By the time Patti Toci and her husband bought the Julius Kruttschnitt, Jr. house in Tucson, previous owners had taken virtually everything the family had left behind. Then, one day in the 1960s, a remodeling crew opened a plaster wall and discovered a small piece of uncrumpled paper behind the lathe. “It was a receipt,” […]
Johannes Kruttschnitt Was a 19th-Century Renaissance Man
Born in Brenz, Germany, Johannes Kruttschnitt came to this country in 1837, seeking (what else?) fame and fortune. He achieved both. A successful merchant, a published scientist, a civic leader, and the father of highly accomplished children, Kruttschnitt rose to become one the best-known, most-respected men in New Orleans in the late 19th Century. “Despite his modesty and self-seclusion, few […]
Julius Kruttschnitt, Sr., Thought Sleep Was Over-Rated
Julius Kruttschnitt, Sr., the one-time chairman of the Southern Pacific Railroad, worked 18 hour days “for considerable lengths of time” during a 43-year career with the railroad that was interrupted by his untimely death. My seemingly indefatigable great-great grandfather was one of several industry leaders asked to respond to a 1920 Cosmopolitan article, “The Pace […]
Posthumous Letter Sheds Light on Kruttschnitt’s Yale Years
“I see you’ve found my scrapbook from Yale,” reads a letter recently sent from the grave by Julius Kruttschnitt, Jr. The talking letter suddenly appeared after this blogger opened Julius’s decrepit scrapbook of his undergraduate college years, 1903 through 1907. “As you can probably see, I had a pretty good time.” To say the least. Kruttschnitt received his degree in […]
Julius Krutschnitt Remains in Graveyard
In June of 1925, a special train assigned by the Southern Pacific Railway carried the body of Julius Krutschnitt, Sr., railroad genius and empire builder, to the Metairie Cemetery in his boyhood home of New Orleans. Judging by a trip to the grave site this weekend, he still appears to be buried there, alongside his wife, Elise Minna […]