Among the younger generation of Rock Island’s prominent business men whose names are deserving of special mention for what they have achieved in their chosen vocations in life, stands that of Otto Huber, who is the present secretary and treasurer of the Rock Island Brewing Company, a Rock Island industry whose formation, growth and present scope, has been related elsewhere in this book.
Mr. Huber was born in Rock Island January 19, 1866, and attended schools in that city until he was ready to enter the Illinois State University at Champaign, where he spent three years. Afterward he studied two years abroad and graduated from the Institute of Technology at Weihenstephan, near Munich, Bavaria, which country had been the birth place of his father, Ignatz Huber. After completing his education he entered his father’s business in 1889, but he was also a promoter of brewing enterprises in other cities, notable among which is the organization of the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company in 1893. This was a consolidation of four of Seattle’s brewing plants and was brought about by Otto Huber. The company today is the largest and most prominent brewing concern in the United States west of Milwaukee and St. Louis. He organized the Des Moines Brewing Company in 1907, of which he is the president.
In 1893 when the Rock Island Brewing Company was formed, Mr. Huber was one of the chief promoters of that organization, and it was largely through his activity that the organization was brought into being. Upon its formation he was elected secretary and treasurer of the new company, positions which has held ever since.
In 1902 Mr. Huber was one of the organizers of the Illinois State Brewers’ Association and was its first secretary.
In 1903 Mr. Huber became vice president of the People’s National Bank of Rock Island, succeeding his father in that office. In 1904 he was appointed a member of the board of park commissioners in the City of Rock Island and it was this board that inaugurated the improvement of Long View Park, one of the most beautiful in the state. He is at present treasurer of the board.
Mr. Huber is not allied with an political organization, but gives his support to those men and measures that in his opinion represent the best principles.
He is a member of several social and fraternal organizations, among them being the Rock Island Club, the Davenport Commercial Club, Chicago Athletic Association, is a life member of the Rock Island Arsenal Golf Club, and is a member of the Elks.
He is a man who is fond of all varieties of clean athletic sports, being an enthusiastic equestrian and golf player.
Mr. Huber is unmarried. He takes an active and prominent part in the social life of the three cities and Chicago, his genial qualities and liberality making him a general favorite. Although a young man possessed of wealth and one who has received many ad-vantages he is unspoiled by prosperity and is of a very unassuming nature without the slightest trace of arrogance. Warm hearted and sympathetic he is ever ready to extend a helping hand to those less fortunate than himself and to devote his time and money to the up building of his native city.