Followers
Paul E. Werner
At the age of 16, Paul E. Werner immigrated to America in 1867. He worked as a clerk and bookkeeper at several Akron stores. In 1873, Paul became an editorial writer for the Akron Germania newspaper. It was a popular German-language publication. He enjoyed it so much that he bought the newspaper a year later and became publisher. In the 1870s, Paul founded the Sunday Gazette and the Akron Tribune. He also began a commercial printing enterprize. In 1884, Paul quit the newspaper business and began making high-quality books. He built a printing plant in 1886 and built his sales offices all over the USA. Soon, he would have branches in 20-countries. Among the gold-leafed titles that the Werner Co. published in Akron were Webster's Dictionary, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Americana, the Waldorf Cook Book, the White House Cook Book and World's Best Literature. In the 1890s, the factory was producing 10,000 volumes a day. They would fill six train cars. Paul became friends with President William McKinley, Buffalo Bill Cody, French painter James Tissot, German Count Ferdinand Zeppelin and Queen Victoria. At the turn of the 20th century, Paul was hosting lavish gatherings at his Akron mansion. He was a multimillionaire. In 1904 he built Akron's German-American Music Hall. However, in 1908, Paul's fortune came to an end. Britannica filed suit alleging trademark violations. He was sued in all 20-countries where he did business. Paul hired a "dream team" of high profile lawyers and claimed victory in every suit. But the litigation cost him a fortune. In 1910, Paul's business collapsed. He filed bankruptcy and had to sell his 11-building Akron complex. Paul left Akron in 1915 to open a rubber company in Kansas City. But he lost his backing. That company folded in 1925. In 1927, next to broke, Paul returned to Akron and got a hero's welcome. Franklin A. Seiberling held a party for him at Stan Hywet Hall, Frank's Akron estate. Seiberling had bought the old Germania newspaper and gave it back to Paul. Paul Werner died of Bright's disease at the age of 80. Akron's elite packed the funeral.
