Finally got out to placing V 2.0 here as there was some major trimming at last cache. New location not far form the old one.
Information extracted from GC66JNE and "Werner and His Empire: The Rise and Fall of a Gilded Age Printer" A dissertation submitted to Kent State University By Miriam B. Kahn. City street and no homes nearby so you can cache 24/7. However, this is a high “urban camper” muggle zone just a block away. So night cache at your own risk.
Paul E. Werner was a late nineteenth century businessman who built a large printing business here in Akron. Werner was a great example of a Gilded Age immigrant who achieved the American dream, “the ideal that every citizen of the United States should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” Werner, an immigrant from Germany, came to America and had to learn English. He worked for others, then with others, and finally for himself employing others. Werner involved himself in his community as a civic leader and as a local philanthropist. He served on the boards of the library, public schools and the city hospital. He sponsored many parades and holiday celebrations, he gave back a lot to his adoptive city.
Early on, Werner rubbed elbows with Akron’s Elite; Ferdinand Schumacher, the grain merchant, O.C. Barber, the Diamond Match King, and John F. Seiberling, owned many companies and later would found Goodyear. He learned a lot from them, he hobnobbed well.
His various printing ventures were national products sold across the USA. They included the Encyclopedia Britannica, Self-Culture Magazine, and Home University League, Werner School books, and even the Werner Library with selections of world literature. All these publications represented an effort to bring culture to the masses. Education was the way to get ahead in the Gilded Age. He also dabbled in newspapers as well.
He employed hundreds of skilled laborers and had a sprawling factory complex at this cache site with many buildings. All that remain today are two old warehouses and the great Werner Castle.
Werner lost his empire in 1914 due to many legal challenges, largely dealing with new copyright laws which affected his business greatly. The blossoming labor unions didn’t help either with their demands for better conditions, better pay, and shorter work days and weeks. His company was losing money fast. He left town that same year and started a new business in Missouri, rubber! In 1927 he returned to his adoptive home of Akron to live out his last years. His pal from the early days, Seiberling, bought him a small cultural newspaper and he published that up until his death in 1931 at almost 80 years of age.
His great legacy to the city of Akron is all but lost to time. He was an important man to adoptive city, helped it grow in its early years. You can visit Paul E.Werner at historic Glendale cemetery, he lays at rest in one of the large mausoleums there. Many affluent Akronites lay near him there along Mausoleum Row.
The Werner Castle has had many owners since 1914. Today it sits vacant and is available to purchase! Own your own castle. I would love to take a look inside that castle.