Otto Kubatzky arrived in America from Germany on board the SS Braunschweig (shown on the left) on June 2, 1892. The 22 year old stated he was headed to Illinois with just $22 (just over $700 today) in his pocket. His occupation was listed as a baker.
Otto landed at Locust Point in Baltimore, Maryland. It was called "Baltimore's Ellis Island" because the neighborhood was once the third largest point of entry for immigrants to the United States after Ellis Island and the Port of Philadelphia. From 1868 until the closure of the Locust Point piers in 1914, 1.2 million European immigrants entered Baltimore through Locust Point.
Locust Point in the 1890s
Weather Otto made it to Illinois or not is unknown. But, he next appears getting married in Fargo, North Dakota, to Emily Colberg in 1895. The next year he moved his wife and new baby daughter to Wyoming. There he works as a baker and pastry chef at the new Grand Canyon Hotel in Yellowstone National Park.
Initially a tent camp near the Grand Canyon the site was soon followed by the first Grand Canyon Hotel (aka Cañon Hotel) constructed from roughly 1886 to 1890. This facility was doomed from the start. After a protracted construction process, including conflict about where to put the hotel, the building’s foundation was shoddy, with poorly plastered walls. The building, when completed in 1891, was called by the park superintendent "a most unsightly edifice." The hotel compensated for its unattractive appearance by offering a high standard of comfort and service. The second hotel was a plain three-story wood-framed building with an entrance porch on the long dimension of the building. The 250-room hotel was enlarged with twenty-four more rooms in 1901.
Apparently not liking the conditions of the hotel and the area he started advertising his skills in newspapers looking for another job. Within 2 years, he is in San Jose, California.
Besides baking he is now appearing as a carpenter/architect in the city directory. He also starts the paperwork to become an American citizen.
In August 1900 Otto puts his house up for rent and moves the family to Portland, Oregon. A couple months after their arrival their 6 month old daughter Grace dies. This may have made things worse in his marriage.
He and his wife were already having issues and had broken up twice. Otto starts working as a building contractor and Emily takes their two young daughters and leaves Portland. A year later he finds them back to San Jose and they reunite and return to Portland.
But, it doesn't last and Emily and the girls disappear again. This time he finds them in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, where Emily had family. Otto negotiates to take one daughter back to the coast with him. When he returns for the other daughter they reconcile again and the girls return to their mother. Otto promised to send her $60 a month from Portland, but failed to.
Emily then decides to go to court in St. Paul. She claimed cruelty and that he tried to poison her. Plus, he had made them travel from town to town. She also states that a lady named Agnes Reese had tried to split them up. The case was dismissed because Otto had paid her $2,000 in the 18 since she had filed for divorce from him. He stated he only made $2.80 a day and that he had to close his contracting business in Portland to come to St Paul for the law suit.
Emily and the girls board at her brother's place in St. Paul. Otto relocates to St. Louis to work just in time for the St. Louis World's Fair.
Emily then decides to go to court in St. Paul. She claimed cruelty and that he tried to poison her. Plus, he had made them travel from town to town. She also states that a lady named Agnes Reese had tried to split them up. The case was dismissed because Otto had paid her $2,000 in the 18 since she had filed for divorce from him. He stated he only made $2.80 a day and that he had to close his contracting business in Portland to come to St Paul for the law suit.
Emily and the girls board at her brother's place in St. Paul. Otto relocates to St. Louis to work just in time for the St. Louis World's Fair.
The next year Emily leaves her daughters and is never heard of again. Otto brings his girls to St. Louis to join him.
Kubatzky, again building homes, now makes a good business move. He incorporates a new building company called the Unique Improvement Company. His two partners are Donald Roy Fitzroy of the Detroit Timber & Lumber Company and John Frederick Bottger who is President of the Southern States Lumber Company. Fitzroy and Bottger also own the Century Saw Mill Company. Things are looking up for Otto.
In 1909 Otto marries again. The lady is a widow named Lena Quinton. She also has a 4 year old daughter. His daughters are now 12 and 8 years old.
Otto becomes very busy as an architect, contractor and builder. He builds so many homes around St. Louis he is soon referred to as “The Bungalow Man”. These were selling for $200,000 in today's prices.
