Charles H. Pfennig

Charles H. Pfennig (January 22, 1871 – August 13, 1955) was an American businessman and politician. A Republican, he was the 36th and 41st Mayor of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and represented Kenosha for two years in the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Charles H. Pfennig
36th and 41st Mayor of Kenosha, Wisconsin
In office April 1916 – April 1918
Preceded by	Mathias J. Scholey
Succeeded by	John G. Joachim
In office April 14, 1902 – April 1904
Preceded by	James E. Gorman
Succeeded by	James E. Gorman
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Kenosha district
In office January 1, 1913 – January 1, 1915
Preceded by	Mathias J. Scholey
Succeeded by	Don J. Vincent
Sheriff of Kenosha County, Wisconsin
In office January 1, 1907 – January 1, 1909
Preceded by	John H. Veitch
Succeeded by	W. H. Gunter
Personal details
Born	January 22, 1871 Neenah, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	August 13, 1955 (aged 84) Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting place	Green Ridge Cemetery, Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Ruth Ann Shields ​ ​ (m. 1905; died 1955)​
Children	Frederick S. Pfennig and 3 daughters
Occupation	Businessman, politician

Early life and career

Born in Neenah, Wisconsin, Pfennig was still a small child when his parents moved the family to Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 1873.[1] He was educated in public and parochial schools of Kenosha and worked for most his young adulthood in a retail grocery business owned by his father. In the 1890s, Pfennig became involved with the local volunteer fire department. He became an agent of the Queen Insurance Company, selling fire insurance, and, in 1898, he started his own insurance business. His company would soon expand into real estate, and he would end up running the company—known as Charles H. Pfennig, Inc.—for the rest of his life.[2]

Political career

Pfennig became increasingly involved in local affairs as a member of the board of the YMCA. He joined the Republican Party of Wisconsin and began running for local offices on the Republican ticket. He was an unsuccessful candidate for City Treasurer in 1897 and 1898, but was elected to the City Council in 1900.[3][4][5]

After only one term on the city council, in 1902, Pfennig was chosen at the Republican city convention as their candidate for Mayor of Kenosha. Pfennig initially declined the nomination, but accepted after their next choice, Thomas Hansen, also refused.[6] His opponent was incumbent James Gorman, then in his third term as mayor. Pfennig prevailed by a margin of 75 votes in the April election and was inaugurated on April 14, 1902.[7] Gorman returned to run again in 1904, and this time defeated Pfennig.[8] In 1906, however, Pfennig ran for office again, and was narrowly elected to a two-year term as Sheriff of Kenosha County.[9] He did not run for reelection as sheriff in 1908, but was appointed to the city police board after leaving office.[10]

In 1912, Pfennig was the Republican nominee for Wisconsin State Assembly in the Kenosha County district. He challenged incumbent state representative Mathias J. Scholey, who had also recently served as Mayor of Kenosha.

One of the significant animating issues in the 1912 election was the new state income tax.[11] The income tax—the first in the United States—was created mainly to more equitably distribute the tax burden which had previously fallen almost entirely on farmers and large landowners who bore the brunt of the property tax.[12] It had been approved by referendum in 1908 and was extremely popular among the more rural counties, but was notably extremely unpopular in more urban, industrialized commercial centers like Kenosha.

The income tax was supported by Republican Governor Francis E. McGovern, but was vehemently opposed by both Pfennig and his Democratic opponent.[11] A Kenosha County straw poll taken a month before the election showed strong support for Pfennig despite McGovern running well behind his Democratic opponent and the Republican presidential nominee, William H. Taft, running third behind Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.[13] True to the polls, Pfennig prevailed in the November general election taking 54% of the county vote.[1] Due to his stance on the income tax, Pfennig was expected to take a lead role in the effort to repeal the tax.[14] This effort was ultimately unsuccessful and the Wisconsin income tax became a model for the federal income tax, passed in 1914.[12]

In the Assembly, he was chairman of the Committee on Printing and served on the Committee on Labor.[15]

In 1916, he was elected to another term as Mayor of Kenosha.[15] During World War I, he served as chairman of the Kenosha draft board.[2]

In 1928 Pfennig was again elected to the Kenosha Common Council and was chosen as president of the council in 1930.[15]

Personal life and family

Pfennig married Ruth Ann Shields on January 25, 1905. They had one son, Frederick, and three daughters. She died just a month before him, in June 1955.[16] Charles Pfennig died at Kenosha Hospital on August 13, 1955, after an illness. At the time of his death he had seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.[15][16]

His son, Frederick S. Pfennig, was also a politician. He represented Kenosha in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1941 to 1949 and was Republican assistant floor leader in the Assembly for the 1947 session.[17]

