Maurice John Schumacher Sr (1871 - abt. 1950)

Born 1 Dec 1871 in Roxbury, Dane, Wisconsin, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Katherine Lauretta (McNulty) Schumacher — married 23 Feb 1914 in Hennepin County, MInnesota, USA

Died about 5 Jan 1950 at about age 78 in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Joseph Schumacher [send private message]

Biography

Maurice was born in 1873. He is the son of Nicolas Schumacher and Marie Classen.^[1]

Maurice married twice, to two McNulty sisters.

Master builder Maurice Schumacher pulled himself up from carpenter’s apprentice to building industry advocate, raising lasting edifices and earning impressive credentials along the way.^[2]

Born in 1871, Schumacher spent his childhood on his family’s farm in Roxbury, Wisconsin. As a young adult, Schumacher was anxious to move to the city before his father was ready to lose a farmhand. Schumacher’s father sent him off at age 19 with $10 and a new pair of overalls, but not before Schumacher paid a man to take his place as a hand on the farm for two years.^[3]

Upon arriving in Minneapolis in 1890, Schumacher found a job as a carpenter’s apprentice. Within ten years he owned his own contracting business. From 1920 to 1929 Schumacher constructed a wide variety of buildings. His work seems to have focused upon Minneapolis, though his buildings exist throughout the upper Midwest, and he worked as far afield as Pennsylvania and New Orleans. In 1929 Schumacher abandoned his solo efforts for partnerships with other builders, first as president and general manager of Piper, Drake, and Schumacher. His more notable local works include the Foshay Tower (foundation and lower sections), the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company Building, and Vincent Hall at the University of Minnesota. Schumacher built schools, railroad structures, hospital facilities, hotels, prisons, churches, and military buildings. Schumacher smoothly moved between the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of the building industry, alone and, in second half of his career, in the company of several different business partners.^[4]

Schumacher not only had the technical savvy to maintain a successful building enterprise, he had the financial and interpersonal skills to branch out into broader aspects of the building industry. Schumacher‘s financial track record includes stints as a director of the Midland National Bank; first president of the Hennepin Federal Savings and Loan Association; and a director of the Nordblom-Christenson Company. Schumacher also possessed the charisma to serve as president of the Minneapolis Building Exchange, Minnesota Building Employers Association, and Associated General Contractors of America. When he died in 1950, Schumacher’s obituary made the front page of the Minneapolis Morning Tribune. Hailed as the “Dean of Contractors,” the seventy-nine year old Schumacher was reported to be the oldest active contractor in the city.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Entered by Joseph Schumacher, Jan 22, 2013
2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200308110653/http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@clerk/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-098798.pdf
3. ↑ “Schumacher, Builder, Dies,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, 6 January 1950, 1.
4. ↑ “Sandstone Prison Contracts Awarded,” Maurice Schumacher Biography File, James K. Hosmer Special Collections, Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis, MN; “Schumacher to Head Baker Building Firm,” Maurice Schumacher Biography File, James K. Hosmer Special Collections, Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis, MN; “Schumacher, Builder, Dies,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, 6 January 1950, 1; City of Minneapolis Building Permit #A20157, 422-428 3rd Avenue South / 218-228 South 5th Street; City of Minneapolis Building Permit #A20390, 422-428 3rd Avenue South / 218-228 South 5th Street.
5. ↑ “Named Director of Midland National Bank,” Maurice Schumacher Biography File, James K. Hosmer Special Collections, Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis, MN; “Building Employers’ Officer Elected,” Maurice Schumacher Biography File, James K. Hosmer Special Collections, Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis, MN; “Schumacher, Builder, Dies,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, 6 January 1950, 1.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Joseph Schumacher for starting this profile. The events of Maurice's life were either witnessed by Joseph Schumacher or Joseph plans to add sources here later.