LS&Co. Unzipped

Mar 01 2013

Birthday Week!

This week, Levi Strauss would have turned 184 years old. In honor of this occasion, I thought I'd share four fun and interesting things you might not know about the founder of Levi Strauss & Co. and co-inventor of the blue jean.

The Great Impersonator?
In the December 16, 1894, issue of Arizona’s Tombstone Epitaph, both Levi Strauss and Adolph Sutro were listed as arrivals at the Grand Central Hotel in Benson, a nearby city. Sutro was another famous San Franciscan, who made his fortune with the “Sutro Tunnel,” used by the gold miners in Nevada’s Comstock region. When I saw this article recently, I thought it was odd that two such famous men paid a visit to these remote towns. Levi had a large fleet of traveling salesmen who would have serviced the region. And I had no knowledge of any business interests that Sutro had in the area.

The name “Levi Strauss” was actually quite common at the time, and if only his name had shown up in the “Hotel Arrivals” column, it would just have been a coincidence. But both Strauss and Sutro? It seemed strange, so I did a little digging. I discovered that Levi Strauss was serving on the Grand Jury in San Francisco on this date, and Adolph Sutro, who had just been elected San Francisco’s next mayor, was also busy in the city.

So, there are probably two explanations for this. Either Adolph Sutro was a more common name than I figured, or a couple of clever men decided to impersonate the famous merchants and get themselves a fine hotel room and some VIP treatment for a few days.

Levi and Honest Abe
The American president Abraham Lincoln has been in the news quite a bit lately, with the movie “Lincoln” and the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in the States. There is also a link to our history. Levi Strauss voted for Abraham Lincoln when he ran for his second term in 1864, and there is also evidence he voted for him the first time four years earlier.

When Disaster Strikes
Levi Strauss believed in helping people in need, and he contributed to charities that were important to him personally. He also made donations in the name of his company to alleviate suffering after major disasters. (When we talk about our company's commitment to community service in the places where we live and work, this is where it started -- with Levi, himself!) Here are some of the events whose relief organizations the company contributed to during Levi’s lifetime:

• The great Chicago fire, 1871
• Earthquake in Charleston, South Carolina, 1886
• Widows and orphans fund, Nanaimo mine disaster, British Columbia, Canada, 1887
• Floods in Liguria, Italy, 1887
• Floods in León, Mexico, 1887
• Floods in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 1889

Fire!
Levi knew that San Francisco had been destroyed by fire more than once early in its history. So in 1890, he joined a number of businessmen who wrote to the presidents of the Chamber of Commerce, Board of Trade, Produce Exchange, Mechanics’ Institute, and Manufacturers’ Association about:

“…this city’s peril, by reason of its being unprepared to cope with a conflagration, for the want of sufficient and proper fire apparatus and hose; from not having a fully paid Fire Department and its isolation from sources of supplies and assistance…”

The men ask the various city organizations to call a public meeting to alert citizens to the potential danger of fire and to discuss ways to remedy the situation.

And now...you know a little bit more about the interesting life of our founder. Happy Birthday, Levi!
 

Posted By: Lynn Downey, Historian, Levi Strauss & Co.
	Tags: Levi Strauss & Co.,Levi's®,Social Responsibility

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