From First Immigrants to Household Names

By Hannes Richter

Ever since the first Austrians set foot on the North American shore, many of these immigrants have also left their mark on the American economy. The Salzburgers arrived first, landing near Savannah, Georgia in 1734. These first Austrians, expelled from their homeland in 1732 for being protestants by the Archbishop of Salzburg, Firmian, created the community of Ebenezer, just north of Savannah, where they survived under harsh conditions through subsistence farming and began to prosper by building corn and lumber mills. One member of this Ebenezer community, Johann Adam Treutlen, became the first Governor of Georgia in 1777.

Businessman and financier Anthony J. Drexel (1887-1946) with his wife Marjorie on board the steamship *New York* in 1915.
*Photo: Library of Congress*

Immigration from Europe picked up steam in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Ships provided a first lifeline for commerce between Austria and the United States during that time. In 1895, the Austrian hauler Gottfried August Schenker and the Scottish shipping merchant William Burell formed Austro-Americana Line in order to enable freight transport between Austria and North America: they were specifically aiming at supplying the Austrian textile industry. Eventually, Austro-Americana would also provide passenger service between Trieste and New York City on its liners, but commerce was at the heart of the undertaking. The company sailed to many ports in the Americas, including New Orleans, for example.

Between 1876 and 1910, some 3.5 million people migrated from the Habsburg Monarchy to the United States and their impact on the economy was significant—not only via entrepreneurship and trade, but also through hard labor: for example, between 1902 and 1911 some 7.5 percent of the population of Pittsburgh, PA came from the Habsburg Monarchy, and the vast majority of these immigrants performed grueling labor in the area’s industries like coal and steel.

During this era of mass migration from the Dual Monarchy, many immigrants also started their own businesses after arriving in the New World. Some of these companies have become household names. One prominent example is Michael Kohler, who founded what today is Kohler Co., known for plumbing fixtures, cabinetry and furniture, but also for engines and generators. Johann Kohler migrated with his family from the town of Schnepfau in Vorarlberg to Minnesota in 1864, where he began to farm. His son, Michael (one of eight children), moved to Chicago, married well, and ultimately settled in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Michael first worked in the iron industry, but soon began producing enamel ware such as pots, bath tubs, and water closets. By 1900, the Kohler Company already employed some 4,000 workers in the company town of Kohler Village, producing enameled toilets and bath tubs for the growing American middle class. His son, Walter Kohler, was elected as the twenty-sixth Governor of Wisconsin in 1929. His son, Jodok Kohler, served as the thirty-third Governor of Wisconsin from 1951 to 1957. Today, the Kohler Company employs over 40,000 people and its advertising slogan “The Bold Look of Kohler” has become synonymous with bathroom design and fixtures in the United States.

A few years earlier, in 1817, another Austrian from Vorarlberg, Franz Martin Drexel, arrived in Philadelphia on the John of Baltimore as a rather penniless painter at the age of twenty-five. Francis (he anglicized his name after his arrival) was successful as a painter and an art teacher in the United States and he soon became a naturalized citizen. After a stint in South America, Francis Martin Drexel eventually moved into finance and opened a brokerage house in Louisville, Kentucky, and a banking house in Philadelphia in 1838. Drexel was fluent in several languages and an expert in foreign currencies—he had been learning about business and currency exchange rates during his earlier travels in Europe and Latin America. So, quite unusually, his career as a journeyman painter prepared him for his later success in finance. His son, Anthony Joseph Drexel, became a partner in the company in 1847 and after Francis’ death in 1863 took over the bank and partnered with J.P. Morgan. Together, they created one of the largest banks in the world—Drexel, Morgan & Co. This history is intertwined with the beginnings of today’s JP Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States. In addition, Drexel University in Philadelphia is named after Anthony J. Drexel, who founded it in 1891. His niece, Katherine Drexel, decided to forego life in high society to become a woman of the cloth. She founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and used her considerable wealth for philanthropy. She founded dozens of schools across the United States to benefit Native- and African-Americans. In 1925, she founded Xavier University of Louisiana, the first and only Catholic and Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Katherine Drexel passed away in 1955 and her inheritance went to charity. In the year 2000, the Vatican canonized Saint Katherine, and she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011.

