August Friedrich Gallun (May 30, 1834 – 1912) was the founder of A. F. Gallun & Sons which operated their "Empire Tannery" in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
He was born in Osterwieck-on-the-Harz, Germany.
He came to the United States in 1854 from a family of leather tanners. His father and grandfather had been engaged in the business in Germany.
In 1864 he married Julia Kraus and they went on to have four children, Albert F. Gallun, Ella, Edwin (who died at the age of 22), and Arthur H. Gallun.
He was employed by Albert Trostel and after 9 months of employment, they founded Trostel & Gallun. They were well known for harness, saddle, collar and line leather, boot and shoe grains, wax upper, and kip and calf skins.
After 8 years together, their partnership dissolved and each went into business with their sons. Gallun founded A. F. Gallun & Sons. They did business across the United States, and also some in Europe and South America.
Parts of Holton and Water Streets in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are referred to as the Gallun Tannery Historic District and they were added to the NRHP in 1983.
References
- Shoe and Leather Facts: Published Monthly. 1912. p. 6.
- "The Milwaukee Sentinel - Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 2014-07-10.
- Jerome Anthony Watrous (1909). Memoirs of Milwaukee County: From the Earliest Historical Times Down to the Present, Including a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families in Milwaukee County. Western Historical Association. p. 1010.
- Elmer Epenetus Barton (1886). Industrial History of Milwaukee, the Commercial, Manufacturing and Railway Metropolis of the North-west: Its Great Natural Resources and Advantageous Location as a Shipping Point, with a Review of Its General Business Interests, Including History of Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce, Statistical and Descriptive, to which is Added a Series of Sketches of the Prominent Places and People of the Cream City, the Rise and Progress of Firms, Institutions, and Corporations. E.E. Barton. p. 96.
- "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.