San Francisco County
Biographies
ADOLPH
LEHMANN
Over the American continent and in many foreign countries Adolph Lehmann is known as the founder and sole owner of the Lehmann Printing & Lithograph Company of San Francisco, California, which is one of the largest manufacturers of labels in the world. He was born in New York city, November 28, 1878, and is a son of Max and Clara (Biesenthal) Lehmann, both of whom were born in Berlin, Germany. Max Lehmann crossed the Atlantic to the United States prior to the Civil war, and in the early ‘90s came to San Francisco. During his active career he was a hat manufacturer, but has now retired to private life. His wife, who accompanied him to this country from Germany, is now deceased. They became the parents of three sons and two daughters.
Adolph Lehmann, who was the second in order of birth in the family, received a grammar school education, and when only ten years old first knew the experience of earning his own livelihood, a circumstance which gave him a confidence and courage which benefited him during his later years of business life. His first work was that of an errand boy for the Eastman & Kimball Printing Company, with which concern he later became an apprentice and learned all the branches of the printing trade. After completing his apprenticeship training, he followed the trade of journeyman printer in San Francisco for a period of twenty years. Then in 1911, with a meager capital of one hundred and ninety dollars, but with most definite purpose and determination to succeed, he established himself in business on his own account, in the manufacture of labels.
During the two decades since 1911, Mr. Lehmann has built up one of the largest and most far-reaching businesses of its kind in the United States, and which is now conservatively valued for a half million dollars. The business is individually owned, there being no partners and no stockholders. The field which is covered by the trade of this mammoth concern comprises all of the United States and many foreign countries. Labels are the principal products of this business; labels of distinction, of artistic quality, created individually for the containers of products for which they are to be used. Fruit and vegetable packers of California and other states of the country recognize the Lehmann labels as being of superior grade, giving their products an advertising value before the public which only an attractive label could insure; a label which impresses the buyer as having been conceived and executed for the particular food or delicacy which it names. The tremendous growth of the business of Mr. Lehmann’s company may be attributed to his early recognition of this and many other singular phases of his work. His labels have sold themselves; they have carried their own recommendation without the aid of extensive advertising or numerous salesmen. From one packer to another the word has gone that the Lehmann label fulfilled a mission others did not, and as a consequence orders have poured into the San Francisco plant necessitating operation of the presses twenty-four hours each day. Mr. Lehmann maintains a permanent staff of artists who specialize on designing the labels with strict application to the product for which they are to be used. Equipment has been installed in the San Francisco plant which enables the company to fill any order, no matter how extensive, immediately. California and Florida fruit packers, salmon packers of the Pacific Northwest, Louisiana shrimp packers, wholesale grocers, vegetable packers, and numerous other types of companies and men who distribute foodstuffs to the public are the patrons of the Lehmann Printing & Lithograph Company. The plant itself, situated at 420 Fourth street in San Francisco, is constantly being enlarged, and now occupies three floors, with the most up-to-date presses and other machinery for the making of the labels. Plans are under way for the further extension of the plant facilities to accommodate the rapidly growing business. Mr. Lehmann gives his personal supervision to his business from top to bottom, managing and directing every phase of the many activities. It has been his life’s work; the methods employed are of his own invention; the individual ideas in effect are of his own creation; and he finds the keenest inspiration in witnessing the successful unfolding of the plans which he made years ago. The annual pay-roll runs in the neighborhood of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, which is indeed a far step from the days of 1911. Mr. Lehmann travels about the country in the interests of his business, giving to his efforts the results of his long experience and personal understanding. Lithographing is a profession of which he is a master, and he has shown the utmost dexterity and skill in the application of his talents to practical production. A convincing estimate of the status of the Lehmann Printing & Lithograph Company is indicated in the splendid business reports during the days of so called depression of 1931. Among other figures, it may be mentioned that overtime in some weeks at present amounts to over one thousand dollars per week in wages, and the plant is operating every hour of the day. As a business it is one of the most notable achievements in San Francisco and on the Pacific coast.
In the year 1917, Mr Lehmann was united in marriage to Miss Jessica Blumenthal, a native of San Francisco, and a daughter of Max and Rose (Heineberg) Blumenthal. To Mr. and Mrs. Lehmann there has been born a daughter, Ruth. The family resides at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
In politics, Mr. Lehmann is a republican, and he is a member of the Union League Club, the Bay City Club, Printers Club, the San Francisco Advertising Club, the Emerald Lake Country Club, and the Press Club.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 2 Pages 471-474.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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