Caspar Ludwig Opländer
The Founder
Company sign: “Louis Opländer Dortmund. Copper and Brass Goods Factory, Mechanical Engineering. Speciality: Equipment for breweries, distilleries, alcohol and chemical factories.”
Caspar Ludwig Opländer settled in Dortmund in 1872, married, and founded the “Louis Opländer Copper and Brass Goods Factory” as a master coppersmith. Through his drive, discipline, and especially his craftsmanship, he built up a successful artisan business. From Dortmund, he sold distillation systems to large parts of the Münsterland region, where some of them remained in operation until 1950.
At that time, the growing industrial and brewing city of Dortmund offered a solid business basis for all kinds of copper and brass work, such as that used in breweries. As industrialization progressed and prosperity increased in the late 19th century, demand for distillation and brewing systems also grew considerably. In addition, the rapidly growing cities of the Ruhr region saw an increase in the number of homes, as well as in the availability of direct water connections, which in turn increased the need for supply and drainage pipes.
Wilhelmine Gertrud Caroline Opländer
Caspar Ludwig Opländer’s family had eight children. The eldest, Karl Wilhelm Ludwig, known as “Louis”, took over the business at a young age after the early death of his father, who died at just 46, and successfully continued to run it together with his mother Wilhelmine Gertrud Caroline. She proved to be an exceptionally energetic, strong, and entrepreneurial leader who managed the business carefully and successfully together with her son Louis. She reached the notable age of 80. Her household ledger, which still exists today, documents the precision with which every penny was accounted for.
As Louis assumed his father’s business succession unexpectedly early, he was unable to complete his engineering studies in Hanover. His seven siblings also received a good professional education, which was not a matter of course at the time.
