Described as “one of the most lawless and violent towns of the West,” Leadville, Colorado, hardly seems the place that would spawn a liquor dealer whose passion was giving mankind a better bowtie. Meet Carl Nollenberger, wholesale dealer in domestic and imported wines, liquors and cigars, who clearly cared about sartorial elegance among the gunslingers, miners, saloonkeepers and heavy drinkers who frequented Leadville.
In February 2, 1904, Nollenberger received a federal patent on a “necktie, especially that class of ties known as bowties.” Shown here, the purpose of his invention was to construct a cravat that could be quickly and readily attached to or detached from a neckband and reversed. Ability to reverse was key to the invention.
Nollenberger apparently had been noticing that his fellow Leadville denizens who wore ties frequently continued to sport them even when they became soiled. Obviously a frugal man, he envisioned the wearer “carrying the former-front soiled face to the back and the rear unsoiled face to the front.” Voila! The wearer seemingly instantly would be transformed from slob to haberdashery hero.
Of course, such a bowtie needed, Nollenberger said, “simple, economic and conveniently manipulating fastening devices.” Predictably, the same day he received another patent on just such a fastener, one specifically designed to hold his bowtie. Shown here it had “wings” to be slipped under the collar but in case those too were dirty and unsightly, they also could be reversed to present new (and clean) surface and the loops for the wings similarly could be refreshed.
Unlike many inventors whose bright ideas seem to have fallen into a void, Nollenberger’s neckties were publicized in a prominent haberdashery journal of the time called “The Clothier and Furnisher.” In its February 1904 issue the publication took note of both the whiskey man’s patents and suggested the illustrations and specifications for each could be obtained by sending ten cents to a Washington, D.C., “counselor in patent causes.”
Although no indication exists that his brainchild ever went into commercial production, we assume Nollenberger wore a bowtie over much of his career. Born in Germany in 1856, his date of entry into the U.S. and his age at arrival are lost in time. He likely was living in the Eastern U.S. and working as a bookkeeper. About 1888, at the age of 36, Nollenberger married another German immigrant, a woman of the same age named Hermine. They would have two children.
Nollenberger’s marriage may have one of the reasons he headed west to Colorado. Leadville was a likely stopping place. By 1880, three years after the town was founded, Leadville was one of the world's largest and richest silver camps, with a population of more than 15,000 — ballooning to over 30,000. Income from more than thirty mines and ten large smelting works produced gold, silver, and lead amounting to $15,000,000 annually (25 times that today). Wealth was rolling around the town, attracting both the genteel and the rowdy. Another Nollenberger named Ed, almost certainly a relative, already had a thriving liquor house operating in Leadville.
Carl does not appear to have worked for his kinsman, rather he hired on with Ernest Keppler, a liquor dealer then doing business at 603 Harrison Street, a major north-south commercial avenue shown above that ran the length of the city. A Keppler flask is shown here with that address. By 1890 Keppler had moved from that location across the street to 606 Harrison. Nollenberger was listed as his bookkeeper. Some have speculated that he also was working as a bartender.
The 1891 Leadville directory suggests a major situational change. Now Carl was running the former Ed Nollenberger wholesale liquor house and saloon in partnership with Ed’s widow, located at the 603 Harrison Street address. The business name had been changed to Carl Nollenberger & Co. as the German immigrant launched his own operation. The arrangement with the widow would be sustained, according to directories, until 1907 when Carl became the sole proprietor. 
Nollenberger was buying whiskey by the barrel from a number distilling sources and decanting it into smaller ceramic jugs. As shown here, they included containers entirely in Bristol glaze with his name stenciled in black on the front and others in beehive shape with Albany slip tops and natural stoneware bodies. These would have been provided to Leadville saloons that would further have decanted the whiskey for sales over the bar.
Nollenberger also was a major distributor of beer, including brews made by the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company. His 1901 Leadville newspaper ad, likely subsidized by the St. Louis brewery, extolls the “lagering” capacity of Anheuser-Busch. Unlike other dealers, however, Nollenberger was not a “captive house,” unable to sell other kinds of beer. Other ads also mention Nollenberger a sole Leadville agent for the Coors’ Brewery in Golden, Colorado, and the Tivoli brewery in Denver.
As a wholesaler, Nollenberger was aware of the requirement to provide giveaway items to his prime customers — saloons, hotels,and restaurants. For one of his gifts he repaired to Coshocton, Ohio, and the Meek-Beach Company known for its ability to do color lithographs on metal plates. Termed by the manufacturers “Vienna Art Plates,” the items made excellent change trays. The donor also could advertise on the back. Measuring ten inches in diameter, Nollenberger’s tray featured a Rubenesque, lightly clothed young woman, a stock image from Meek-Beach.
The 1910 census found the Nollenberger family living at 328 Sixth Street in Leadville, including Carl, wife Hermine, and children, Carl Jr., 17, and Elsie, 13. Nollenberger’s mother, Eliza, also was living with them. Their home was located not far from the liquor house. By this time the boom that had created the second largest city in Colorado had ended. Leadville declined severely in population with the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 that had underwritten silver prices. Many liquor dealers and saloon keepers went elsewhere as the population dropped year by year to the present 2,600.
Despite the diminishing market for his alcoholic wares, Nollenberger stayed in Leadville, operating his liquor business for a quarter century. In 1916, however, Colorado joined the group of states that declared a complete prohibition on the making or sale of alcohol. Nollenberger was forced to shut down his business. Within a short period, the family moved to Denver where Carl, now 62 years old, appears to have retired, residing in the modest bungalow shown above.
Nollenberger lived to see National Prohibition imposed and subsequently repealed, along with Colorado’s “dry” laws. He died in October 1942 at the age of about 86 and was buried in Block 8, Lot 113, of Denver’s Riverside Cemetery, shown above. Other family members are buried adjacent to him. Thinking of his interment, it would have been appropriate if Nollenberger had been buried wearing one of his reversal bow ties.
No comments:
Post a Comment