On Traces of history

     Rudolf Müller (1856-1892)

     Elisabeth Müller-Thommen (1860-1945)

The historically great importance of Elisabeth Müller-Thommen

At the beginning of the 20th century, Elisabeth Müller-Thommen proves to be a strong woman in turbulent times. After the suicide of her husband, she bears the responsibility for the upbringing of her three sons and the continuation of the indebted business all by herself. If the capable, prudent and cost-conscious businesswoman had not been successful, there would be nothing for the Müller Packaging to celebrate this year.

The foundations of today's Müller AG Verpackungen were laid in 1888, when the couple Rudolf and Elisabeth Müller-Thommen moved from Gelterkinden to Kleinhüningen in Basel. Here, the master tinsmith Gretler from Zurich offers them a workshop together with a residential house and pigsty for sale. The purchase price is 30,000 francs. However, the family of five with the three young sons Rudolf, Ernst and Karl has hardly any savings. Fortunately, a few generous relatives and acquaintances come to their aid and enable them to make the purchase on December 14, 1888.

Above all, it is the Basel mathematics professor Eduard Hagenbach-Bischoff, whose calculation scheme is still used today for the fine distribution of seats in the National Council. He provides the young couple with 18,000 francs from the assets of his ward Adolf Hagenbach for the first mortgage. The remaining 12,000 francs for the second mortgage come from the Handwerkerbank Basel, for which, however, three guarantors are needed:

• Uncle Rudolf Müller-Erder, Sägenfeiler, Trillengässlein 2/4 (later his widow Balbine Müller-Erder, called Aunt Miller)
• Jacob Buser, burgher cashier in Zunzgen (later the adjoining neighbor Leopold Lauer-Sigg, master carpenter) and
• Carl Wüthrich-Buser, fergger, Trillengässlein 2/4.

A fergger used to have more complex tasks than today's "forwarding agent" or "logistician". He worked on behalf of textile merchants as a middleman to the home workers or craftsmen. He controlled their work, paid their wages and was responsible for the supply of raw materials as well as the collection of finished products, for example silk ribbons.

Rudolf Müller gets a fine job: he plans and builds the copper roof for the village church of Kleinhüningen. Nevertheless, the situation of the young family darkens because father Rudolf falls into a severe depression and suddenly chooses suicide on May 5, 1892. It is financial problems from which the young master tinsmith sees no way out.

Elisabeth not only becomes a widow at the age of 32, but also remains the single mother of the three 8-, 7- and 5-year-old boys. Energetically and purposefully, she takes over the workshop and store. Here she offers a wide range of household items such as storm lanterns, coffee grinders, bed bottles, cutlery and crockery, straighteners, mouse traps and even botanizing tins. In addition, a sizable stock of hardware is kept in the workshop and cellar for use in repair jobs and new construction.

In 1897, the tinsmith's shop hires its first employee - Mr. Neuenschwander - and becomes a company according to the definition of the time. Thus the year 1897 becomes the founding year of today's Müller AG Verpackungen.

In 1901, another stroke of fate: Elisabeth's eldest son Rudolf jun., who was intended to be the managing director, dies unexpectedly after a short, severe period of suffering from meningitis. The second eldest son Ernst Müller then decides to give up his apprenticeship as a fergger at Senn and Co in Basel and to follow in the footsteps of his deceased brother.

Elisabeth Müller-Thommen succeeds in reorganizing the business only through great thrift and the wise use of the available funds. Her son Ernst, who discovers a real gap in the market in the 1910s with the series production of tinplate cans for the rapidly growing Basel chemical industry, provides essential support.

At times, Elisabeth herself stands at the workbench with the soldering iron in her hand. She successfully runs the business under the name "Witwe E. Müller Basel, Bauspenglerei und Installationen" for 30 years and has the final say in all important matters - until the sale of the company to her son Ernst in 1920. He has a favorable prerequisite for a promising start as a supplier of fittings for the chemical industry in Basel thanks to his apprenticeship as a fergger and later as the manager of the tinsmith's store.

Elisabeth Müller-Thommen dies in Liestal on October 21, 1945.