Nadler, Carl S.

Submitted by Mike Miller

Carl S. Nadler, who was born and reared at Plaquemine, the judicial center of Iberville Parish, is here the manager of the estate of his father, the late Henry Nadler, and this includes his direction of the well equipped foundry and machine works here established by his father in the year 1888.

Carl S. Nadler was born at Plaquemine, on the 24th of March, 1892, and is the second in order of the five children of Henry and Jennie (Seepe) Nadler, both natives of Peru, Illinois, where the former was born in l863 and the latter in 1865. The parents were reared and educated in their native place, in La Salle County, Illinois, and there their marriage was solemnized.

Henry Nadler had the advantages of the public schools of Peru, and as a youth he there learned the machinist's trade. In 1885 he removed to Davenport, Iowa, where he became superintendent of the Bettendorf Wheel Works. Finally he bought a machine shop at Fort Madison, that state, and in 1888 he removed the machinery and other equipment of this plant to Plaquemine, Louisiana, where he utilized the same in establishing a machine shop and foundry. His associate in the enterprise was William Blackie, and the business was continued under the firm name of Blackie & Nadler until 1900, when Mr. Nadler purchased his partner's interest and assumed full control, which he retained during the ensuing twenty years, and until the time of his death, which occurred October 6, 1920. Mr. Nadler, a man of sterling character and of marked energy and progressiveness in business, developed the leading foundry and machine works of Iberville Parish, and the establishment has ever been known for the reliability and dispatch of its work and for effective general service. Mr. Nadler was one of the loyal and liberal citizens and business men of Plaquemine, served a number of years as a member of the City Council, and was a director of the Peoples Bank. In politics he maintained an independent attitude. Since his death his widow has continued to maintain her home at Plaquemine. Harry A., eldest of the children, resides in Santo Domingo, and is superintendent of the La Romana factory of the South Porto Rico Sugar Company; Carl S., of this sketch, is the next younger Arthur is foreman of the Nadler Foundry at Plaquemine, and in the World war period he served one year in the United States Army, he having been assigned to the coast artillery and having served in various camps in the United States; J. Allen is in charge of the office of the Henry Nadler estate; and Robert A. is (1925) a student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.



The studies of Carl S. Nadler in the Plaquemine public schools included a course in the high school, and in 1912 he was graduated from the University of Louisiana, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. It may be noted in this connection that all of his brothers except the youngest are likewise graduates of this university. In the year following his graduation Mr. Nadler completed a post-graduate course and received from his alma mater the supplemental degree of Master of Science. At the university he became affiliated with the Sigma Nu fraternity, and all of his brothers are likewise members thereof.

In the autumn of 1913 Mr. Nadler went to Porto Rico and there assumed a position in the mechanical engineering department of the South Porto Sugar Company, and he was eventually advanced to the position of technical engineer. He continued in the employ of this corporation until 1917, when he returned to Plaquemine, where for the ensuing two years he assisted his father in the management of the foundry and machine works. He then went to Cuba, in the capacity of mechanical engineer for the Cuban Cane Sugar Corporation, and he retained this post until the death of his father recalled him to his native city in 1920. Here he has since had charge of the estate and business of his father. The Nadler foundry and offices being situated on the north side of Bayou Plaquemine and just across the bridge from the City of Plaquemine. This foundry has special equipment for the manufacturing of supplies and accessories for sugar refineries, and this is made a special feature of the business, which includes also a general foundry, machine and repair service. The industry is one of substantial and prosperous order, and employment is given to forty hands, Mr. Nadler is arrayed in the ranks of the democratic party. He holds membership in the Presbyterian Church in his home city, as does also his widowed mother, and his wife is an Episcopalian. His Masonic affiliations are as here noted: Acacia Lodge No. 116, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Plaquemine, and Washington Chapter No. 57, Royal Arch Masons, and Plains Commandery No. 11, Knights Templars, both in the City of Baton Rouge. In the Labauve Addition to the City of Plaquemine Mr. Nadler owns and occupies an attractive residence, the same being most modern in architecture, equipment and facilities.

At Tallulah, Louisiana, August 8, 1916, recorded the marriage of Mr. Nadler and Miss Genevieve Smith, who was born in the State of Mississippi and who is a graduate of the Louisiana State Normal College at Natchitoches. Mr. and Mrs. Nadler have two children, Carl S., Jr., who was born June 11, 1917, and William S., who was born .August 8, 1919.

Joseph Nadler, grandfather of the subject of this review, was born and reared in Austria, became a skilled mechanic, and was a young man when he established his residence at Peru, Illinois, in which state he passed the remainder of his life.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 342, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.