Siegfried sesselmann the story of the now long-forgotten steinl canning factory in stadtsteinach began when the young teacher’s son michael anton steinl from viersberg near ansbach was transferred to the then stadtsteinach rent office as a senior tax clerk around 1920.
At about the same time, major efforts were underway to turn the small town into a "summer resort" to make known.
"The saxons to guest
And indeed, more and more holidaymakers, mostly from saxony, were looking for rest and relaxation, so that the locals referred to all the guests as "the saxons" titled. This is how the young anton steinl met and fell in love with amalie auguste lisbeth meyer from leipzig.
After their marriage in leipzig in 1923, the parents-in-law paul and helene meyer also moved to their little vacation town, which they had grown fond of. Shortly after the inflation in 1923, they probably supported anton steinl in building a stately building in the old pressecker strabe, into which, however, the general local health insurance company moved only one year later.
Country house with round bay window
A year later, anton steinl built a multi-storey country house with a round bay window and a double hipped roof at spitalgasse 6. In the meantime, the two sons heinz (born in 1924) and anton jr. (1925) came to the world.
Shortly thereafter one read advertisements of the "pension meyer", established the leipzig in-laws in this house, in 1931 the construction of a wax house was started, and from 1933 a nursery flourished next to the house.
But the elan of the visionary anton steinl sen. There was no stopping them, and in 1939 they converted the konopka willow shellery at the railroad station into a canning factory. In the beginning of the world war, the long-lasting food was urgently needed, and many women found bread and work in the company.
In love at hunters meeting
1949 the two brothers heinz and anton steinl jr. Took over the company. The company with the name gartenbau und konservenfabrik gebr. Steinl.
Heinz married franziska bauerschmidt, the daughter of the factory supervisor and musician georg bauerschmidt, in 1951. Anton steinl married hedwig lucking from near paderborn in 1953, whom he had met at a hunters’ meeting.
Flower store on the main street
Heinz steinl expanded the gardening business in his parents’ house in spitalgasse from 1960 onwards, which was only deregistered in 1989. His daughter annett ran a florist’s shop at hauptstrabe 2 in stadtsteinach from 1977 to 1989. The offer was constantly expanded.
From 1960, anton steinl’s main focus was the expansion of the canning factory at the train station. Until 1968 up to 40 women were working in the harvest season. They concentrated on the conservation of beans, which were grown on leased flats.
Many schoolchildren also earned pocket money as vacation workers when they went ploughing with willow carcasses. The main customer was the tengelmann chain of stores, and beans from stadtsteinach were sold in 400 branches in germany.
For years, the steinl cannery, which closed in 1968, has been home to the knoll company. The farmhouse of the gartnerei was sold, and on the place of the wax house stands since 1992 a building with eight owner-occupied flats. Today, no traces of these two companies are visible in stadtsteinach.