In addition to his insurance and real estate business, Pfennig was invested in the Terrace Court Corporation, was a director of the Brown National Bank, and was president of the Greenridge Cemetery Association. He was also a member of the Kenosha Salvation Army, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Modern Woodmen of America, and Rotary International.[15]

Electoral history

Kenosha Treasurer (1897, 1898)

Kenosha City Treasurer Election, 1897[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election, April 6, 1897
	Democratic	George M. Melville	1,187	54.10%
	Republican	Charles H. Pfennig	1,007	45.90%
Plurality			180	8.20%
Total votes			2,194	100.0%

Kenosha City Treasurer Election, 1898[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election, April 5, 1898
	Democratic	George M. Melville (incumbent)	1,153	51.59%	-2.51%
	Republican	Charles H. Pfennig	1,082	48.41%
Plurality			71	3.18%	-5.03%
Total votes			2,235	100.0%	+1.87%
	Democratic hold

Kenosha City Council (1900)

Kenosha City Council, 2nd Ward Election, 1900[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election, April 3, 1900
	Republican	Charles H. Pfennig	158	57.66%	-1.54%
	Democratic	Thomas J. Dale	116	42.34%
Plurality			42	15.33%	-3.07%
Total votes			274	100.0%	+9.60%
	Republican hold

Kenosha Mayor (1902, 1904)

Kenosha Mayoral Election, 1902[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election, April 1, 1902
	Republican	Charles H. Pfennig	1,480	51.30%
	Democratic	James E. Gorman (incumbent)	1,405	48.70%
Plurality			75	2.60%
Total votes			2,885	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

Kenosha Mayoral Election, 1904[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election, April 5, 1904
	Democratic	James E. Gorman	1,380	47.15%	-4.15%
	Republican	Charles H. Pfennig (incumbent)	1,292	44.14%	-4.56%
	Socialist	John Burns	255	8.71%
Plurality			88	3.01%	+0.41%
Total votes			2,927	100.0%	+1.46%
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing	5.61%

Kenosha Sheriff (1906)

Kenosha County Sheriff Election, 1906[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election, November 6, 1906
	Republican	Charles H. Pfennig	1,930	47.13%	-3.63%
	Democratic	Bernhard M. Schilz	1,873	45.74%	-3.50%
	Socialist	Henry Anderson	292	7.13%
Plurality			57	1.39%
Total votes			4,095	100.0%
	Republican hold

Wisconsin Assembly (1912)

Wisconsin Assembly, Kenosha District Election, 1912[18][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Republican Primary, September 3, 1912
	Republican	Charles H. Pfennig	1,173	72.45%
	Republican	Frank S. Becker	446	27.55%
Plurality			727	44.90%
Total votes			1,619	100.0%
General Election, November 5, 1912
	Republican	Charles H. Pfennig	3,184	54.18%	+15.60%
	Democratic	Mathias J. Scholey (incumbent)	2,231	37.96%	-13.08%
	Socialist	Leonidas L. Hill	462	7.86%	-2.52%
Plurality			953	16.22%	+3.75%
Total votes			5,877	100.0%	+27.37%
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing	28.68%

References

1. "Part VIII. Biographical Sketches" (PDF). The Wisconsin Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. 1913. p. 665. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
2. "Death Takes Pfennig, 84, Civic Leader". Kenosha News. August 13, 1955. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "His Majority is 98". Kenosha News. April 7, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Republicans Win". Kenosha News. April 6, 1898. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Sweep the City". Kenosha News. April 4, 1900. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Charles H. Pfennig Names". Kenosha News. March 24, 1902. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Pfennig Wins Out". Kenosha News. April 2, 1902. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Democrats Victors". Kenosha News. April 6, 1904. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Sweep the County". Kenosha News. November 7, 1906. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "New Board is Named". Kenosha News. April 30, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Hot on the Trail". Kenosha News. September 17, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Wisconsin Income Tax is 100 Years Old". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
13. "Neck and Neck Race in Kenosha". Kenosha Evening News. October 4, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "Bishop Will Lead". Kenosha Evening News. December 21, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
15. Journal of Proceedings of the 72nd Session of the Wisconsin Legislature (Report). Vol. 2. Wisconsin Legislature. 1955. pp. 2152–2153. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
16. "Civic Leader, Pfennig, Dies". Kenosha News. August 13, 1955. p. 7. Retrieved January 13, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
17. Ohm, Howard F.; Kuehn, Hazel L., eds. (1948). "Members of the Legislature" (PDF). The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1948 (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 52. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
18. "Two Still in Doubt". Kenosha Evening News. September 4, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Charles H. Pfennig at Find a Grave