The Eitel Brothers refers to a family of four brothers, Emil, Karl, Robert and Max Eitel, originating from Stuttgart in Germany who, from 1894, were hoteliers and restaurateurs in Chicago, US. They were well known for the luxury hotel Bismarck Hotel and restaurants such as the Marigold Gardens and the Old Heidelberg Inn. Typically excluded is Albert Eitel, who remained in Stuttgart as an architect.
Overview In 1890 Emil Eitel emigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago, amongst other German immigrants. In 1890 Chicago had about 160,000 and in 1900 about 170,000 residents of German ancestry, representing 15% and 10% of the total population (#Hofmeister 1976, page 10). The heavily German population and the infrastructure built around the community of German immigrants greatly helped their business ventures to succeed.#Harzig 2005.#NCAB 1967, page 510.
After Emil Eitel had made a start, he was followed by four of his brothers to Chicago: Charles in 1891, Robert in 1898, Max in 1901 and Otto in 1912. After his immigration, Otto Eitel (October 5, 1884, Stuttgart – May 5, 1972, Chicago), took over the responsibility for the hotel and garden facilities of the Bismarck Hotel. He later moved to California and worked as a landscape gardener. Albert Eitel remained in Stuttgart, though he is recorded as having visited in 1896 and 1924:Ellis Iceland Passenger Records . In 1896, he volunteered in the prestigious architectural firm of Daniel Burnham, a leading figure in the Chicago School.See also: Albert Eitel (German Wikipedia). In 1924, Albert Eitel was in Chicago for creating the facade design of the Bismarck hotel together with the architectural firm Rapp and Rapp and to plan the interior of the hotel.
The brothers Emil and Karl founded in Chicago the Bismarck Hotel and the Bismarck Gardens. Robert and Max Eitel operated several large restaurants, including the Old Heidelberg Inn and some fair restaurants. They were patrons of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Art Institute of Chicago. In 1938, Emil Eitel donated to the Institute at least 17 lithographs and etchings, and in 1948, a calendar of Regiomontanus from 1476. They were also active in local social clubs.Among these clubs and associations were the Schwabenverein (#Hofmeister 1976, pages 117-121; #Schwabenverein 1922–1937; #Schwabenverein 1928), the Germania Club of Chicago (#Hofmeister 1976, pages 121-122), the Germania Männerchor and the Executives' Club of Chicago (#Blue Book 1890–1915). In the wake of the World Wars Emil and Karl Eitel participated in relief efforts of the Red Cross for Germany.See also: #Hofmeister 1976, page 61.
Early life The parents of the Eitel brothers were Emil Eitel and Charlotte Eitel née Trost. Trost gave birth to 11 children, out of which three died before their first birthday. Among those who survived six brothers Emil, Karl, Robert, Max, Otto and Albert Eitel, are known as the Eitel brothers.#Familienregister. All the children of Trost who survived beyond their first birthday are listed below.
Number Name Birth Death Emigration 1 Emil Eitel 1865 Stuttgart 1948 Chicago 1890 2 Albert Eitel 1866 Stuttgart 1934 Stuttgart 3 Karl Eitel 1871 Stuttgart 1954 Santa Barbara, California 1891 4 Charlotte Emma Krauss 1873 Stuttgart 5 Robert Eitel 1877 Stuttgart 1948 1898 6 Louise Emilie Charlotte Frank 1881 Stuttgart 7 Max Eitel 1882 Stuttgart 1954 Chicago 1901 8 Otto Eitel 1884 Stuttgart 1972 Chicago 1912
Emil Eitel
Main sources: #NCAB 1967, pages 510-511; #Leonard 1905–1917; #Sonntagspost 1929.1; #Amtsblatt 1953.1.
