Geibisch and Joplin

Geibisch and Joplin was a contracting and paving company in Portland, Oregon in the 1900s and 1910s. The company was run by Ada Joplin and her husband Anton Geibisch, married on 8 June 1892. The company built the original Brooklyn neighborhood sewers in Portland, Oregon, as well as jetties in Coos Bay and Clatsop, Oregon although they primarily laid sidewalks and streets. Geibisch and Joplin also started a condensed milk plant in Bandon, Oregon.[1]

A photograph of Anton Geibisch

Fines
A stamp on a sidewalk paved by Geibisch and Joplin, at the corner of 35th place and Stanton street in Northeast Portland.

Multiple times, Geibisch and Joplin were fined for taking too long on a paving job, including once in 1914, when the city threatened to cancel their contracts for an unfinished job on Sandy Boulevard.[2] In 1916, Geibisch and Joplin were contracted to repair 10th avenue, from Going street to Alberta street. After they left the street uncompleted for months, they were fined $20.[3]

Brooklyn Neighborhood Sewers

In 1909, Geibisch and Joplin was contracted to build the sewers of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Portland. Harry Lane, the mayor at the time, hired a man named Wright to investigate, paying him $5 a day. The city, represented by the lawyer Mr. Easterly, refused to pay Geibisch for his work, which they considered sub-standard. This outraged Geibisch, who called Easterly "a grafter, a hold-up man, and worse," saying that he "tried to hold me up for a piece of money, but I wouldn't give it! So now he's taking his grudge out no me." Geibisch threatened to fight Easterly, and he and his workers almost physically attacked Lane, who manage to calming down, saying that he "had demanded all the facts in connection with this piece of work, and they have not been forthcoming from the city engineer."[4]

Condensed milk plant

In the 1910s, Geibisch and Joplin began expanding into the condensed milk industry. In October 1912, they began processing milk in Mcminnville, at the Willamette Valley Condensed Milk plant, after the board of directors shut it down.[5] They were based in Portland, Oregon, making condensed milk at 7.9% butterfat in 1916, just barely above the legal requirement of 7.8% butterfat.[6] In the fall of 1917, their newly formed Geibisch and Joplin Condensed Milk Company acquired land in Bandon, Oregon to build a milk condensing plant. The plant consisted of a two story building, 106 feet by 240 feet; as well as a detached power station, with dimensions of 40 by 60 feet, jutting out into the Bay of Bandon, and cost $100,000 to build, and had a capacity of 1,000 cases a day.[7] They acquired land in McMinnville Oregon at the same time for another condensed milk plant, and both plants were operational by April 1918.

The McMinnville plant soon owed $400,000 to creditors, including a $68,000 debt to milk farmers. They shut down operation of both plants in later 1918. In January 1919, Nestlé bought both plants for $250,000, and expanded them considerably, processing 250,000 pounds of condensed milk daily in the Bandon plant.[8]

Personal life

Anton Geibisch was born on 31 December 1867, in Austria.

On August 24, 1909, Anton Geibisch hit a woman named Ms. C. A. Welch on Morrison and Fourteenth street with his car, having encountered a wet spot on the road. She was uninjured.[9]

They had one son, Gordon Geibisch. Joplin died in 1946, and Geibisch died in October 1953, at his house on SE 113rd street in Portland, Oregon.[1]

References
  1. "Obituary: Anton Geibisch". The Oregonian. 25 October 1953 – via newsbank.com.
  2. "Paving Must be Hurried Geibisch & Joplin's Contract May be Canceled by City". The Oregonian. 14 Aug 1914.
  3. "Paving Penalty is Urged Mr. Dieck Wants Geibisch & Joplin Fined $20 for Alberta Work". The Oregonian. 27 October 1916.
  4. "Row at Executive Board Meeting Curses Bandied and Threats Made over Rejection of Brooklyn Sewer". The Oregonian. 24 June 1909.
  5. Michels, John, ed. (2 January 1912). "News From Other States". Manufactured Milk Products Journal. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Olsen, H.P. 3 (Butter, Cheese, an Egg Journal).
  6. Oregon. Dairy and Food Commissioner (1916). Biennial Report. Salem Oregon: State Printing Department. p. 55 – via Google Books.
  7. "Oregon". The Creamery and Milk Plant Monthly. National Milk Pub., Company. 7. March 1918.
  8. Blakely, Joe (2003). "Oregon Places: The Nestlé Condensary in Bandon". Oregon Historical Quarterly. Oregon Historical Society. 104 (4): 566–577. JSTOR 20615370.
  9. "Auto Fells Aged Woman. Mrs. C.A. Welch Injured by Machine Driven by A. Geibisch". The Oregonian. 25 Aug 1909.
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