Los Angeles
County
Biographies
ADOLPH
HELIODOR KOEBIG
Widely
known by reason of his engineering work, which has been of an important
character, Adolph H. Koebig is practicing as a consultant in Los Angeles, where
he has maintained an office for a period of thirty-three years. An American by adoption, he was born in Mettlach, Prussia, May 17, 1852, and attended the Carlsruhe Gymnasium until his graduation in 1869, when he
entered the military service of his country.
He rose to the rank of lieutenant of artillery and of the engineering
corps and was an officer of the Prussian Army for six years. On resuming the status of a civilian he
enrolled as a student at the University of Carlsruhe
and in 1877 was graduated from the polytechnic department of that
institution. For three years thereafter
he was engaged in the building of roads and canals and the construction of
railroads in Germany and Alsace-Lorraine for the government.
As
a member of the first American baseball team in Germany, Mr. Koebig became
interested in the United States, and eventually decided to come to this
country, applying for a leave of absence for six years. On obtaining it he sailed for America with
his bride, Miss Helene Kieffer, whom he had married
January 31, 1880, and later on May 19, 1880, they landed at New York City. For six months after his arrival in this
country Mr. Koebig superintended the building of furnaces in New York for large
smelting works of Leadville, Colorado, and then came west to Denver, Colorado,
where he became identified with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad as first
assistant to the chief engineer. He was
given charge of the southern division of that road. Later he was made chief engineer of an
extensive mining corporation, which position he held until 1884, when he made a
brief visit to his native land. In December
of that year he returned to the United States and applied for his citizenship
papers, receiving the first in 1885 and the final papers in 1888.
During
1884 and 1885 Mr. Koebig had charge of development work in the iron mines of
northern Michigan and in the latter year came to California as manager of a silver mine for the Calico Mining & Reduction
Company. In 1886 he was appointed
assistant to the chief engineer of the Santa Fe Railroad at San Bernardino and
later was city engineer there. In San Bernardino
he began the private practice of his profession, specializing in municipal,
irrigating and mining engineering. He
remained in that city until 1900, when he located permanently at Los Angeles,
and soon became well established as a consulting engineer. He was alone until 1910, when he was joined
by his son, A. H. Koebig, Jr., in a partnership relation that has existed for
twenty-three years. Mr. Koebig has been
connected with irrigation and sewer projects and hydro-electric corporations
throughout the state, and was consulting engineer for Los Angeles and other
cities. He has frequently been called
upon for expert testimony in important litigation, his opinion upon engineering
questions being considered authoritative.
In
his home life Mr. Koebig is most happily situated. His wife was born in Luxemburg, Germany, the
daughter of a burgomaster whose family was one of the oldest and most prominent
in Luxemburg. Mr. and Mrs. Koebig have
three sons. The eldest, Dr. W. C. S.
Koebig, received the B. S. degree from the University of Southern California and
also graduated from the medical school of that institution. He went to Arizona as a member of the
surgical staff of the Santa Fe Railroad.
On returning to California he passed the state examination and became
resident surgeon for the Santa Fe Railroad at Riverbank, holding the position
for two and a half years. He then went
east for post-graduate work but in the meanwhile the nation became involved in
the World War and he enlisted in the United States Army. He was sent to Bordeaux, France, to take
charge of the orthopedic section of base hospital No. 88 and during this period
of service was promoted to the rank of captain.
On his return to America he was honorably discharged and resumed the
practice of his profession in Los Angeles.
Adolph H. Koebig, Jr., the second son, was graduated from the Harvard
Military School, after which he attended the University of Southern California
and Leland Stanford University, completing his studies in Amherst College of
Massachusetts. On his return to Los
Angeles he was employed as assistant location and construction engineer by
various water and power companies in irrigation districts, in the building
department of the city of Los Angeles, and the good roads department of the
country of Los Angeles. With this
valuable experience he entered his father’s office as a partner, a connection
that has since been maintained. He married
Gladys Felt, of Los Angeles, and they have one child, Helene Mary. Kurt J., the youngest son, also matriculated
in the Harvard Military School, next attending the University of Southern
California for two years, and was afterward a student at Stanford
University. He left that institution
before the completion of his course to enter the National Bank of California at
Los Angeles and later was purchasing agent for the Silver Lake Power and
Irrigation Company. Resigning that
position, he joined the staff of employees of the Security National Bank of Los
Angeles, subsequently becoming connected with the Bank of Italy, and is now
credit manager for Barker Brothers. He
married Edna Hauerwaass and three children were born
to them: Frederick, Jack and Jane, the
latter deceased. Mrs. Kurt J. Koebig
died in July, 1933.
With
his family Mr. Koebig worships in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in
politics he is a Republican. Although a
busy man, he has always found time to devote to the interests of his city and
county and his support can ever be counted upon in the furtherance of projects
for the general good. His public spirit
is effectively expressed as a member of the Municipal League and the Los
Angeles Chamber of Commerce. He belongs
to the California and Los Angeles Country clubs and Mrs. Koebig is a member of
the Ebell Club. Keenly interested in
philanthropic work, she is a director of a number of charitable associations of
Los Angeles. At the time of the World
War she was active in Red Cross work and promoted the sale of Liberty
bonds. Mr. Koebig served as president of
the German Red Cross Relief Society of southern California but resigned from
that organization when the United States joined the Allies, and during the
remainder of the war he was a director of the local Red Cross and chairman of
the committee in charge of the War Savings Stamp campaign in this city. He is a member of the Engineers and
Architects Society of Southern California, which he represented as president
for three years, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and was the
first president of the Allied Technical Societies of California. Mr. Koebig has long been accounted one of the
foremost representatives of his profession in this part of the state and
although eighty-one years of age he remains in active practice, continuing a
useful and influential factor in the world’s work.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 567-570,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
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BIOGRAPHIES