1218 S VANDEVENTER AVE SAINT LOUIS, MO 63110 Get Directions
1218 S VANDEVENTER AVE SAINT LOUIS, MO 63110 Get Directions
Brauer (seated) and Vice President Robert G. Brauer and Vice President William D. Brauer (standing).
For over one hundred and twenty-eight years, the Brauer Supply Company has served the midwest marketplace. The company's story is one that parallels the development of the region itself and the emergence of the heating and cooling and related industries through many technical innovations. Yet, the same factors which originally caused the company to prosper...service, dependability, and a fair price...are the same which help to place Brauer Supply Company in a position of leadership today.
The story of Brauer Supply Company begins in 1881. The City of St. Louis was entering one of its most exciting periods as its location on the Mississippi River turned into a national center of commerce. Riverboats in great numbers were bringing people and goods from the East via the Ohio River and to and from New Orleans to the South. The frontier was still very much alive and St. Louis served as a supply point for adventurers and settlers heading West. Also, at the time, the country was in the midst of the Industrial Revolution and the idea of standardized replacement parts for manufactured goods was becoming widely accepted.
A major industry of the period was manufacturing of cast iron heating stoves of all varieties. Quite a number of makes and types of these stoves were produced in the East for shipment to dealers in the western and rural regions of the country. When inevitably, repair parts were needed, the dealer in each locality had to leaf through many different catalogs and send several different orders for the various parts. There were often long time delays and expensive shipping charges which had to be paid.
The Brauer staff is here shown in 1884 in front of the Company's second location. A.G. Brauer is the third man from the right.
The Brauer staff is here shown in 1884 in front of the Company's second location. A.G. Brauer is the third man from the right.
The need for a central source of supply which could furnish all parts for all stoves at a savings of time and money to the dealer was recognized by the young August G. Brauer.
Mr. Brauer had worked as a salesman for a local manufacturer of coal and wood burning stoves, eventually becoming manager of that business. When one of the owners passed away and the firm was about to fold, Mr. Brauer, feeling an obligation to his customers to provide the replacement parts they needed, found himself at the head of his own business supplying these parts.
August Brauer was surprised as anyone else that his little enterprise began to flourish in the small shop on St. Ann's Street, East of Broadway. In fact, he soon was doing so well at this business of servicing the heating stoves of the St. Louis area with repairs and replacement parts that he began to expand. In 1884, he purchased the St. Louis Stove Repair Works on Franklin Avenue, and moved into a new and larger location at 217 to 219 Locust where he made arrangements to become the representative for parts and repairs for The Charter Oak Stove & Range Company, Bridge and Beach Manufacturing Company, and Bucks Stove and Range Company.
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