Mattern, 650 W. 52nd St. near 12th Ave., New York, 2020  

Jacob Mattern & Sons, automobile supplies, is listed in New York city directories at this address on 52nd St. only in 1932-33. Earlier they were located at 215 W. 53rd St. That location spans thirty some years from 1893 through 1929.

The founder was Jacob Mattern (1853-1924). He was born in Bavaria and immigrated to the U. S. in 1871. The manifest of the SS Thuringia, sailing from Hamburg and arriving in the port of New York 2 Nov. 1871, lists Jacob Mattern, age 18, German, "smith."

In 1918 the Jacob Mattern Wagon Co. became Jacob Mattern & Sons, Inc., the sons being George Andrew Mattern (1880-1933), Henry Stanley Mattern (1882-1965), and Joseph S. Mattern (1884-1922).

According to an article in India Rubber and Tire Review, 1928, vol. 28, pg. 110, "Fifty-two years ago, Jacob Mattern, wheelright [sic], started a little shop in New York for the manufacture of carriages and carriage wheels ... Jacob Mattern original founder, and the grandfather of James Mattern, the present president." This would put the origins of the business at 1876. But I have not been able to find the business in city directories until 1893. Part of the problem is another Jacob Mattern, also a carriage maker in the same West Side area. This Jacob Mattern was located on W. 25th St. as early as 1873. He was in business with several different partners on Broadway, then 7th Ave. into the 1880s. He is also possibly the same "Jacob Mattern, carriages" located at 136. W. 28th Street in 1892.

In 1930 India Rubber and Tire Review, vol. 30, pg. 114, reported, "Wheels, Incorporated, of 835 Eleventh Ave., New York City, [Wire Wheel Corp.] announced the purchase on May 10 of the inventories and equipment of Jacob Mattern and Sons, Inc., of 630 West 52d St., New York City."

On Jacob Mattern's death in 1933 the following notice appeared in the New York Times, 10 Jan. 1933, "George A. Mattern, pioneer in the automotive industry, died yesterday at his home, 175 Riverside Drive, of heart disease at the age of 52. He was president of Jacob Mattern & Son, Inc., of this city. He retired in 1930 to engage in realty and finance. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Angelina Mattern, and three children, James, Marie and Richard, the last a cadet at West Point."

This ad for the Jacob Mattern Wagon Co. as distributors of Motz Cushion Tires appeared in the New York Times, 16 May 1915.

Copyright © 2021 Walter Grutchfield