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The success story of the Stiegelmeyer Group
125 years in the service of healthcare and nursing care
125th anniversary
It’s no surprise really that the name of a family-run company can change in the course of 125 years. But our company founder Johann Stiegelmeyer only stayed in his company for the first four years before starting a new life in Hanover. This begs the question why Stiegelmeyer is still called Stiegelmeyer today. The answer can be summed up in just one word: success.
In the short period of time between 1899 and 1903, the name Stiegelmeyer grew to be such a valuable brand that there was no question of trading without the name. Only once, shortly after the First World War, did an attempt to rebrand the company to “Herford furniture factory” (“Herforder Möbelfabrik GmbH”) appear to take place. But, fortunately, this idea was soon rejected.
Despite its turbulent beginnings, the Stiegelmeyer company was literally a family business right from the start. Johann Stiegelmeyer, one of five siblings, lived with his parents in Rödinghausen in the eastern district of Herford. It was in 1899 that the 25-year old had an idea of how to improve the modest sleeping comfort of the time, namely by using “wire mesh mattresses” – metal bed frames with a springy wire mesh. He got together with Fritz Brüne, the friend and later husband of his sister Hermine, recruited a workforce and began production at his parents’ house.
The fledgling start-up appeared to be so busy after only a few months that the horse-drawn cart could no longer turn in front of the entrance. At any rate, Stiegelmeyer and Brüne left Rödinghausen for Herford in the year 1900, since they had been unable to reach agreement with the parish about extending the access road. The company was then officially founded in Herford on 1 November 1900.
Shortly afterwards, the company campus began to grow at such a rate on the newly purchased site on Annastrasse that it is simply hard to imagine today. Artistic engravings of the building from the year 1902 still seem impressive now. To finance this rapid expansion, however, Johann Stiegelmeyer depended on financially strong partners, and that is what ultimately led to the rift. His co-partner Fritz Brüne left as early as in 1901, while a partner called Hans Münster stayed for only a few months. The wealthy Herford haulier and furniture remover Albert Dörnte joined the company on 1 July 1902 and soon after became the sole company director.
The businessmen of the austere Wilhelmenian era seemed to not get on very well with the pleasure-seeking and party-loving Johann Stiegelmeyer. Albert Dörnte bought out the company founder in 1903 and gave him his marching orders. Stiegelmeyer’s life continued to vacillate between his business genius and the unrest of his private life. He founded an even bigger factory in Hanover, this time for rivets and wall plugs, and developed significant innovations in this field. The successful company survived until the year 1982, and the location still bears the address “Stiegelmeyerstrasse”. Johann Stiegelmeyer was married four times. He passed away in 1943, in the midst of the gloom of the Second World War.
In Herford, Albert Dörnte guided the fortunes of the “Eisenmöbel-, Stahldrahtmatratzen- und Polsterwaren-Fabrik Joh. Stiegelmeyer & Co., Inh. Alb. Dörnte” in his capacity as the owner of the Stiegelmeyer iron furniture, wire mesh mattress and upholstery factory from the year 1903 onwards. He moved into a villa on the company premises, continued to expand the production facilities at a rapid speed and introduced many developments which still distinguish our company to this very day: the broad, multi-faceted product portfolio, the manufacture of hospital beds and the acquisition of sales and production locations beyond the confines of Herford. As an example, Dörnte acquired a share in a bed factory in Cologne as early as 1910, a location which the company remained loyal to until 1972. Through the marriage of his daughter Grete with the young employee Dietrich von Hollen in 1920, the first member of our present-day shareholder family Kemmler became the managing director of the company – but that’s a tale for the next calendar story. Albert Dörnte retired from company management in 1925. He died in the spring of 1941.
The two company patriarchs – Stiegelmeyer and Dörnte – have one thing in common: there is no surviving photograph of them in our archives. There is also no longer any contact to any direct descendants. Although both men had several children, while Grete and Dietrich von Hollen remained childless, there is no line of descent today that leads back to those early years. When the Stiegelmeyer Group decided to make a company video in 2022, drawing attention to its long tradition, there was nothing to fall back on when it came to picturing Johann Stiegelmeyer. An actor of a suitable age played his part, faithfully fitted out with suitable clothing from the turn of the century before last. The film set aimed to recreate the first workshop in Rödinghausen.
Even if “Mr Stiegelmeyer” is no longer available to speak to on the phone, the positive energy of those early years still lives on today. Courage and self-confidence, entrepreneurial drive and a focus on solutions, combined with the relentless will to offer our customers the best possible product, have successfully guided us through the decades.
