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| Louis A. Fons |
Louis A. Fons, (1878-1959)
Real estate developer, builder and banker, Louis Fons had a tremendous impact on the south side of Milwaukee where, according to the Milwaukee Journal, "he built hundreds of homes and developed scores of subdivisions". (Two of the known subdivisions are Morgandale and Vogel Park.) He was born in a cottage on S. 6th Street, near W. Burnham in Milwaukee on August 25, 1878. He was the first of the twelve children of Frank Fons and Maryann (Piszczek) Fons, who had come to Milwaukee in 1871. ("Fons" is the original name. It was not shortened. There is some speculation that this unusual Polish name is due to the fact that the ultimate ancestors had come to Poland from Holland as engineers to build dikes and canals, possibly in the 1600's.)
Louis was nothing if not energetic and determined. He was the consummate self-starter and hard worker. He started his first job at age 13, earning $2/week. Working days and evenings and counting pennies, by age 21 he had managed to save $300 with which he bought a one-half interest in a realty business. When he started to work at age 13 he had quit school, but he took correspondence courses to gain business skills. He eventually earned enough to acquire the whole real estate business, then run it with four of his brothers (Edward, Frank, Jr., Stephen and John) as "Fons and Company." It was this organization that was responsible for building 23 subdivisions (many near "Polish" churches such as St. Barbara and St. John Kanty) and turning larges tracts of undeveloped land on the south side of Milwaukee into comfortable "Fons Bungalows".
Besides being well-built, Fons also wanted his homes to be affordable. During the 1920's, he was able to keep the typical sales price of a single family house and lot to about $5,000. But, he did even more to put people in their own home. Another Louis Fons-run organization, the National Savings and Loan Association, would also often loan money to the buyers to enable the purchase. In typical Fons-fashion, the interest rates were kept low (sometimes as much as 2 percentage points lower than their nearest competitor) because of their belief that the homes should remain affordable. Probably no other person did as much to better the lives of Poles in Milwaukee by giving them a chance to own their own home and move out of their cramped quarters close to the factories.
The Great Depression caused a financial disaster for countless individuals. At at time before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, many people saw their life savings disappear when the their local banks collapsed, taking their deposits along with it. The National Savings and Loan Association was also hard hit, but Louis Fons stepped up. He contributed his entire personal fortune to ensure that its depositors were paid back 100 cents on the dollar. Moreover, many of the people who had purchased their houses in the 1920's were in dire straights because of the Depression. There again, the National Savings and Loan Association stepped up and helped many people keep their houses by arranging for refinancing under the federal Home Owners Loan Corp. program.
You might think that running Fons and Co. and the National Savings and Loan would consume all the time of Louis Fons. Not even close! He was also the founder of the Berthelet Pipe and Supply Company, director of the Juneau Investment Company, and organized the Central State Bank. He was also, for a time, publisher of the Nowiny Polskie.
But Louis Fons was not just a one-dimensional businessman. He was also a fine athlete and passionate about that distinctly American national pastime: baseball. He excelled at it so well as to play some semi-pro ball, starting at the ripe age of 16. He played second base, and the teams he played for won the city championship in 1899 and 1900. In 1908, he and some friends decided to organize a baseball team that reflected their Polish heritage, and the Koscisko Reds semi-professional baseball team was born. It may not have been the first "Polish" team, but it was the first one in Milwaukee to crack into the City League, the premier local semi-pro circuit at the time.
The Team had its first game, with Fons as second baseman and captain, on April 11, 1909. The competed under the strange name of the Kosciusko (sic) Monument Cigars. In just two years, the team won the City championship with Fons still playing second base (at age 33). Unfortunately, he sustained an injury in the last game of the pennant that would end his career as a player. No matter, he simply became president of the team, while still continuing as manager. Fons made at least two important moves in that position in his first year. First, he built a new ballpark for the team at the intersection of Harrison and Grove (now S. 5th) Streets. Called the South Side Stadium, it could seat almost 5,000. Second, he bumped the team up into the Lake Shore League (which only allowed the top semi-pro teams from SE Wisconsin and northern Illinois). In the next few years, the Reds would dominate that League. They won the Championship their first year in the league. The first Milwaukee team to do so. They won it again in 1914 and 1915. After that time, Fons would gradually diminish his involvement in the team.
Given all this activity, it is hard to imagine when Fons found time to be involved in local politics, but he was. The high point of his political career was from 1918 to 1920, when he represented the 8th District in the Wisconsin state Senate. Although he was technically a Republican, he actually ran with something that is almost inconceivable these days: a joint Democratic-Republican endorsement. He only had one term because he choose not to seek re-election.
Louis Fons married Cecelia Sonnenberg in Milwaukee on September 23, 1902. (Louis' brother Frank, would later marry Cecelia's sister, Helen.) They had seven children. Louis passed away on May 18, 1959.
Trivia: When Louis Fons bought his one-half interest in the realty company in 1902, the name of the resulting firm, Wawrzyniakowski and Fons, combined, arguably, the longest Polish name in Milwaukee with its shortest.
Real estate developer, builder and banker, Louis Fons had a tremendous impact on the south side of Milwaukee where, according to the Milwaukee Journal, "he built hundreds of homes and developed scores of subdivisions". (Two of the known subdivisions are Morgandale and Vogel Park.) He was born in a cottage on S. 6th Street, near W. Burnham in Milwaukee on August 25, 1878. He was the first of the twelve children of Frank Fons and Maryann (Piszczek) Fons, who had come to Milwaukee in 1871. ("Fons" is the original name. It was not shortened. There is some speculation that this unusual Polish name is due to the fact that the ultimate ancestors had come to Poland from Holland as engineers to build dikes and canals, possibly in the 1600's.)
Louis was nothing if not energetic and determined. He was the consummate self-starter and hard worker. He started his first job at age 13, earning $2/week. Working days and evenings and counting pennies, by age 21 he had managed to save $300 with which he bought a one-half interest in a realty business. When he started to work at age 13 he had quit school, but he took correspondence courses to gain business skills. He eventually earned enough to acquire the whole real estate business, then run it with four of his brothers (Edward, Frank, Jr., Stephen and John) as "Fons and Company." It was this organization that was responsible for building 23 subdivisions (many near "Polish" churches such as St. Barbara and St. John Kanty) and turning larges tracts of undeveloped land on the south side of Milwaukee into comfortable "Fons Bungalows".
Besides being well-built, Fons also wanted his homes to be affordable. During the 1920's, he was able to keep the typical sales price of a single family house and lot to about $5,000. But, he did even more to put people in their own home. Another Louis Fons-run organization, the National Savings and Loan Association, would also often loan money to the buyers to enable the purchase. In typical Fons-fashion, the interest rates were kept low (sometimes as much as 2 percentage points lower than their nearest competitor) because of their belief that the homes should remain affordable. Probably no other person did as much to better the lives of Poles in Milwaukee by giving them a chance to own their own home and move out of their cramped quarters close to the factories.
The Great Depression caused a financial disaster for countless individuals. At at time before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, many people saw their life savings disappear when the their local banks collapsed, taking their deposits along with it. The National Savings and Loan Association was also hard hit, but Louis Fons stepped up. He contributed his entire personal fortune to ensure that its depositors were paid back 100 cents on the dollar. Moreover, many of the people who had purchased their houses in the 1920's were in dire straights because of the Depression. There again, the National Savings and Loan Association stepped up and helped many people keep their houses by arranging for refinancing under the federal Home Owners Loan Corp. program.
You might think that running Fons and Co. and the National Savings and Loan would consume all the time of Louis Fons. Not even close! He was also the founder of the Berthelet Pipe and Supply Company, director of the Juneau Investment Company, and organized the Central State Bank. He was also, for a time, publisher of the Nowiny Polskie.
But Louis Fons was not just a one-dimensional businessman. He was also a fine athlete and passionate about that distinctly American national pastime: baseball. He excelled at it so well as to play some semi-pro ball, starting at the ripe age of 16. He played second base, and the teams he played for won the city championship in 1899 and 1900. In 1908, he and some friends decided to organize a baseball team that reflected their Polish heritage, and the Koscisko Reds semi-professional baseball team was born. It may not have been the first "Polish" team, but it was the first one in Milwaukee to crack into the City League, the premier local semi-pro circuit at the time.
