Will County IL Archives Biographies.....GROTH, ADAM 
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Paula Winke-Martisek wranglerjack@comcast.net September 12, 2007, 4:16 pm

Author: GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD

ADAM GROTH.  In no occupation has a greater advance been made during the past  

fifty years than in contracting and architectural work.  The contractors of 

Joliet are of a class fully equal to those of any other large city, and among 

them Mr. Groth occupies a prominent position.  In 1895 he embarked in business 

as a cut-stone and general contractor at No. 1311 Cass street, where he has a 

fine plant operated by steam-power, and equipped with planers, saws, lathes, 

etc.  Employment is furnished to one hundred men, and all kinds of stone are 

handled and shipped to every part of the country. Among the contracts which he 

has had are many for important buildings, including the schoolhouses and other 

public buildings in Joliet. At this writing he has under process of 

construction the United States post-offices at Paterson, N. J., and Brockton, 

Mass., the asylum for incurable insane at Peoria, Ill., and Otto Young's summer 

residence at Lake Geneva, Wis.   Mr. Groth was born in Marbourg, Germany, in 

1847, the youngest of three children, of whom the oldest died in Germany, and 

the second, Carl, is engaged in the cut-stone business in Germany.  His father, 

Frederick, son of a German soldier in the war of 1812-15, was born and reared 

in Marbourg, where he engaged in cut-stone contracting, and built many of the 

university buildings in that place.  He survived his wife for many years, and 

died in his native town.  When fifteen years of age our subject began to work 

at cutting stone in the summer, while in the winter he took a complete course 

in drafting and architecture. In 1866 he left Bremen on the sailing 

vessel ' 'Anna,'' which, after a stormy voyage of fifty-three days, landed in 

Baltimore, Md.  Three days after landing he began to work at his trade in the 

employ of Geddes Bros., with whom he continued for seven months.  He was then 

employed by Mr. Maxwell for two years.  From Baltimore he went to York, Pa., 

thence to Philadelphia, and finally returned to Baltimore, where he worked with 

Taylor Bros, until 1871.  In May of the latter year he came west to Chicago, 

where he worked at his trade.  He witnessed the burning of Chicago and assisted 

in building it up again.  In 1872 he became foreman for W. C. Dickman, with 

whom he remained for three years.  In those days a five-story building was 

considered very tall.  After a time stone was used in the construction, and 

seven-story buildings began to be built, but they were no higher until the 

steel construction was introduced.  He was foreman in the building of the 

Sherman house, a seven story building; also in the building of the county jail 

and court-house.  Going to Wausau, Wis., in 1876, Mr. Groth started a small 

stone and contracting business, and later opened a granite quarry which he 

discovered north of the town about nine miles.  He quarried the first granite 

in that section, and shipped large quantities to Chicago to be used for paving 

blocks.   In 1882 he returned to Chicago, where he embarked in the stone and 

contracting business.  From there, in 1884, he settled in Joliet, where he was 

foreman for E. R. Brainard, the contractor for the Joliet penitentiary.  He 

continued with the same employer until 1895, when he resigned in order to 

engage in business for himself.  He is a man of energy, and has proved himself 

an efficient man of business, possessing the qualities that almost invariably 

bring their possessor success.  In religion he is of the Lutheran faith.   

Fraternally he is connected with the Royal Arcanum; also Matteson Lodge No. 

175, A. F. & A. M.; the Royal Arch Chapter Council, and Joliet Commandery No. 

4. He was married in Chicago to Miss Minnie Fallscheer, daughter of John 

Fallscheer, an early settler and business man of that city, where she was 

born.  Their marriage resulted in the birth of four children, namely: Lucy, who 

is in charge of the office; Carl, who is architect, draftsman and 

superintendent of construction for his father; Emma and Alma.

Formerly a Democrat, at the time of the convention of that party in Chicago in 

1896, and the adoption by it of a platform endorsing free silver, he withdrew 

his allegiance and joined the Republican party.  In the spring of 1895 he was 

nominated for city treasurer on the Democratic ticket, and, being elected, took 

the oath of office, May 1, 1895, for a term of two years.  The office he filled 

with credit to himself.  He assisted in organizing the Germania Club, of which 

he served as vice-president for two terms.

Additional comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900


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