Fort Wayne Business Owners: A Historical Directory by Era

The Business Owners Roster · Every owner the record names, and their business

This is a list, not a narrative: one line for each business owner the record reached, with the business they owned. It is drawn from the city directories (Williams' and Polk's, read on archive.org) — their classified business listings and their proprietor and partner entries — and from this history's research into the city's firms and founders. No complete register of every owner who ever traded in Fort Wayne exists, and this roster does not pretend to be one: it is every owner the record reached names, and the gaps are the record's gaps. The year after a line is the founding year as given in this history, or the directory years in which the listing appears. Partnerships are listed as the directory printed them. Spelling follows the source; the directories' spelling of a name sometimes varies from year to year.

The canal and early-town era — to 1869

• James Barnett — Barnett & Hanna Mill (1827)
• John H. Bass — Bass Foundry & Machine Works (1853)
• John B. Bourie — Bourie & Peltier (1830)
• David Coles — Coles sawmill (1834)
• Francis Comparet — Comparet trading house (1818)
• Samuel Edsall — Orff's Mill (1842)
• Alexander Ewing — Washington Hall (1824)
• Allen Hamilton — Allen Hamilton & Co. (1838)
• