Phenix Manufacturing Company

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Phenix Manufacturing Company

You wouldn’t know it today but the building that is the current home of Lakeland Care, Inc., at 607 E. Elizabeth Street in Shawano was once the home of thriving and growing business that employed over 100 with sales of $8M.

History of the Phenix Manufacturing Company

The Company was founded in 1894 by Edward Jacob Fellman. E. J. was a linen buyer for one of the large Milwaukee Department stores at the time, but being a creative individual, was filing for patents on various hardware items at the same time. As a matter of fact, discovery of that was a major influence in his decision to found Phenix. It was a modest beginning, a one-man operation working out of a barn on 9th & Meinike making screens for local distribution in the Milwaukee area.

In search of additional capital, E. J. took on a partner in that first year. As the business prospered, he was able to buy back full ownership within five years.

Those first six years, to 1900 saw the continued building of the screen business on a retail level and the development of numerous hardware fastening devices which were to be sold on a national level. These included such items as loose joint hinges, screen pulls, corner joint fasteners, numbering tacks, anti-rattlers, ventilator sash locks and storm door chains.

By 1901 business grew to the point that more space was needed. A factory was built on the Milwaukee. River at the function of Humboldt and Center Streets.

1901 to 1920 saw the business continue to grow and flourish with screens and porch enclosures being made and sold on a local retail level and fastening hardware being sold on a national jobber level. In addition, several contracts were picked up around 1915 for the screening of post offices, prisons, and hotels all over the country. During this period, millwork accounted for 50% of the business and jobber hardware the other 50%.

In 1920, Judson Fellman, one of E. J.’s sons, joined the business after returning from overseas duty in World War I. The post war ’20’s were good for business throughout the economy and Phenix was no exception. By 1928, the business had grown to employ 35-40 people and take in gross annual sales of $290,000.00. Then in 1929, the bubble broke, and America started into what was to be its most depression ever; one that wasn’t to turn around for almost six years.

After graduation from school in 1932, E. J. ‘s other son, ED Fellman joined the company and immediately demonstrated his business expertise piloting the company Model T delivery truck around the city.

The great depression saw many businesses, both big and small, go under. but Phenix never closed its doors. For the company, 1933 was the worst year with gross sales of 528,000.00. The work force was all six people. During those days, the procedure was to sell in the afternoon and make and install those sales the next morning. One bright spot during those dark days was the acquisition of Sears, Roebuck & Company as an account.

In 1935, E. J. Fellman passed away while working in his backyard garden. The reputation for honesty and integrity in all business dealings and the tradition of making only high-quality merchandise that E. O. had built his business on were a significant aid to his two sons as they carried on the business.

By late 1935, business had started to pick-up. The company began to sell millwork wholesale. In 1939, the first garage door was built and sold to Sears. Roebuck a Co. Continued growth meant a need for more room and this time the need was met by leasing the Kissel plant in Hartford, Wisconsin.

The Hartford operation went well from 1940 to 1945, with garage door sales growing enough to put on salesmen in Wisconsin and Michigan. World Nar II made steel and lumber too scarce for domestic products; and emphasis was switched to various government requirements such as screening army barracks, building cots for the Navy, screening hospitals and stamping out metal parts for tanks.

The Hartfard building was sold in 1945, and the new owners had different ideas about living up to the old owner’s verbal commitments. The rapid termination of the lease resulted in the purchase and construction of a new modern facility in 1940 at 4129 N. Port Washington Road.

During the post war years, Phenix expanded back into the wholesale millwork business with heavy emphasis on garage doors. In addition to Wisconsin and Minnesota, the trade area was increased into Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota. It was at this time both the Milwaukee contract division and the Jobber hardware line were sold out leaving the company entirely in the wholesale business dealing thru lumber yards and millwork jobbers in a five-state area.

The mid-50’s were good growth years for the company with annual gross sales volume running into the $2M bracket. Product sales were split 50-50 between millwork and garage doors. The late ’50’s saw the introduction of the aluminum combination door into the marketplace which cut heavily into our millwork sales. By 195B, sales were approximately 80% garage doors and dollar volume was pushing $4M.

The combination of increased volume and bulkier product was again causing growing pains. In 1958, Phenix leased the vacant Jolin Plant in Shawano, Wi. This was to be run as a feeder operation to the main Milwaukee plant under the supervision of Fred Glasl and a crew of 10-15 men and 1 woman. (Lawrence Paiser, Cy Vander Velden, Maurice Hartleben, and Anna Belle Degener, to name a few.) The arrangement worked well and in 1960 the company purchased the Shawano property and added a few more employees.

In 1961. a small addition was put on the Shawano division and the “Acua-Port” was added to the line. While this aluminum covered steel frame boat-cover was a novel idea and good product, it was not well suited to the company s existing marketing system. Rather than set up a new staff to deal with new channels of distribution, product line was sold off.

Another new product introduced in the early sixties met with much greater success. The introduction of a fiberglass door, The Phenix Magiclite, proved itself to be a wise choice as the door grew to account for almost 1/3 of the garage door volume in less than a decade.

A major building program was undertaken in 1964 to make enough room to house the entire woodworking process under one roof in Shawano. This was accomplished by mid-year. Just two years later another addition in Shawano made room for the relocation of the administrative staff and functions. The space vacated in Milwaukee was leased out to various industrial concerns, making Phenix a landlord as well as a manufacturer.

The most recent construction in 1972 finally reunited the entire operation under one roof. The transfer of the metal shop to Shawano and the further sales growth finds the company in the mid-70’s employing approximately 150 area people producing about $8M worth of goods distributed throughout the Midwest.