Charles A Mueller Tannery (1872-1903)

Charles A Mueller Tannery (1872-1903). . Charles A. Mueller (1842–1923) emigrated from Germany with his family in 1854 to Detroit, Michigan. He later moved to Wisconsin and learned the tanner's trade in Two Rivers. Mueller worked at Paul Wolf’s Tannery in Port Washington from 1861 to 1863. He then moved to Sheboygan Falls to operate a tannery. In 1872, Mueller returned to Port Washington and purchased Wolf’s Tannery.

In the 1800s, tanning was one of the largest industries in the United States. Leather was in such high demand that cows were often raised for their hides rather than for their meat. The booming industry led Mueller to expand his business. He built a five-story brick building in 1880 and fitted it with the resources for making rough leather. This new facility was located on the west slip of the harbor where the schooner John Mee unloaded hemlock tanning bark imported from northern forests. The tannery employed between ten and twenty men and tanned twenty thousand hides annually. A fire destroyed the five-story tannery in May 1903. In 1906, Mueller sold the land to the Milwaukee-Northern Railway to build its electric powerhouse for the interurban streetcar service between Milwaukee and Sheboygan. A hotel now stands on the site of the Mueller Tannery.

In addition to being an entrepreneur, Charles A. Mueller served as mayor of Port Washington (1890–1892 and 1896–1906) and was responsible for many city improvements, including: sewers, electric lighting, water works, and the library. He was a member of the Ozaukee County Board of Supervisors in 1899 and the fuel administrator for Ozaukee County during World War I.