Herman O. Wadewitz, secretary and treasurer of the Racine Trunk Company identified with this industry for more than three decades and has contributed much to the success which has made it an important business concern of Racine. He was born in Port Washington, Wisconsin, July 26, 1865, a son or John F. Wadewitz, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. With the removal of the family to Racine he obtained a public school education here and was twenty years of age when he started in the trunk manufacturing business, becoming one of the organizers of the Racine Trunk Company, which was established April 1, 1885, by J. F., T. C. and H. O. Wadewitz and A. B. Augustine. Upon the incorporation of the business ten years later he became secretary and treasurer and has so continued to the present time. Not only each year but also each month and day has brought him broader knowledge of the business and its opportunities, and in the line of manufacture the company has kept abreast with the tendency of the age in making improvements which add much to facility and comfort in traveling. They put forth the latest and best that is to be found in trunks and traveling bags of every description and the excellence of their product is demonstrated in the continued growth of their patronage, their output being today found in all sections of the country.
On the 25th of November, 1902, Mr. Wadewitz was united in marriage to Miss Adeline Schneider, of Madison, Wisconsin, and they now have a son, Donald, born May 2, 1904. Mr. Wadewitz exercises his right of franchise in support, of the men and measures of the Republican Party and is conversant with the political situation of the country and the vital and significant issues that divide public opinion upon political questions. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and religiously with the First Evangelical church. in the work of which he has been active and much interested, serving as a trustee of the church and as superintendent of the Sunday school.