HORNLEIN BROTHERS

 

HORNLEIN BROS.-The history of California for the past forty years brings into prominence the careers of many men whose fortunes have been entirely built up in a brief period of time within her borders, yet the statement applies particularly to the time immediately following the discovery of gold, and the building of the Pacific Railroad.  However, more recent years furnish some remarkable examples of a similar character, with the exception that now business sagacity and foresight, and not luck or chance, are the most important factors.  A case in point is that of the Hornlein Bros., of Sacramento.  Max Edward and Hugo A. Hornlein, twin brothers, were born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December 12, 1859, their parents being Emil G. and Amelia (Price) Hornlein, both of whom were natives of Saxony, who came to America at the age of seventeen and sixteen years respectively, and were married at Milwaukee.  Emil G. Hornlein commenced the carriage-painting trade there.  In 1869 he came to California.  In 1870, one year after the transcontinental railroad was completed, he went to Harry Bernard, of Sacramento, and there displayed his wonderful mastery of his trade (with him an art).  He painted the representation of the battle of Bunker Hill on the cannon "Union Boy," which captured the prize at the State fair.  The gun is now an object of much interest at the Mare Island Navy Yard.  Of course such proficiency was not required in his carriage-painting business, but, added to being a natural artist, he had cultivated his tastes in that direction in his native land.  He went from Sacramento to Woodland, and started in business for himself, and with such success that his trade required the employment of from ten to twenty-five men the year round.  He is now a resident of the vicinity of Santa Cruz, where he is a fruit-grower.  Of his twenty children (of whom six were twins) eleven are yet living.  When Max E. and Hugo A. Hornlein had reached the age of fourteen years, they went to work in a hotel, but at the same time carried on their education by attending night school.  M. E. was night clerk and H. A. on the day watch, but both did duty in the dining room.  In 1880 they came to Sacramento, went to work in the Central Hotel, and were there and at the State House Hotel about two years.  M. E. then went to Woodland to learn the carriage-painting trade, his brother finding another place at the Pacific Oyster House.  Three weeks later Mrs. Sharp,the lessee of the Central House, went to Woodland to persuade M. E. to come back to Sacramento and take the dining-room and bar of the hotel, offering the privilege for a $100 a month, rent to be free the first month if enough was not taken in to justify the payment of the agreed amount.  After a conference between the brothers they agreed to give the proposition a trial.  They had by this time saved up $500 apiece from their work.  When they took charge the house had but a small business, yet within a month it had 100 boarders, and was full to its utmost capacity, and it is needless to say Mrs. Sharp got her first month's rent.  Her lease ran out within a year.  No one had ever made money there, and the last lessees had lost $4,000 in trying to make the house profitable.  The proprietor of the building, Mr. Watt, came to the Hornlein Bros. three months before the expiration of the lease to have a talk with them.  They wanted to lease the house for five years, but Mr. Watt told them he did not wish to make a further lease.  He said, as they were the only parties who had ever made money there, he would make them a proposition.  This was, that they should purchase the property for $18,000.  Mr. Watt said they could pay him $4,000 in cash, and the balance in payments extending over seven years, without interest.  They accepted, and writings were drawn up by which they were to pay him $166.67 per month for seven years.  They continued to make such payments until the fall of 1888, when they took a clear bill to the house, with a mortgage of $4,000 on it.  The bargain was made March 10, 1882, and in the meantime they had started in the land business.  They filed on some land in Fresno and Tulare counties, and bought a section of land at the town of Traver, paying $6,400 cash for it, or $10 an acre.  They kept that section a year and three months, then sold it to McCall & Co. for $27.50 an acre, clearing $13,000 on the transaction, and investing the profits in Lassen County.  Hornlein Bros. now own five-sixteenths of a tract of land in that county consisting of 14,000 acres, their partner in that tract being ex-Surveyor General J. W. Shanklin, and their investment in it, with improvements, now amounting to $17,000.  It is devoted to stock-raising.  They keep a complete set of books in which they can tell their financial position at any moment, and every year a balance sheet is drawn up, each year showing a wonderful advancement over the last, so that they now have close to $100,000 on their side of the ledger.  When the short space of time in which this result has been accomplished is considered, the fact seems little short of marvelous.  Max E. Hornlein was married April 28. 1884, to Miss Jennie E. Pulaski, a native of Sacramento, and daughter of August and Louisa Pulaski.  He is a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge and of the Division, in which he is Sentinel.  He is a member of the Central Committee of the Republican party for Sacramento County.  H. A. Hornlein is a Democrat politically.  He is a member of the Knights of Pythias also.