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Charles Shober, the premier Chicago lithographer born in Germany in February 1831, worked as a lithographer in Philadelphia
1856-1857. Shober immigrated to the United States in 1854 and in 1855 delineated a lithographic plate for "The Horticulturist
(N.Y.)." By 1856 Shober was listed in Philadelphia city directories as a lithographer at 17 Minor Street where by map lithographers,
including George Worley and Benjamin Mathias also worked. In 1857 Shober partnered with Charles Reen in Reen & Shober at 5
South Sixth Street. By 1859 the partnership relocated to Chicago, where that year Shober established his own business and
published the map "City of Ypsilanti" (1859). Shober operated his own firm and in partnerships (Charles Shober & Co.) until
the great fire of 1871 when he took over the management of the Chicago Lithographing Company (Louis Kurtz and Edward Carqueville).
In 1876 Kurtz left the firm that issued "The International Exposition 1876 at Philadelphia, PA. U.S.A. View from George's
Hill" (1876) and Shober & Carqueville was established. The partners printed sheet music, posters, maps, and trade cards. Shober
left the company in the early 1880s, possibly after a fire at the firm according to Groce & Wallace. He later became president
of the Chicago Bank Note Company.
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