Industrialist, US Congressman. He was elected as a Republican to represent Pennsylvania's 4th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1901 until his death in office. Born in Frankenhausen, Germany, where his German-American parents were on vacation, he was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He entered his father's leather-making business as a teen and struck out on his own on reaching adulthood. During the late 1880s he perfected a method for producing chrome-tanned goatskin; before then such leather could only be imported from France, and he quickly made a fortune marketing his product under the "Vici Kid" brand. In 1892 he built the world's largest leather manufacturing plant in Philadelphia, a 20-acre facility with over 3000 employees. He later became President of the Keystone Telephone Company. Although he had no real political ambitions, Foerderer was persuaded by the Republican Party to run for Congress as an At-Large delegate in 1900; he won a second term representing Pennsylvania's 4th District in 1902. Overwork undermined his health and he died at 43. His former estate in Philadelphia's Torresdale neighborhood, "Glen Foerd", is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Industrialist, US Congressman. He was elected as a Republican to represent Pennsylvania's 4th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1901 until his death in office. Born in Frankenhausen, Germany, where his German-American parents were on vacation, he was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He entered his father's leather-making business as a teen and struck out on his own on reaching adulthood. During the late 1880s he perfected a method for producing chrome-tanned goatskin; before then such leather could only be imported from France, and he quickly made a fortune marketing his product under the "Vici Kid" brand. In 1892 he built the world's largest leather manufacturing plant in Philadelphia, a 20-acre facility with over 3000 employees. He later became President of the Keystone Telephone Company. Although he had no real political ambitions, Foerderer was persuaded by the Republican Party to run for Congress as an At-Large delegate in 1900; he won a second term representing Pennsylvania's 4th District in 1902. Overwork undermined his health and he died at 43. His former estate in Philadelphia's Torresdale neighborhood, "Glen Foerd", is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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