Title: Meyer and Finck Realty Company Records
Inclusive Dates: 1885-1918

Creator:

• Meyer and Finck Realty Company (Milwaukee, Wis.)

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss A

Quantity: 8.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes and 79 volumes)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Business records of a Milwaukee real estate firm operated from about 1892 to 1896 by Willis A. Meyer and Otto A. Finck, consisting of correspondence and ledgers, cash books, journals, and miscellaneous business record books of the company and similar record books of various subsidiary land companies. The correspondence relates to the sale of real estate, agency work for property owners, collections, commissions, land speculation at Trinidad, Colorado, and operations of fifteen subsidiary land companies, such as Milwaukee Central Land Company and Crown Land Company. Several volumes relate to the Phoenix Suspender Company of which Frank was an assignee.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil0000a

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The Milwaukee firm, Meyer and Finck Realty Company, was a partnership between two prominent businessmen of that city, Willis A. Meyer and O. A. Finck, during the latter years of the 19th century. In almost all instances, correspondence and other papers of the company are signed by O. A. Finck, who was secretary-treasurer. Advertising copy submitted February 9, 1893, for publication by the Standard Guide Company of Chicago reads, in part, as follows:

MEYER & FINCK:-- The town-builders of Milwaukee. The firm is to Milwaukee what S. E. Gross & Co. is to Chicago. In the development of residence and manufacturing suburbs it has achieved well earned celebrity. The firm of Meyer & Finck has been identified with the inception and growth of those flourishing suburbs, North Milwaukee, South Milwaukee, and Cudahy, suburbs in which the most careful of capitalists and wage earners here made profitable investments. There are bound to grow up around Milwaukee as there has grown around Chicago, suburbs which will offer not only equal but better inducements to investors than city property, for the chances and certainties of rapid growth are strongly in favor of the outlying residence and manufacturing towns. North Milwaukee is only one and one half miles distant from the city, Cudahy three miles, and South Milwaukee six miles....

There are indications that the two partners were interested in varied enterprises, but the papers in the collection relate almost entirely to the real estate business, including the records of 15 related land companies. The activities of these related companies were directed toward acquisition of acreage for subdivision into lots for sale to the public. Records of these companies include minute books, journals, ledgers, stock certificate books, and lot books. In ordinary real estate transactions the partnership acted as agent for the sale, purchase, and lease of property in the Milwaukee area. In cooperation with real estate agents in other cities Meyer and Finck was instrumental in effecting transactions with out of town buyers and sellers.

Sales of city lots in Trinidad, Colorado, to purchasers in Milwaukee periodically occupied the attention of Meyer and Finck. A letter from Sol H. Jaffa to O. A. Finck, September 30, 1890, discusses their negotiations for the sale of a steel rolling mill at Trinidad. Five letters in December 1890, and January, 1891, relate to the proposed purchase of a street car line, and a letter dated April 10, 1891, from the Victor Coal Company gives an estimated cost for the installation of water mains in the city of Trinidad.

A Meyer and Finck letter to the Plankington Bank, April 14, 1893, stated that its subsidiary, the Burleigh Land Company, had declared a six per cent dividend. But that same year, September 19, 1893, the company answered the inquiry of John D. Decker as to the possibility of selling shares of the company's stock by saying, “We can only answer by saying that gold dollars can not be sold for 100 cents at this writing. Five banks and a number of concerns have failed, and things look very blue....” However, in a letter to Rudolph Nunnemacher, March 16, 1894, requesting a 15,000 dollar loan on 200 lots in South Milwaukee, the company told of having sold 200 lots in the same subdivision at prices from 250 to 900 dollars, for an average of 425 dollars.

According to a letter by O. A. Finck, April 5, 1897, the directors of the company were calling for settlement of outstanding accounts so they could wind up the affairs of the company. The letter did not give any reason why the business was being terminated. Records show, however, that the affairs of some related companies were not settled finally until 1907 or later.

Four volumes in this collection are records of the Phoenix Suspender Company, of which O. A. Finck was appointed Assignee in 1896. Volume 26 contains, in addition to records of Meyer and Finck Realty Company for 1892 and 1896, a series of entries for the Milwaukee County Chair Factory for the year 1918. The chair factory was part of the Milwaukee County of correctional institutions.

Acquisition Information

Presented March 18, 1937, by William H. Momsen through the U.S. Works Progress Administration - Historical Records Survey.

Processing Information

Processed by Frank DeLoughery, March, 1963.

