Dyckerhoff, Gustav Wilhelm Wernhard

Entrepreneur

born: 12.10.1838 in Mannheim

died: 12.01.1923 in Biebrich

After completing his commercial apprenticeship in Bamberg and working briefly in his father's business, Dyckerhoff worked as a merchant in Marseille for two years from 1859. However, his stay in England with Schwann, Modera & Co in Manchester and then in Glasgow, Scotland, was of particular importance for his later professional career.

He became interested in English cement, explored the production technology and passed the information on to his father Wilhelm Gustav Dyckerhoff, who, together with Carl Brentano, had been building up a cement factory in Hattenheim in the Rheingau region since 1861. After Brentano left the company, Dyckerhoff and his brother Rudolf Philipp Wilhelm Dyckerhoff became partners in the Portland cement factory Dyckerhoff & Söhne in 1864. He succeeded in promoting the quality of German cement internationally. In 1895, Dyckerhoff exported 25% (150,000 barrels of cement) of its production to the USA.

Dyckerhoff was not only a successful entrepreneur, but also a pioneer in the introduction of social facilities for his employees. In 1864 - immediately after the company was founded - the company's own workers' health insurance fund was established. This was followed in the early 1870s by a benevolent fund for the needy, and cash donations were made to employees on the occasion of family celebrations or anniversaries. With a foundation of 200,000 marks, the brothers put the retirement provision of long-serving employees on an independent basis.

Dyckerhoff was honored many times. He was an honorary citizen of Mainz-Kastel, Biebrich and Flörsheim and was awarded the title of Privy Councillor of Commerce as well as various medals.

Gustav's wife Luise expanded social welfare for the company's employees and workers by founding the Amöneburg Housekeeping School under the guidance of Elise Kirchner. There, daughters of company employees who had left school received a one-year course in housekeeping. A boys' school was established for the sons, where boys were taught carpentry, among other things; in the so-called boys' garden they learned how to grow fruit and vegetables. Luise was also active in local politics as a member of the Fatherland Women's Association, founded in 1892. She was also a co-founder and sponsor of the Volkswohnhaus in Biebrich, a maternity advice center and an infant milk facility. In 1916, Empress Auguste Viktoria awarded her the Luisenorden II. Class for her social activities.