Emil Eitel (February 27, 1865 Stuttgart – July 18, 1948 Chicago) was a German hotel and restaurant contractor in Chicago. He was born as the first child of his parents, Emil and Charlotte Eitel,For details see Origin. attended the trade school in Stuttgart,#Sonntagspost 1929.1: "a business college"; #Leonard 1905–1917: "highschool and commercial business college". and served in the Army as a one-year volunteer before beginning, in 1885, to work in his father's factory on the production of photo albums.
Professional life In 1890, Emil Eitel moved to the United States and settled in Chicago. He first worked as a clerk for the Chicago company "Bond's Commercial Agency". In 1891, as his brother Charles also came to Chicago, the two founded a wholesale wine and liquor imports business named "Eitel Brothers".Even after their entry into the hotel business, the brothers continued this company. During Prohibition, they came, in 1920, under suspicion of maintaining a stock of liquor valued at $ 250,000 and to illegally trade with it (#Tribune 1920). During the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, the first Chicagoan World's Fair, they operated their first hotel in the vicinity of the exhibition grounds. The success prompted them to permanently turn to the hotel business. They took over the hotel "Germania" and renamed it "Bismarck Hotel".On a trip to Germany Karl Eitel visited in April 1894 the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and received his permission to name the hotel after him. In 1894, they founded the Bismarck Hotel Company. Emil Eitel presided as President and Chief Financial Officer until his death in 1948. Besides the hotel, the two brothers operated from 1895 to 1923 the Bismarck Gardens (later Marigold Gardens), a beer garden.
Personal life In 1894, Emil Eitel married Emma Caroline Boldenweck (1868–1943), whom he had met in Stuttgart.On a trip to Germany, the German-born Chicagoan Emma Boldenweck visited in Stuttgart her relative Ludwig Boldenweck, who lived as a privateer since 1888 to at least 1890 in the villa of Emil Eitel sen. for rent. On this occasion she met Emil Eitel (#Address books 1898–1899, #Götz 1967, page 114
Karl Eitel
Main sources: #NCAB 1967, page 511; #Leonard 1905–1917; #Sonntagspost 1929.2; #Amtsblatt 1953.1.
Karl Friedrich (Frederick) Eitel (January 17, 1871 Stuttgart – March 19, 1954 Santa Barbara, California) was a German hotel and restaurant contractor in Chicago. He was the fifth child of parents Emil and Charlotte Eitel.For details see Origin. After attending the high school in Stuttgart, he studied at the Königlich Württembergisches Technikum für Textilindustrie (Royal School of Textile Engineering of Württemberg) in Reutlingen.
Professional life In 1891, Karl Eitel emigrated to Chicago and began collaborating with his brother Emil. After the founding of the Bismarck Hotel Company, he assumed the office of the Vice President and Secretary and after the death of Emil Eitel in 1948, the office of President. A year later, he retired, but remained joined to the company until his death in 1954 as honorary chairman. (On the history of the hotel and restaurant projects of the two brothers see Bismarck Hotel Co.)
Personal life In 1896, Karl Eitel married his first wife Marieluise Boldenweck (1875–1913), a younger sister of his sister-in-law Emma. The marriage produced four children, among them Otto K. Eitel, who later became president of the Bismarck Hotel. In 1915, Karl Eitel joined in his second marriage Ann Schmidt (1884-1919), the daughter of a factory owner from Brussels, whom he had one daughter with. In his third marriage he joined Suzanne Schmidt (1888–1968), the sister of his second wife. From this marriage, he had three children.
Karl Eitel took many years an active part in social and political life in Chicago. He died on March 9, 1954, in Santa Barbara at the age of 83 and was buried at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.
Max Eitel Main sources: #NCAB 1967, pages 518-519; #Amtsblatt 1953.1.
Max Eitel (September 29, 1882 Stuttgart – June 5, Chicago) was a German restaurant contractor in Chicago. He was born as the tenth child of his parents Emil and Charlotte Eitel.
