Denver, History of Colorado, BIOS: KOHLER, HENRY (published 1918)
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"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918) Vol. II


p. 439-440




HENRY KOHLER.

The business enterprise, keen discernment and unfaltering 
industry of Henry Kohler find visible expression in the immense 
business built up by the Kohler-McLister Paint Company, of which he is 
the president. This company is engaged in the manufacture and in the 
wholesale and retail sale of paint and wall paper, at No. 1621 Arapahoe 
street in Denver. Mr. Kohler was born In Toledo, Ohio, October 6, 1854, 
and is a son of Julius Kohler, a native of Germany, who came to America 
in 1848 and settled in Toledo, where he was engaged In the profession 
of civil engineering. He was a graduate of the Stuttgart Polytechnic 
University and in 1857 he returned to Germany, where he lived for a 
year. He then again came to the new world but later sold his interests 
In this country and once more went to Germany, where he spent his 
remaining days, his death occurring in 1900, when he had reached the 
age of sixty-eight years. He was. very successful in the conduct of his 
business affairs. He retained his citizenship as an American until 
1873, when, through the laws of Germany and on account of his business 
interests, he had to again become a German citizen or leave that 
country. He always had a love for America and her institutions, 
however, and was ever most interested in her progress and upbuilding. 
He married Julia Georgi, a native of South Germany, and they became the 
parents of four children, two sons and two daughters.

Mr. Kohler of this review is the only one now in America. He was 
educated in the schools of Germany and in Tubingen University in 
Wurtemberg. While pursuing his university course he studied chemistry 
and in 1873 he returned to America, settling at Toledo, Ohio, where he 
entered the drug business in the employ of others. He followed the drug 
trade until 1883 but in September, 1881, he took the first bunch of 
cattle on the Ute reservation in Delta county, there to become engaged 
in the live stock and ranching business. He continued successfully in 
that field until 1903, when he removed to Denver to enter upon the 
manufacture of paint, a field which at that time had been pretty well 
covered. Notwithstanding much opposition and competition the firm, 
starting its business on a small scale, soon built up and developed its 
interests and today has one of the largest paint manufacturing 
establishments in the west, with an extensive wholesale and retail 
trade. The company also conducts a large wall paper business, selling 
mostly to the wholesale trade, and something of the volume of their 
patronage is indicated in the fact that they employ thirty-five people. 
Their business covers New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, also parts of 
Montana, Utah and Texas. The house is represented on the road by a 
score or more of traveling salesmen and the trade interests of the 
house are continually being extended. Mr. Kohler has now been a 
resident of Colorado for forty-two years. He arrived in this state on 
the 27th of January, 1876, and first settled at Lake City. There he 
engaged In the drug business in connection with S. T. Kostitch under 
the firm style of Kostitch & Kohler, at which time their stock of goods 
had to be freighted across the plains by their own outfit from Denver. 
They built up a successful trade in that locality and thus as the years 
have passed Mr. Kohler has advanced step by step in his business career 
until his interests are now large and important and he is a prominent 
figure in the commercial and manufacturing circles of Denver.

On the 8th of March, 1881, Mr. Kohler was married in southern 
Germany to Miss Sophie Nachtigall, a daughter of the late Fred and 
Sophie (Kess) Nachtigall.

Mr. Kohler maintains an independent course in politics and has 
never sought or filled office. He belongs to Oriental Lodge, No. 85, A. 
F. & A. M., having been made a Mason in Denver in 1911. He is also a 
member of the Royal Arch Chapter, the Knight Templar Commandery and the 
Mystic Shrine at Denver and he has membership in the Lakewood Country 
Club, the Manufacturers' Association and the Denver Civic and 
Commercial Association-connections which indicate much of the breadth 
of his interests and the line of his activities. His success is due to 
his own efforts. He was accorded liberal educational privileges but it 
has been the strength of his character and his unfaltering enterprise 
that have brought him prominently to the front in the business life of 
Denver. While a resident of Delta county he was very active in civic 
and other public matters and the forest reserve there was created 
through his instrumentality, as well as several others which were 
established during the administration of President Cleveland. This 
constituted a most beneficial act of the national government for the 
stock raisers, for the law defines the boundary lines where sheep and 
cattle can graze on the open lands. Mr. Kohler's efforts in that 
connection were far-reaching and beneficial and he has done other 
service equally valuable to the general public.