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| HISTORY
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In Silesia, Prussia, (Germany), prior to 1800, Siegesmund
Uber was engaged in the family tradition of tanning. His
son, Carl Gottlieb Uber, born in Wolmsdorf, Schlessen
, (Germany) in 1819, worked with his Father as a youngster
and young man.
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| Carl continued his craft in Bolkenhain, Germany, until
1854, when he and his family immigrated to America and settled
outside Schleisingerville, WI, in an area later known as
Uberville. Here, he continued tanning for nearly 20 years.
In 1874, he moved his family and business to Hartford, WI.,
and retiring in 1882, turned the business over to his four
sons, Charles, Rudy, Richard, and Adolph. |
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| Uber Bros. Tannery, Hartford |
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| Being four of six children, and no doubt at odds with
his brothers, young Adolph Uber left the family business
to pursue the tanning industry in New York, Philadelphia,
and Chicago. In 1893, he returned to Hartford and resumed
his partnership with his brothers. In early 1904, Adolph
again sold his interests to his brothers and moved his family
West, settling in Owatonna, MN. He opened his own tannery
with initial help from his Chicago associates, selling most
of the tannery’s production to the same. The original 3
story tannery burned to the ground around 1917, and was
rebuilt as a 2 story structure. With the closing of the
Uber Brothers Tannery in Hartford in 1921, Adolph purchased
various equipment and shipped it to his tannery in Owatonna.
Here he continued operating his tannery continuously until
his retirement in 1946. |
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| Adolph Uber's Tannery, Owatonna |
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| Adolph’s son, Harley Uber, Sr., born in 1894 in Hartford,
grew up in the family business in Owatonna. After leaving
town at the age of 16, working for South Dakota Bell, and
serving in the US Army in WW I, he returned home in 1920
to join his father in the tanning trade. In the late 1920’s,
it was clear that lap robes and furs would be yielding to
leather and leather products. Toward this end, the tannery
placed additional emphasis on the leather products, and
slowly phased back production of hair on tanning. In 1931,
Harley started the Uber Glove Company in the basement of
his home. With extensive and time consuming effort, the
small hobby business was quickly growing. By 1938, with
new quarters built on an adjacent parcel, Uber Glove Company
was employing 14 people and producing in excess of 50,000
pair of gloves. Also growing was the custom line of tanning
and the related garments associated with it. Around 1940,
the tannery focused completely on glove and garment leather,
and ended its hair on tanning. |
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| Harley Uber’s son, Harley Uber, Jr., born in 1927,
could recall the production crews working in the basement
of the house. He assisted with the plant expansion of 1943
that more than doubled the square footage of the original
facility built in 1938. After serving in the US Army in
Korea in WW II, he returned to the Companies in 1949, and
assumed Presidency with Harley Uber’s death in 1963. Two
additional expansions occurred during this time in the early
1960’s. |
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| Throughout this period, the custom garment work continued
to grow to its present day product mix of an approximate
50% stock and 50% custom. |
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| Harley Uber, Jr.’s son, Harley A. Uber, III, joined
the firm in 1972, starting in the tannery beamhouse. After
a brief absence, he returned in 1979 as a full time employee
working with his Father, and succeeded him as President
in 1986. |
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| Harley A. Uber, the sixth generation of tanners, continues
the family tradition started nearly 150 years ago. Attention
to detail and dedication to quality remains the highest
priority, and a mainstay of the Company to this day. |
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