He also takes time to invent a new window weather strip. It is a flexible strip of metal to fit under a door or a window. It takes five years to be accepted for a patent and looks to be commercially viable.
In 1918 Otto looks for new opportunities and heads to Tulsa, Oklahoma. A town that has almost doubled the last five years and looks to keep growing rapidly.
The family moves into the new addition on the south side of Tulsa called Orcutt Park.
This part of Tulsa was on a Creek allotment of land owned by Anna B. Orcutt, which had a natural spring that led to Tulsa’s first lakeside amusement park. Orcutt Lake Amusement Park opened in 1909, and by 1910 Tulsa’s trolley lines ended at the park’s entrance, which featured dazzling electric lights. The 25-acre park had a 600-foot-long roller coaster, a hand-carved wooden carousel, a covered swimming pool, a theater, a cafe and an event pavilion.
Despite the park’s amenities, by 1917 the Orcutts sold the park to businessman E.J. Brennan. Brennan, a real estate agent, donated the lake to the City of Tulsa and closed the rides to develop the land for residential purposes. Along the way, Brennan dubbed the neighborhood “Swan Lake,” likely due to the presence of waterfowl.
The Kubatzky's lived at 1611 South Rockford. He was just 4 blocks from his office at Alhambra Square, where he was now the Superintendent Of Bush-Burns Realty.
Despite the park’s amenities, by 1917 the Orcutts sold the park to businessman E.J. Brennan. Brennan, a real estate agent, donated the lake to the City of Tulsa and closed the rides to develop the land for residential purposes. Along the way, Brennan dubbed the neighborhood “Swan Lake,” likely due to the presence of waterfowl.
The Kubatzky's lived at 1611 South Rockford. He was just 4 blocks from his office at Alhambra Square, where he was now the Superintendent Of Bush-Burns Realty.
Life in Tulsa was going well until two years later. Fueled by oil money, Tulsa was a growing, prosperous city with a population of more than 100,000 people now. But crime rates were high, and vigilante justice of all kinds wasn’t uncommon. But Tulsa was also a highly segregated city. Most of the city’s 10,000 Black residents lived in a neighborhood called Greenwood, which included a thriving business district sometimes referred to as the Black Wall Street. This was only 2 miles north of Otto’s home. During 18 hours from May 31 to June 1, 1921, a white mob attacked residents, homes and businesses in the Greenwood neighborhood. This became known as the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Most of Otto's work was done on his side of town. His most memorable building was the Alhambra Theatre. Originally opened on May 4, 1923 with a Kimball organ it was closed in 1928 then renovated in 1929 and reopened as the Plaza Theatre on July 25, 1929.
Mr. and Mrs. Kubatzky were bridge card players which might have led Otto to his next endeavor. A new playing card design. Not just a design, a card company. On January 1, 1927 he incorporates the O. K. Playing Card Company. O. K. for Otto Kubatzky and not OK for Oklahoma.
Otto must not of had other partners in his business venture. The new company was incorporated in Delaware, where it was cheaper to do so. The people listed on the paperwork were all from there. They were Arley B Magee (An Incorporation Agent in Delaware), Elizabeth Ferguson (Secretary) and Thomas D Hubbard (An Accountant who would soon be the State Treasurer).
For whatever reason it took Otto until August to come up with a card design that wasn't patented until May 1928. By then he apparently had a company lined up to make his cards. Even though his business address was The McBirney Building at 303 South Main in Tulsa his printer was the Western Printing & Lithograph Company of Racine, Wisconsin.
Western Printing & Lithographing Company's New 1925 Plant
In 1907 Edward Henry Wadewitz worked at the West Side Printing Company in Racine, Wisconsin. When the owner was unable to pay him his wages, Wadewitz took the opportunity to purchase the company for $2,504,
At the end of its first year sales were $5,000 and the company increased its staff of four to handle a growing number of commercial jobs. In 1910, the company changed its name to Western Printing and Lithographing Company after the purchase of its first lithographic press. By 1914, sales were more than $127,000. Wadewitz was approached by the Hamming-Whitman Publishing Company of Chicago to print its line of children's books, then acquired Hamming-Whitman on February 9, 1916. They then formed a subsidiary corporation called Whitman Publishing Company. In 1916, Sam Lowe joined Western. He convinced Western and Whitman to publish a 10-cent children's book in 1918 and convinced retailers that children's books could be sold year-round. This led to bigger sales.