The Team had its first game, with Fons as second baseman and captain, on April 11, 1909. The competed under the strange name of the Kosciusko (sic) Monument Cigars. In just two years, the team won the City championship with Fons still playing second base (at age 33). Unfortunately, he sustained an injury in the last game of the pennant that would end his career as a player. No matter, he simply became president of the team, while still continuing as manager. Fons made at least two important moves in that position in his first year. First, he built a new ballpark for the team at the intersection of Harrison and Grove (now S. 5th) Streets. Called the South Side Stadium, it could seat almost 5,000. Second, he bumped the team up into the Lake Shore League (which only allowed the top semi-pro teams from SE Wisconsin and northern Illinois). In the next few years, the Reds would dominate that League. They won the Championship their first year in the league. The first Milwaukee team to do so. They won it again in 1914 and 1915. After that time, Fons would gradually diminish his involvement in the team.
Given all this activity, it is hard to imagine when Fons found time to be involved in local politics, but he was. The high point of his political career was from 1918 to 1920, when he represented the 8th District in the Wisconsin state Senate. Although he was technically a Republican, he actually ran with something that is almost inconceivable these days: a joint Democratic-Republican endorsement. He only had one term because he choose not to seek re-election.
Louis Fons married Cecelia Sonnenberg in Milwaukee on September 23, 1902. (Louis' brother Frank, would later marry Cecelia's sister, Helen.) They had seven children. Louis passed away on May 18, 1959.
Trivia: When Louis Fons bought his one-half interest in the realty company in 1902, the name of the resulting firm, Wawrzyniakowski and Fons, combined, arguably, the longest Polish name in Milwaukee with its shortest.
Relation to Last Featured Profile (Darlene Lucht Brimmer): None
Path From Last Featured Profile: See upcoming Blog entry.
Sources (all references to page numbers in newspapers are to the page on Google News):
Bruce, William George, and Josiah Seymour Currey, History of Milwaukee City and County, The S. J. Clark Publishing Co., 1922, Volume Three:. The biography of Louis A. Fons begins on page 152.
"50th Anniversary -- Both Business and Marital -- Neared by Louis Fons," Milwaukee Sentinel, August 17, 1952, p. 31.
"50 Years Head of Company, Louis Fons Also Reaches 72," Milwaukee Sentinel, September 3, 1950, p. 39.
"50th Anniversary -- Both Business and Marital -- Neared by Louis Fons," Milwaukee Sentinel, August 17, 1952, p. 31.
"50 Years Head of Company, Louis Fons Also Reaches 72," Milwaukee Sentinel, September 3, 1950, p. 39.
"Fons & Co. for 41 Years Have Developed Business," Milwaukee Journal, April 26, 1928, p. 22.
Genealogia - FonsTree (in Polish)
"Housing Market Wasn't Always So Bleak," Milwaukee Journal, May 19, 1981, p. 36.
"Kosciuskos Are Strong," Milwaukee Sentinel, April 16, 1911, p. 11.
"Louis Fons, Builder, Dies," Milwaukee Journal, May 15, 1959.
"Louis Fons Standing Pat," Milwaukee Sentinel, July 18, 1915, p. 7.
"Morgandale Meets Just About All the Needs of Its Residents" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 17, 2000, p. 26.
Pease, Neal, "Kosciuszko Reds, 1909-1919: Kings of the Milwaukee Sandlots," Polish American Studies, Vol 61, No. 1 (Spring, 2004) pp. 11-26.
"Polish Alliance Plans to Honor Louis Fons," Milwaukee Journal, October 8, 1953, p. 13.
"World News Told In Brief," The Ingomar (Montana) Index, January 10, 1918, p. 6.
For a discussion of the first game held at South Side Stadium based around surviving photographs of the game see, Pease, Neal, "Big Game On the South Side - A Milwaukee Baseball Mystery Decoded," Wisconsin Magazine of History, Spring, 2005.
