Joseph Svoboda (Joseph Svoboda Sr.), who founded the Svoboda Church Furniture Company, was born in Senozaty, Bohemia on March 8, 1860. (Like many of the events of Svoboda's early life, there is discrepancy about this date, and some printed sources give 1859 as his year of birth.) As a young man Svoboda studied cabinetmaking in Vienna. In 1879 he migrated to Carlton, Wisconsin, where some of his relatives resided. In 1881 he married Anna Langer (d. 1944) and had six children.
Although Svoboda first made his living as a farmer, he enjoyed cabinet making and woodcarving. In 1883 he became acquainted with Vojtech Cipin, a Catholic priest and a talented woodcarver. Together they carved the altar for the church in Algoma, and Rev. Cipin encouraged Svoboda to devote his talents to church decoration. During the early 1880s Svoboda relocated to Kewaunee where he established a furniture store and a small factory and began building altars. Secondary sources differ on the year when the business began; some give the date as early as 1881, others as late as 1891.
The beauty and quality of Svoboda's work was widely recognized, and he exhibited in Chicago and Milwaukee. During this period he is said to have employed 12 to 15 workers. In 1924 Svoboda incorporated the company, and in 1925 constructed a new factory. He continued as president until his death on March 29, 1930, when he was succeeded by his son, Joseph B. Svoboda.
Joseph B. Svoboda was born at the family farm in Carlton on December 13, 1890. Eventually he joined his father's business as general manager. He maintained the high standards for which the firm had become known, also adhering to the traditional style of church furniture. Joseph B. Svoboda died on May 15, 1933. His older brother, Anton C. Svoboda, continued as president until his retirement in 1938. Anton Svoboda was then succeeded by Frank William Kohrt (1898-1977), son-in-law of the founder, although Anton's daughter Jane Svoboda retained the controlling interest in the family's furniture store and an undertaking business.
Frank William Kohrt was born in Menasha on January 10, 1898 and came to Kewaunee in 1919 as a linotype operator with the Kewaunee Press. In 192l he married Emily Svoboda. In 1925 he joined the furniture company, starting in the business office and advancing through its shop operations and sales department. From 1925 through 1938 he was the secretary-treasurer. In 1933 Kohrt added the duties of general manager, and in 1938 he became president and general manager.
Under Frank William Kohrt the firm had a work force as large as 88 employees, and the company sold its products nationally, as well as in Mexico and Canada. Although the later history of the company is not well documented in the records it is known that during the Depression the Svoboda Company declared bankruptcy, after which Kohrt purchased the reorganized company at auction. During World War II the firm took on defense work. After World War II, Kohrt's son, Richard J. Kohrt, an Air Force veteran and a graduate of the Wood Technology Program of the University of Michigan joined the company, becoming president in 1973. During the 1950s the firm is reported to have had a crew of 26, but only one full time wood carver, Robert Petscheider, an immigrant from Austria who studied at Oberammergau. Competition from inexpensive southern manufacturers and changing artistic tastes during the 1960s and 1970s led to a diversification. Eventually the product line included grandfather clocks and kits, clock frames, and Early American pine furniture kits.
In 1984 the company built a new factory and at this time it auctioned off its inventory of wood carving models and design drawings. In 1989 the company was sold, first to Jake Marchant and later to David Pflueger. The company continues to operate, as of 2011 under the name Svoboda Industries, Inc.
