NOTE: I have no connection, no further information and am not seeking additional information. 11960 JEFFERSON CO - JOHN W. KLEIN – Klein, Klink, Bushmeyer, Frantz, Battey, Hatch #11960: History of Kentucky, The Blue Grass State, Volume IV Illustrated. S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago-Louisville, 1928. JOHN W. KLEIN [photograph], one of Louisville’s well know citizens and successful business men, was born in this city May 14, 1864, the only son of his parents, William and Elizabeth (Klink) Klein, and belongs to a family that has long been identified with the business interests of Louisville. William Klein, the father, who was a native of Germany, came to this city as a boy and through the exercise of his industry and thrift established a confectionery business that subsequently became one of the best known stores in that line in Louisville. He married Miss Elizabeth Klink, who was a native of this city, and their family consisted of a son and a daughter, John W. and Mamie. The latter married Charles F. Bushmeyer, and is now deceased. William Klein’s death occurred on the 19th of March, 1900, when he had reached the age of sixty, while his widow survived until July 6, 1907, being in her sixty-eighty year at the time of her death. John W. Klein received a public school education and began his business career in the confectionery business established by his father. He early showed a special aptitude and an ability to progress in business administration and gradually assumed heavier responsibilities. He was associated with his father until the latter’s death, when he took over the sole management of the business, which he continued with marked success until July, 1920, when he retired. The Klein store at 456 South Fourth street was one of the business landmarks of its time, and enjoyed a popularity not surpassed by any store of its kind in Louisville. Always up-to-date and in many respects a distinct leader, its success reflected in the progressive character of its proprietor. Among his other business interests, Mr. Klein was for some time vice president of the Louisville Water Company. His real estate holdings in Louisville include some of the most valuable business property in the downtown section. For some years he has spent the winter season in Florida, in which state he also has valuable realty interests. The management and handling of his private interests has for several years been Mr. Klein’s business recreation. Mr. Klein was married October 24, 1889, to Miss Emma E. Frantz, a daughter of George W. Frantz, of Louisville, and they became the parents of a son and two daughters. Their only son, Lieutenant John W. Klein, Jr., was born August 17, 1894, and was killed while leading his company in the Argonne Forest, November 6, 1918. A more extended mention of him appears elsewhere in this work. The elder daughter, Georgia, received her early education in Louisville, and afterward attended Mason’s School, known as “The Castle,” at Tarrytown, New York. She married Fay H. Battey and resides in Buffalo, New York, and has a son, John Klein Battey. The other daughter, Mary Elizabeth, attended the Kentucky Home School for Girls in Louisville and completed his studies in Ogontz College, situated near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is now the wife of G. Leland Hatch, of West Palm Beach, Florida, and has become the mother of two daughters, Betty and Barbara Hatch. Mr. Klein belongs to the Second Presbyterian church and along fraternal lines is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a man of well balanced capacities and powers whose sound judgment and good common sense in business matters have been important factors in his success. Louisville has been Mr. Klein’s home since his birth, and for more than forty years he was actively and prominently identified with the city’s business life, which has given him an extensive acquaintanceship, and not a few of his best friends have known him from boyhood. Genial and optimistic by nature, he extracts from life the real essence of living, and is not only regarded as an excellent type of the city’s best citizenship but also as one of Louisville’s strong and able business men. Indicative of Mr. Klein’s unbounded faith in Louisville’s future, and his logical reasons therefore, is the following newspaper interview which appeared in the Courier-Journal of August 31, 1926: “Louisville, like a youth, is just beginning to feel itself and to have some inkling of its own power and attraction, John W. Klein, Louisville financier and former confectioner, said Monday in discussing development here within the last few years. “Real development in Louisville is just getting under way,” Mr. Klein said, “and while what has already gone on may seem a bit surprising it will be as nothing to what the future years will bring. Prospects here are far richer than those of many other cities and each succeeding year is sure to mark healthy increases in property values, population and per capita wealth in the community.” Mr. Klein’s statement is as follows: “It is far better for all persons here to invest in Louisville property than to send their money to the large eastern centers for the same purpose – this is proved by the fact that during past years for that purpose and have been profiting greatly by their investments. I have just returned from an extensive motor tour throughout the eastern states, and not one of the dozens of cities I visited presents the same possibilities as does Louisville. Many of these faraway cities have been building up a great tradition concerning undreamed-of increases in property values, but I think we can hold our own with any of them. Many of us hear about the huge increases in New York city and forget to remember the time when downtown properties in Louisville were selling as low as three hundred dollars a front foot. I can name innumerable prominent corners where increases of more than ten per cent have been effected in a few years. Two factors greatly influenced the development of Louisville, which first began making itself apparent a number of years ago, these being the bringing of Camp Zachary Taylor here and the spreading of the city’s fame by visitors. The camp exerted the greatest influence in bringing persons here and they came, saw and were conquered, returning to their homes to spread our fame by word of mouth. This publicity, the greatest a city can enjoy, then played its part in bringing others here, many of whom remained to lend their aid and money in building Louisville into the progressive center it is today. The increase in the city’s population has been nearly as surprising as the increase in property values, and in two score years I have seen Louisville grow from a community in which I knew nearly every citizen by name to one in which I recognize scarcely ten acquaintances in every thousand passers-by. The changes in the tangible form of the city have been almost magical and it seems almost as though in the years I have been here I have seen it daily spread and grow, covering territories that were once considered far from town. Market street, between Twenty-sixty street and Fontaine Ferry, was once almost a backwoods trail marked with unpicturesque ponds and pastures, while none but a few settlers would consider living in Crescent Hills and in the suburban districts do the south. Louisville, then, was not the thing of beauty it is today, and nearly all buildings, it seemed, were nearly as coarse and ugly as it was possible to make them. Today it has been learned that beauty has its place in the development of a city and every architectural device is being brought into play to make Louisville attractive to the visitor in the hope of making him a permanent resident. And more and more of these casual visitors are being won over as residents by the many fine qualities of our city, bringing in new money and new dreams and weaving them into reality, making Louisville the new metropolis of the south.” KYBIOGRAPHIES Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=kybiographies KYRESEARCH Archives:http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=kyresearch