Professional life In 1901, Max Eitel emigrated to Chicago. He went into the accounting department of the Bismarck Hotel Company, owned by his brothers Emil and Karl. He returned to Europe, studying the hotel and restaurant industries of England, France, and the Netherlands. In 1904, he took a position in the newly built luxury Hotel Astor on Times Square in New York, which was founded in the same year by the German emigrants William C. Muschenheim (1855–1918) and Frederick A. Muschenheim. There he volunteered for two consecutive years in various departments of the hotel. In 1906, he took over responsibility for the import business of his brothers, and soon thereafter the management of the beer garden Marigold Gardens, which also belonged to his brothers.
Following the closure of the beer garden due to Prohibition, in 1923 he and his brother Robert Eitel, founded the restaurant company Eitel Incorporated, with Robert as President and himself as Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. When Robert died in 1948, Max took over the presidency, which he held until his death.
The Eitel Incorporated company included the following restaurants: 1923–1943: Five station restaurants in the Chicago and North Western Railway Station. 1933–1934: Fair restaurant Old Heidelberg Inn (2500 seats) on the second Chicagoan World's Fair (Century of Progress).The Restaurant was a replica of the Alt-Heidelberg Inn in Nuremberg, which was then world-famous for Bavarian food and beer ( ). 1934: Fair restaurant in the German pavilion Black Forest Village (Schwarzwalddorf) on the same World's Fair.The German Black Forest Village was an artificial village with Black Forest like buildings, with a winter theme, utilizing skating rinks, artificial snow, artificial ice and cooling systems. Ab 1934: Old Heidelberg Inn at Chicago's formerly Broadway in Randolph Street. Ab 1935: Eitel Field Building Restaurant]in Chicago's financial district. 1936: Fair restaurant Black Forest Restaurant on the Texas Centennial Exposition 1936 in Dallas. 1939–1940: Fair restaurant Ballentine Three Ring Inn (2000 seats) on the World's Fair in New York.
See Eitel Incorporated for descriptions and illustrations of the permanent restaurants belonging to Eitel Incorporated.
Personal life In 1911, Max Eitel married as his first wife, the widow Marie Heine née Bush (?–1934), the daughter of a German manufacturer, who bore him two children. In 1935, he joined in his second marriage, the widow Ella Gleich née Harder, the daughter of a German real estate agent. They had no children. Max Eitel died on June 5, 1954, in Chicago.
Robert Eitel Main sources: #NCAB 1967, pages 518-519; #Amtsblatt 1953.1.
Robert Eitel (June 16, 1877 Stuttgart – 1948) was a German restaurant contractor in Chicago. He was the eighth child of his parents Emil and Charlotte Eitel.For details see Origin.
In 1898, Robert emigrated to Chicago. In the 1920s, he was director of the Bismarck Hotel. In 1923, he founded together with his brother Max Eitel the restaurant company Eitel Incorporated and became its president. – On the history of the restaurant projects of the two brothers see Max Eitel, Business life.
Bismarck Hotel Co. Company name Bismarck Hotel Co. Owners Emil and Karl Eitel Foundation 1894 Object operation of the Bismarck Hotel and the Marigold Gardens Presidents 1894–1948: Emil Eitel 1948–1949: Karl Eitel 1949–1956: Otto K. Eitel
Bismarck Hotel (1894–1956) Following the successful operation of their restaurant on the 1893 World's Fair, Emil and Karl Eitel bought an existing hotel, rebuilt it and renamed it the Bismarck Hotel. This hotel was replaced in 1926 by the construction of a large luxury hotel under the same name. A chronology of the Bismarck Hotel:
Fair hotel (1893) Chicago, Cottage Grove Avenue / Sixty-Third Street, .
Due to the strong demand of its German and Austrian suppliers for accommodation for the first Chicago World's Fair 1893 (World's Columbian Exposition), the Eitel brothers rented an apartment house near the fairgrounds and converted it to a hotel with 150 beds.
Old Bismarck Hotel (1894–1924) Chicago, Randolph Street / Wells Street, .