Western introduced boxed games and jigsaw puzzles in 1923 and by 1925 sales exceeded $1 million. Western added another subsidiary, the Western Playing Card Company after purchasing the Sheffer Playing Card Company. In 1925 they built a new plant with the first humidity controlled environment.
At the end of its first year sales were $5,000 and the company increased its staff of four to handle a growing number of commercial jobs. In 1910, the company changed its name to Western Printing and Lithographing Company after the purchase of its first lithographic press. By 1914, sales were more than $127,000. Wadewitz was approached by the Hamming-Whitman Publishing Company of Chicago to print its line of children's books, then acquired Hamming-Whitman on February 9, 1916. They then formed a subsidiary corporation called Whitman Publishing Company. In 1916, Sam Lowe joined Western. He convinced Western and Whitman to publish a 10-cent children's book in 1918 and convinced retailers that children's books could be sold year-round. This led to bigger sales.
Western introduced boxed games and jigsaw puzzles in 1923 and by 1925 sales exceeded $1 million. Western added another subsidiary, the Western Playing Card Company after purchasing the Sheffer Playing Card Company. In 1925 they built a new plant with the first humidity controlled environment.
Otto patented four designs in 1928.............
These were followed by two more in 1929...............
These are the two designs, and card backs, he decided to use for his decks...........
The Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards lists these decks as............
NR9 NUART, The O.K. Playing Card Co., Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1928. This rare, unusual no-revoke deck has four different colored suits, black spades, red hearts, orange diamonds and purple clubs. The court cards have a Deco feel and feature people in contemporary clothing of the era. The spade and heart kings are dressed in formal attire, while the diamond and club kings wear business suits. The queens are dressed in fashions of the day and the jacks represent different sports.
NR9a NUART, The O.K. Playing Card Co., Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1928. This deck is included here, although it is not a no-revoke deck, because it has a similar Ace of Spades and Joker as NR9. The courts are unusual and representative of a much earlier period.
This term Nuart/NuArt in the 1920s was associated with Art Deco designs. To me, these designs were not really in that genre.
The more 1920's style deck (NR9) was stated to be a "No Revoke" deck. Four-color decks were made for trick-taking games such as bridge, whist, or jass. They are often called no-revoke decks because they are perceived to reduce the risk of a player accidentally revoking (illegally playing a card of a suit other than that led). This deck was advertised as having black spades, red hearts, orange diamonds and purple clubs.
December 1928 Ad in Tulsa Newspapers
Otto's cards appear to have been sold only in the Tulsa area. This is the only area I have found ads for them. It appears they did not last very long. Was it due to the Great Depression hitting the country?
Otto then came up with his best idea yet. Designs for a window ventilator.
Otto then came up with his best idea yet. Designs for a window ventilator.
In 1930 Otto takes his family back to St. Louis. He now also has 2 teenage sons (Theodore and Woodrow), of which one works for him building homes. They arrived to build homes at the right time in St. Louis.
St. Louis's unemployment rate was far higher than the national average, peaking at over 30 percent in 1933. Over the years the city would become the nation's largest home to between 3,000 and 5,000 down-and-out victims of the Great Depression.
From 1930 to 1932, the city allocated $1.5 million of its funds towards relief operations, while the Salvation Army and the St. Vincent de Paul Society provided another $2 million. In late 1932, St. Louis voters passed a $4.6 million bond issue to provide more relief funds, and in the spring of 1933, Mayor Bernard Dickmann and the Board of Aldermen balanced the city budget by reducing expenditures by 11 percent. Federal relief programs began contributing funds in May 1933, but St. Louis issued a second bond for relief funds in February 1935 for $3.6 million. Of the $68 million spent on relief in St. Louis from 1932 to 1936, $50 million came from the federal government, $12 million came from the city and local agencies, and only $6 million from the state.
Another bond issue for improvements came in 1934, providing funds for city beautification and renovations on civic buildings, reducing the number of persons on direct relief aid to 35,000 in 1936 from more than 100,000 in 1933.
Housing was booming in St. Louis and Kubatzky was in the thick of it.