	Series: Meyer and Finck Realty Company
	Correspondence
Box   1	1888 Feb. 13 - 1892 Dec. 30
Box   2	1893 Jan. 3 - 1907 June 24
	Letterbooks
Volume   1	1885 Mar. 27 - 1895 Apr. 3
Volume   2	1890 Dec. 15 - 1891 Dec. 17
Volume   3	1891 Dec. 17 - 1892 May 26
Volume   4	1892 July 10 - Oct. 25
Volume   5	1892 Oct. 27 - 1893 Mar. 3
Volume   6	1893 Mar. 7 - May 4
Volume   7	1893 May 5 - Sept. 30
Volume   8	1893 Oct. 30 - 1894 Aug. 9
Volume   9	1894 Aug. 9 - 1895 Apr. 27
Volume   10	1895 Apr. 26 - 1896 Mar. 4
Volume   11	1896 Mar. 6 - Oct. 26
Volume   12	1896 Oct. 26 - 1897 May 24
Volume   13	1897 May 25 - Dec. 28
	Journals
Volume   14	1890 Nov. 1 - 1892 Dec. 31
Volume   15	1893 Jan. 4 - Apr. 10
Volume   16	1893 Apr. 10 - 1896 Apr. 4
	Ledgers
Volume   17	1890 - 1892
Volume   18	1893
Volume   19	Index, 1893
Volume   20	1893 - 1896
	Cash Books
Volume   21	1892 May 6 - Dec. 31
Volume   22	1892 Dec. 17 - Dec. 31
Volume   23	1893 Jan. 1 - Apr. 12
Volume   24	1893 Apr. 10 - 1896 Apr. 1
Volume   26	1896 Note: Also includes Payments Due, 1892 Apr. - Dec.; and Milwaukee Chair Factory accounts, 1918.
Volume   25	Bills Receivable, 1893 July 1 - 1894 Aug. 1
Volume   27	Lot Book, 1891 - 1892 Scope and Content Note: Re: Badger Subdivision, Climax Subdivision, Fuller - Warren Heights, Green's Addition, Milwaukee Central Subdivision, and Miniature Land Company.
Volume   28	Sales Book, 1893 Apr. 1 - 1895 Sept. 25
	Payment Book (Individual Sales)
Volume   29	A - M, 1893
Volume   30	N - Z, 1893
	Series: Burleigh Land Company	⇧
Volume   31	Journal, 1891 May 27 - 1897 July 29
Volume   32	Ledger, 1891 - 1897
Volume   33	Stock Ledger, 1891 - 1896
Volume   34	Stock Certificate Book, 1891 - 1896
	Series: City Investment Company	⇧
Volume   35	Minute Book, 1795 Feb. 4 -July 25
	Series: Climax Land Company	⇧
Volume   36	Minute Book, 1892 Feb. 12 - 1896 Feb. 27
Volume   37	Journal, 1892 Mar. 24 - 1897 Mar. 24
Volume   38	Ledger, 1892 - 1897
Volume   39	Stock Ledger, 1892 - 1897
Volume   40	Stock Certificate Book, 1892 - 1895
	Series: Combination Land Company	⇧
Volume   41	Stock Ledger, 1893 - 1896
Volume   42	Stock Certificate Book, 1892 - 1895
	Series: Crown Land Company	⇧
Volume   43	Minute Book, 1891 Dec. 31 - 1893 Mar. 24
Volume   44	Journal, 1892 Jan. 18 - Nov. 4
Volume   45	Ledger, 1892 - 1893
Volume   46	Stock Ledger, 1892 - 1893
Volume   47	Stock Certificate Book, 1892 - 1893
	Series: Cudahy Improvement Company	⇧
Volume   48	Stock Ledger, 1892 Oct. - 1898 Jan.
Volume   49	Stock Certificate Book, 1892 Oct. - 1898 Oct.
	Series: Fuller - Warren Heights Company	⇧
Volume   50	Journal, 1891 Nov. 6 - 1897 Dec. 20
Volume   51	Ledger, 1891 - 1897
Volume   52	Stock Ledger, 1891 - 1895
Volume   53	Stock Certificate Book, 1891 - 1894
	Series: Globe Identity Company	⇧
Volume   54	Minute Book, 1894 Nov. - Dec.
	Series: Globe Trading Company	⇧
Volume   55	Minute Book, 1892 Aug. 29 - 1894 Sept. 12
	Series: Golden Lake Land Company	⇧
Volume   56	Minute Book, 1891 July 3 - 1895 Nov. 29
Volume   57	Journal, 1891 July 17 - 1907 May 18
Volume   58	Ledger, 1891 - 1897
	Series: Lake Avenue Land Company	⇧
Volume   59	Journal, 1892 Sept. 14 - 1895 Sept. 21
Volume   60	Ledger, 1892 Sept. - 1895 Sept.
Volume   61	Stock Ledger, 1892 - 1894
Volume   62	Stock Certificate Book, 1892 - 1894
	Series: Milwaukee Central Land Company	⇧
Volume   63	Minute Book, 1890 Oct. 7 - 1901 May 6
Volume   64	Journal, 1890 Oct. 24 - 1901 May 29
Volume   65	Ledger, 1891 - 1901
Volume   66	Bills Receivable, 1890 - 1892
Volume   67	Stock Ledger, 1890 - 1891
	Stock Certificate Books
Volume   68	1890 - 1894
Volume   69	1894 - 1899
	Series: Miniature Land Company	⇧
Volume   70	Minute Book, 1891 Nov. 9 - 1895 Feb. 20
Volume   71	Journal, 1891 Nov. 11 - 1897 Mar. 27
Volume   72	Ledger, 1891 - 1897
Volume   73	Stock Certificate Book, 1891 Nov. 27
	Series: North Milwaukee Townsite Company	⇧
Volume   74	Journal, 1893 Apr. 3 - 1896 Feb. 12
Volume   75	Ledger, 1893 - 1896
	Series: Phoenix Suspender Company	⇧
	Letterbooks
Volume   76	1894 Jan. 27 - Mar. 23
Volume   77	1894 Mar. 19 - Aug. 17
	Cash Books
Volume   78	1893 Mar. 8 - Dec. 3
Box   2 Volume   79	1893 Dec. 26 - 1896 Sept. 30
	Series: South Milwaukee Subdivision	⇧
Volume   80	Lot Book, 1893 - 1896