Another notable immigrant from this era was Schandor Herz. Born in 1879 in Szklabinya in Austria-Hungary (present-day Slovakia), his family emigrated to Chicago when he was five years old. John Daniel Hertz, as his anglicized name read, would go on to be a substantial player in the transportation industry; a well-known car rental company still carries his name today. Hertz also left his mark on the industry by founding the Yellow Cab Company and several others—among them the Chicago Motor Coach Company and the Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company—both built buses and coaches and were eventually acquired by General Motors.

The two World Wars also changed the immigration dynamic. Specifically, with the rise of National Socialism, many Jewish Austrians were forced to leave the country, and settled in the United States in significant numbers. This becomes particularly apparent in the field of arts and science, where many went on to have stellar careers in the United States. Prominent examples include Peter Drucker, often described as the founder of modern management, Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel, a neuroscientist, or Nobel Laureate Wolfgang Pauli, a physicist. The list of famous names is too long to be reproduced here.

The same is true for Austrians’ impact on Hollywood and the American film industry: connections between Vienna and Hollywood have been strong since the early days of cinema. Directors, actors, and cinematographers all left their mark on the very American art form, and Austrian composers, as is often the case, added the music: Max Steiner arrived in Hollywood in 1929 and is regarded as one of the very first composers of film music scores. He ended up composing over 300 scores, among them famous works for films like King Kong or Gone With the Wind. Steiner’s work was nominated for twenty-four Academy Awards and he won three, while also winning the first Golden Globe for Best Original Score. Actor Johnny Weissmuller from Freidorf, Austria-Hungary, became famous as Tarzan. Actress Hedy Lamarr (born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna) was only posthumously recognized for the significant contributions she made to modern technology, particularly the precursors of today’s WiFi and Bluetooth technologies. Director Billy Wilder achieved Hollywood super-stardom in the twentieth century with iconic films like Some Like it Hot, or Sunset Boulevard.

Beyond the film industry, Austrians also played a particularly notable role in the development of American winter and ski resorts; “nary an American ski resort that didn’t have Austrian involvement,” writes historian Günter Bischof. American railroad tycoon Averell Harriman pioneered the first American winter resort in Sun Valley, Idaho. An Austrian count, Felix Schaffgotsch, worked with him on site selection. What followed were a substantial number of professional Austrian skiers coming to the United States to work in and help develop these new resorts. One prominent example is Friedl Pfeiffer, who emigrated from St. Anton in Tirol to Sun Valley and was instrumental in developing it into a skiing Mecca. Many of those trained ski instructors, Naturburschen (nature boys) in body and spirit, instructed celebrities and Hollywood stars in the new sport, as did Pfeiffer, who would eventually also train the U.S. Olympic Ski Team. Celebrities flocked to the area to experience the country’s new “grand dame of ski resorts.”

Friedl Pfeiffer (left) with Elli and Fred Iselin in Aspen, CO, 1954. Austrian ski pioneers were instrumental in the development of American winter resorts.
*Photo: Lothar Ruebelt/ Austrian National Library*

Elsewhere in the United States, similar dynamics were at work: Hannes Schneider, owner of the famous ski school in St. Anton first went to work on Mount Cranmore, New Hampshire, in 1939. He, too, was instrumental in bringing Austrian instructors to the United States, who worked in new resorts being developed across the country. California’s first ski resort, Sugar Bowl, was founded in 1939 by Hans Scholl with an investment from Walt Disney, whom he had taught to ski. More resorts like Squaw Valley or Heavenly Valley followed after World War II. In Colorado, it was again Friedl Pfeiffer, who pioneered Aspen as a ski resort. Pepi Gramshammer opened a Tyrolean-style lodge, Gasthof Gramshammer, in Vail in the early 1960s; it is still open today. Gramshammer, a professional ski racer on the Austrian ski team, was initially invited to come to Vail to add legitimacy to the new resort and remained there; he passed away in 2019 at the age of 87.

These are just a few examples of how Austrians have been impacting various fields of the American business landscape over time. Many more made their contribution in many different ways—Viennese immigrant and architect Victor Gruen conceived the modern shopping mall, for example, a concept that would define decades of American consumerism, while others like Wolfgang Puck rose to fame in the culinary arts.

All these immigrants are faces that represent the history of Austrian contributions to American business, a tradition that is being carried on today by the hundreds of Austrian companies active in the United States. These mutual economic ties form the bedrock of the Austrian-American friendship, and they are beacons of the Transatlantic Economy. Looking back at these trailblazers invites us to envision the future of Austrian-American business relations.

Austrians and American Business

From First Immigrants to Household Names