JOSEPH MAIER

Los Angeles County

Biographies

JOSEPH MAIER

MAIER, JOSEPH (deceased), Los Angeles, California, was born in Bavaria, Germany, 1851. In 1875, while residing in Leavenworth, Kan., he married Mary Schmidt. They had two sons, J. Fred Maier (deceased), and Edward R. Maier. Mr. Maier died at Los Angeles, July 12, 1905.

Mr. Maier was one of the upbuilders of Los Angeles, who went to that city in its early days when it was little more than a village and saw it rise to the proportions of a great city. He was one of the most enterprising of its citizens, and has left an enduring business monument behind him.

He was educated in Germany, and there grew to manhood. There he also learned the brewer’s trade. When about twenty years old he came to the United States, like so many young Germans, because of his love of freedom and his distaste for the oppressive aristocratic traditions of the native land.

He began to work his way West immediately on his arrival in the United States, and in a few months was at Leavenworth, Kan., working at his trade. There he remained until 1875, when he went to California. He delayed a few months at San Francisco, but in the same year was offered a position, which he accepted, by the New York Brewery, located on Third street, between Main and Spring streets, Los Angeles.

The town was growing rapidly, and the enterprise of Mr. Maier kept pace with its growth. He was not content to remain in the employ of others. With his limited savings he had a chance to buy out the Malmstedt interests in the Philadelphia Brewery, another brewing company of Los Angeles, and he at once took the management of the plant.

The property was of no great importance when he took it up, but under his experienced management it grew rapidly, more than keeping pace with the growth of the community, until 1893, when he became one of the incorporators of a new company, the Maier & Zobelein Co., which took over the property and began enlargements on an ambitious scale.

Up to 1905, the year of his death, the plant had grown until it covered many acres of ground in the industrial section of Los Angeles. It was then one of the biggest breweries on the Pacific Coast and employed hundreds of men. The company had established branch houses over many of the Western states, including Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and California, and even in Old Mexico. It had a complete array of buildings, ranging from two to six stories in height, with clarifying cellars, bottling plant, stables, garage, stock houses, blacksmith shops, paint shops, malt houses, laboratories, malt kilns, mill houses, brew house, malt elevators, refrigerating cellars, carpenter and cooper shops, and all the other essentials of a modern plant. In each department he had the most improved machinery. The plant alone was an asset worth millions of dollars.

The conduct of the brewery did not monopolize all his time or capital. He sought investments of the most substantial order; ones that proved of the greatest benefit to himself, and, as well, to the community where he had made his vast fortune. He was one of the organizers and president of the L. A. County Improvement Co., which laid out Chutes Park, one of the great places of recreation of his city, and successfully conducted this enterprise, much to the pleasure of the Los Angeles public, to the end of his career.

During the last ten years of his life he lived in a beautiful home at the corner of Figueroa and Sixteenth streets, in one of the most attractive residential sections of Los Angeles.

In the year 1903 he took a respite from business, and with his family made a seven months’ tour of Europe. He visited with especial interest the country of his ancestry and the site of his birth, in Bavaria.

He was a man much beloved for his generous impulses, and many in less fortunate circumstances have had reason to revere his memory for the innumerable acts of kindness which he had shown them.

He belonged to many societies and clubs. He joined the Order of the Masons in Los Angeles, becoming a member of the Los Angeles Lodge No. 42. He was also a member of the Consistory, and of Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He belonged to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a member of the Recreation Gun Club, of the Turnverein, and of the Germania Club. He held a membership in the National Association of Stationary Engineers.

After the death of Mr. Maier, in 1905, his two sons took up the conduct of the great business which he had established and for the management of which they had been especially qualified.

J. Fred Maier, the eldest son, became the president of the institution, but after his death, in 1909, the sole surviving son, Edward R. Maier, became president of the company and all of the allied properties included in the estate.

Transcribed 11-16-11 Marilyn R. Pankey.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 853, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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