher.
An empire grew. In the 1870s, he founded the Sunday Gazette and Akron Tribune newspapers. He also launched a commercial printing enterprise that soon occupied most of his time.
In 1884, Werner quit the newspaper business — although he would return a decade later as the financial backer of the Akron Journal in 1896. (He is credited with proposing the Journal’s successful merger a year later with the Summit County Beacon.)
Werner preferred to concentrate on making high-quality books. He built a printing plant in 1886 at the northwest corner of Union and Perkins, and established sales offices across the country. Eventually, he opened branches in 20 countries.
Among the gold-leafed titles the Werner Co. published in Akron were Webster’s Dictionary, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Americana, the Waldorf Cook Book, the White House Cook Book and World’s Best Literature. By the mid-1890s, the plant was producing 10,000 volumes a day, or enough to fill six train cars.
Werner’s reputation spread throughout the world and he became acquainted with such diverse luminaries as President William McKinley, Buffalo Bill Cody, French painter James Tissot, German Count Ferdinand Zeppelin and Queen Victoria.
One of them served as a convenient excuse to build offices.
Werner announced in October 1896 that the company was planning an administration building on the northeast corner of Union and Perkins, directly across from the printing plant.
“The office structure will be started immediately after the election of McKinley for the simple reason that we know that confidence will undoubtedly be restored and business prosperity will be the result,” he announced. “We will be then justified in making important changes of this sort, and undertaking new ventures and enlargements of business.”
McKinley won.
Ground was broken Feb. 4, 1897, on a $25,000 building (about $685,839 today). Hugin Brothers of Cleveland constructed the three-story German castle, a red-brick structure with white sandstone trimming, gable roofs, wide stone steps, an arched entrance and large oak doors. A four-story clock tower stood at the corner.
Work was done by August. A staff of 150 men and women moved in that September.
“The lobby is magnificent,” the Beacon Journal reported Sept. 25, 1897. “It is finished in oak, stained to a dark color, but still showing the natural grain of the wood. The floor is of mosaic tile. A centerpiece attracts attention. It is a design showing various emblems of the primitive printing art. A motto reads `Knowledge is Power.’ ”
Oak beams formed square patterns on the ceiling, which was decorated in gold and silver leaf and depicted coats of arms from nations of the world.
The first floor contained offices for President Werner, Treasurer George C. Berry, bookkeeping, printing and lithographing, the book department and the phone exchange.
An oak stairway led to second-floor offices for auditing, collections, magazines and encyclopedias. The third floor was an attic. The basement had the mail room, supplies, stenography department and a boiler that provided steam heat for the building. There were also fireproof vaults to protect books and plates.
“The structure is withal the most complete and perfect office building in this city,” the Beacon Journal declared.
Life was going well for Werner, who was by now a multimillionaire. High society turned out for extravagant parties at his West Market Street mansion. A great benefactor of the city, he led downtown parades and set up fireworks displays on his lawn to entertain crowds.
In 1904, he built the Deutsches Haus, better known as German-American Musical Hall, at 44 E. Exchange St., the present site of the Beacon Journal.
But the Werner empire began to crumble in 1908, when Encyclopaedia Britannica filed a lawsuit alleging trademark violation. The London company claimed that Werner had lost the rights to encyclopedias but was still producing volumes. It demanded a permanent injunction.
“It is a case of malicious prosecution,” Werner said. “All of the charges are absolutely untrue, and will be answered in due time by the Werner company.”
Britannica sued Werner in all 20 of the nations in which he did business. He hired high-profile attorneys and won virtually every case, but the litigation cost him more than $1 million.
In 1910, his business collapsed. Werner filed for bankruptcy and was forced to sell the 11-building complex in Akron.
Superior Printing & Lithographing Co. moved into the plant and remained there until 1940. The Pflueger Corp., famous for making fishing tackle, occupied the factory until it closed in 1969. Famous Supply Co. used the building until it was destroyed in a 1977 fire.
Meanwhile, the old office building served as the home of the Fred Reese Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars from 1957 until 1972. In the mid-1970s, it served as the Haunted Castle at Halloween.
Today, it’s the corporate office building for Famous Enterprises, a wholesale distributor for plumbing, heating and cooling and construction industry supplies in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Paul E. Werner left Akron in 1915 and opened a rubber factory in Kansas City. The German native lost his financial backing, though, when he announced his opposition to the U.S. entry into World War I. The business folded by 1925.
In 1927, with most of his wealth lost, he returned to Akron and received a hero’s welcome. F.A. Seiberling held a big party for him at Stan Hywet.
“It’s nice to be back home,” Werner told the crowd.
Seiberling arranged one more surprise. He purchased the Akron Germania newspaper and reinstalled Werner as editor.
The publisher’s life had come full circle.
Werner was 80 years old when he died Feb. 6, 1931, of Bright’s disease. Akron’s elite packed the funeral. The industrialist was buried in the Werner vault at Glendale Cemetery.
Only a few weeks earlier, Werner gave a final interview to journalist John A. Botzum.
“If you ever have to write the story, put two different columns side by side,” he told Botzum. “Let one of them be for the good things Paul E. Werner has done. The other for the foolish things.
“I believe the column of good things will be longer than the other column.”
The castle at Union and Perkins is one of those good things.
Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3769 or send e-mail to mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.