Details
Title Ketterlinus, Eugene
Alternate title Ketterlinus Printing House
Date August 13, 1824-June 15, 1886
Description Eugene Ketterlinus, born August 13, 1824 in Württemberg, Germany, was a prolific commercial lithographer and printer, renown for his label work, active in Philadelphia from 1842-1886. Grandson of German engraver William Ketterlinus (1766-1803) and brother of fellow printers Paul (1820-1894) and Adolphus (ca. 1826-ca. 1867), Eugene arrived in the United States in the early 1830s. He apprenticed with Paul in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, before forming E. Ketterlinus & Co. in Philadelphia in 1842 at North Fourth Street below Arch Street. Eugene and Paul operated from the location until 1855 and produced color stock cards and labels earlier than any other Philadelphia firm as well as advertised their "plain & fancy printing," including illustrated congressional documents, "embossed show cards, perfumery, fabric, wine and liquor labels, druggists' furniture, jar and drawer labels, cards, bill heads, notes, checks, circulars, and catalogues."
In 1854, Ketterlinus also partnered with Jacob Haehnlen, a Harrisburg native previously engaged in the grocery business. During the years of their co-partnership, Ketterlinus exhibited work at the Franklin Institute's Exhibitions of American Manufactures (1854 and 1856) and relocated his establishment to the northwest corner of Fourth and Arch Streets (401 Arch Street). Formerly the site of C. A. Brown & Co.'s book store, Ketterlinus purchased the lot and commissioned the construction of a five-story iron and brick building for his business and rentable retail space on the ground level. The partnership with Haehnlen dissolved by December 1857 and by 1858 Ketterlinus printed manufacturer label's that rivaled European designs and earned the highest praise from the Franklin Institute.
Following the amicable disassociation, Ketterlinus's business continued to thrive and expand well into the 1870s. By 1871, R.G. Dun & Co. credit reports indicate Ketterlinus's printing business estimated worth at about $250,000 and he owned approximately $500,000 worth of real estate in Philadelphia. The success of his printing business combined with his real estate savvy attributed to his increasing personal wealth. Around the same time that he acquired 401 Arch Street in the early 1850s, Ketterlinus purchased 311 and 313 Arch Street with the intention of renting the properties to wholesale businesses. He also owned and rented a series of six stores below Cherry Street at 117 to 127 North Fourth Street, all of which were destroyed by fire in 1878.
In 1874, Ketterlinus's brother-in-law John F. Reyenthaler became the sole proprietor of the printing establishment known by this time as the Ketterlinus Printing House. Reyenthaler's ownership and involvement in the company was short-lived and in 1876 Ketterlinus's son John Louis became proprietor and focused on creating advertising trade cards for businesses, which he displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. By this time the Ketterlinus Printing House employed the most advanced equipment available, such as the Hoe steam power press, and maintained a large typographic department with cylinder presses. The firm remained in operation until ca. 1970.
After arriving in Philadelphia, Ketterlinus originally resided with his two brothers, Paul and Adolphus, at 34 Old York Road, before moving with his family to North Fifth Street in Northern Liberties by 1849. Ketterlinus then moved to several residences within Ward 2 before settling on School House Lane in Germantown around 1861. Although married to Anna Marie (b. ca. 1832) with whom he had his first child in 1848, Ketterlinus had previously fathered a son with Barbara Helig in November 1847 to whom a court ruled he pay support. Ketterlinus and his wife had six children, including Mary A., Millie, lithographer John Louis, William K., Eugene, and Kate W. By 1876 he had retired from his business and left the company to his son John Louis. Ketterlinus passed away on June 15, 1886.
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Portrait from Joseph Jackson, "Some Notes Towards a History of Lithography in Philadelphia." (Philadelphia, 1900)
References See Haehnlen, Jacob and Ketterlinus, John L.
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Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Bond of Eugene Ketterlinus to support child of Barbara Heilig, February 1, 1848, Department of Records, Philadelphia City Archives
Census 1850, 1870, 1880
Groce & Wallace, 368
Last, 108-109
Library Company of Philadelphia research file
Marzio, 27
Merrill, 128
New York Herald, March 26, 1878
Pennsylvania, Vol. 133, p. 710, 715, 297, R.G. Dun & Co. Collection, microfilm,
Philadelphia Business and City Directories, 1842-1886
Hagley Museum & Library
Peters, 250
Philadelphia Inquirer, June 10, 1874 and June 16, 1886
Public Ledger, December 7, 1857
The National Lithographer, June 1927 and August 1932
Warshaw Collection of Business Ephemera, Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution, Lithography, Vertical Box 1
WWWAA, 1834
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