Brehm Brothers Company

Brehm Brothers Company is one of the oldest and most prosperous business concerns of Burlington, doing a storage, draying and heavy teaming business and also dealing in coal and salt. Another feature of the business is the sale of heavy draft horses and the quality of their horses is acknowledged by expert judges to be the best in southern Wisconsin. The business was founded in 1868 by Bernard Brehm, a sketch of whom appears above. In 1891 the firm name was changed to B. Brehm & Son, when the father was joined in the partnership by his eldest son, William F. Brehm, and in 1899, when Albert M. Brehm was admitted to partnership. the firm style became B. Brehm & Sons. In 1909 the business was incorporated with Bernard Brehm as the president, in which connection he continued until his death, when he was succeeded in the presidency by William F. Brehm, while Joseph B. Brehm became vice president and Albert M. Brehm secretary and treasurer. In their draying business the company uses from fifteen to thirty horses and they are also largely engaged in buying and selling heavy draft horses, doing business with Racine, Chicago and local points. They have a warehouse forty by sixty feet and two stories in height on the “800” Line and accessible by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. Mr. Brehm became connected with the Wilbur Lumber Company early in the ’70s in the retailing of coal, and the Brehm Brothers Company is the pioneer coal dealer of the city. They also do a large jobbing business as salt merchants. In their teaming they are equipped to haul the heaviest machinery, monuments, etc., and in fact they can handle anything in the draying line, having wagons that can carry ten tons. Until 1914 they represented the Standard Oil Company, having handled oil previous to the introduction of Standard Oil products into Wisconsin. During his early connection with the draying business the father had many competitors but he alone continued. His sons, too, have been successful and their business is conducted along progressive lines. They maintain the most sanitary conditions in their stables, which furnish ample shelter for thirty-five horses and which are situated at the corner of State and West streets-a location which they have occupied for forty-five years. The present offices of the company are at Geneva and Pine streets, at which point the business has been conducted since April 1, 1900.

Source: Stone, Fanny S. Racine, Belle City of the lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement; Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1916.

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