Business & brands / Politics
Christian H. Buhl
1810–1894 · industrialist, banker, mayor of Detroit
Hatter and fur trader who became one of Detroit's leading industrialists and bankers and served as mayor at the outbreak of the Civil War (1860–1861).
- Born
Zelienople, Pennsylvania- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 83- Birth name
- Christian Henry Buhl
- Also known as
- Christian Henry Buhl
- Detroit years
- 1833–1894
- Field
- Business & brands, Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Christian H. Buhl learned the hatter's trade from his Bavarian-born father in Pennsylvania and came to Detroit in 1833 to join his older brother Frederick. The brothers' hat shop grew into F. & C. H. Buhl, a major fur-trading house. In 1855 Christian left the fur trade for wholesale hardware with Charles Ducharme and then moved into heavy industry and finance: he was part owner of the Detroit Locomotive Works (later Buhl Iron Works) and the Sharon Iron Works, organized the Detroit Copper and Brass Company and the Peninsular Car Company, backed railroads and presided over the Detroit National Bank. A Whig who joined the Republicans when the party formed, he served as alderman and was mayor in 1860–1861, as the city sent its first regiments to the Civil War. He gave a valuable law library to the University of Michigan and left money to expand it. He died in 1894.
Highlights
- Mayor of Detroit, 1860–1861
- Co-founder of the F. & C. H. Buhl fur company
- Part owner of the Detroit Locomotive Works
- President of the Detroit National Bank
- Donated the Buhl law library to the University of Michigan (1885)