By now both his sons were working with him. In 1935 he spent $25,000 (over $600,000 today) on a subdivision. His company was making a name for itself in St. Louis. But, Otto was still working on his window ventilator idea and in 1938 patented an improved version.
St. Louis's unemployment rate was far higher than the national average, peaking at over 30 percent in 1933. Over the years the city would become the nation's largest home to between 3,000 and 5,000 down-and-out victims of the Great Depression.
From 1930 to 1932, the city allocated $1.5 million of its funds towards relief operations, while the Salvation Army and the St. Vincent de Paul Society provided another $2 million. In late 1932, St. Louis voters passed a $4.6 million bond issue to provide more relief funds, and in the spring of 1933, Mayor Bernard Dickmann and the Board of Aldermen balanced the city budget by reducing expenditures by 11 percent. Federal relief programs began contributing funds in May 1933, but St. Louis issued a second bond for relief funds in February 1935 for $3.6 million. Of the $68 million spent on relief in St. Louis from 1932 to 1936, $50 million came from the federal government, $12 million came from the city and local agencies, and only $6 million from the state.
Another bond issue for improvements came in 1934, providing funds for city beautification and renovations on civic buildings, reducing the number of persons on direct relief aid to 35,000 in 1936 from more than 100,000 in 1933.
Housing was booming in St. Louis and Kubatzky was in the thick of it.
By now both his sons were working with him. In 1935 he spent $25,000 (over $600,000 today) on a subdivision. His company was making a name for itself in St. Louis. But, Otto was still working on his window ventilator idea and in 1938 patented an improved version.
Otto had so much faith in his window design that on March 30, 1939 he trademarks it as “ Winco". It becomes the main product of his new company, The Winco Ventilator Company of St. Louis. Manufacturer magazines say "it provides ample fresh air and at the same time assures strictest privacy."
Fresh air was something St. Louis badly needed at that time. Studies revealed that in 1926, St. Louis had an annual soot deposit of 870 tons per square mile. This was far above Chicago and Pittsburgh. Despite efforts at reducing pollution by washing coal prior to burning it, St. Louis smog continued unabated. Among the worst episodes was the 1939 St. Louis smog, which blackened the sky during the day of November 28 and lasted for three weeks
Otto's window ventilator idea was his legacy. Winco Window Company is still in business today. Here is part of the WINCO website's company history story................
With several patented inventions later, Kubatzky incorporated the Winco Ventilator Co. in 1935. The company’s first product was a ventilator — an operating projected window, which it built and sold to builders around St. Louis. For more than 85 years, Winco Window Co. has expanded its product portfolio and grown its customer base nationally.
Winco’s first product was an operating projected window called a ventilator. It was built in-stock sizes and then sold to builders and glazers in St. Louis and surrounding areas. The first of many niche products designed by Winco, these ventilators were designed for homes and commercial applications in the mid-1930s. They were installed into 4” thick glass block walls where fresh air could “ventilate” interior spaces.
Before WWII Otto’s two sons, Theodore and Woodrow, joined their father in the construction and development world while helping the fledgling ventilator company. After the war, they concentrated on growing Winco’s product line and created a nation-wide sales network. When their father retired, Ted and Woody created innovative solutions for commercial applications during the post-war building boom. The first hung/projected window is one example.
Woodrow and his wife Helen became the sole owners of Winco in the mid-’50s. During Woody’s leadership, Winco became a charter member and board member of AAMA, the industry’s trade association. Also begun during his tenure was a strong family of independent sales representation that catered to the specifications of architects for custom operating aluminum windows and curtain wall.
In 1983 upon the passing of both Woody & Helen Kubatzky, their three daughters became owners. One of the daughters, Kory, married Gantt Miller, III. Gantt, like the companies’ founder, is an architect/builder and developer. Gantt’s management plant facilities have been expanded to meet the needs of growing production into new products including sound, thermal, tornado, hurricane, blast, and FEBR (forced entry and ballistic resistant) products. Gantt also continues to participate in the highest levels at AAMA.
Today the 4th generation of Otto’s family has company participation and ownership in Winco. Together, with a very talented, dedicated and loyal staff, the Winco family continues to build a strong team keeping a focus on product innovation, excellence, and customer satisfaction.
Theodore, Otto and Woodrow in 1954
Otto passed away on 21 December 1961, in St. Louis at the age of 92.