History
Joseph Charles Lauber was born near Cincinnati of German immigrants in 1868 just four years after the Civil War. His father died shortly after and his mother moved to South Bend / Mishawaka to be near her brother, who was a partner with Adolph Kamm in the brewery business and supported Joseph and his sisters by operating a boarding house. Joseph eventually apprenticed to a local "tin smith" and took a course in mechanical drafting in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
At age 23 in 1891, Joseph founded what became the company bearing his name in South Bend. The business remains in this same location today, but at that time, before annexation, the area was known as Lowell (for the well known manufacturing city of Lowell, Massachusetts). This site drew its development from a diversion of flowing water from the St. Joseph River into a dug channel called the East Race, which provided waterpower for factories along the side of it. Lowell became a site of boarding houses for newly arrived, skilled workingmen from England, Germany, Belgium, Hungary and Poland. Today the East Race, only a hundred yards from the existing company, has been converted into a nationally known kayak racecourse.
Early accounts show entries for the company as a servicer of local needs of the time, such as repairing copper wash boilers, replacing chimney stacks, providing ice chest drains, and fabricating copper boxes for cornerstone mementoes. Gradually, this business expanded into slate and tile roofing with accompanying practical and complicated aesthetic architectural copper ornamentation, much of it still in existence.
Eventually, the Company relined the University of Notre Dame Dome with monel metal as the underlayment with gold leaf on top. Many other prominent buildings, homes and steeples were worked on and "J.C", as he was known, became a prominent and respected citizen of the growing South Bend. The Lauber building (eclectic commercial style) is listed in the State of Indiana Historical Register and also in the National Historical Register as part of a Historical District. The company survived the Great Panic (economic depression) of 1892-1898, the Great Depression of 1929-1939, the special hardships and demands of the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, and all the other wars to date.
The same quality of craftsmanship survives today in the practices of the founder's great grandson, the present working owner. In turn his son is following in his father's footsteps as a master craftsman. The large projects, as fabricating public art, applying tile and slate roofs, and steeple work should not overshadow the company's commitment to the everyday requirements of home, business and laboratories, including minor repairs and small fabrications. As the founder would have said, "ALL needs must be served; all work must be done with quality."
J C Lauber Sheet Metal Co.
504 E. La Salle Ave
South Bend, Indiana 46617
Phone: 574-234-4174
lnk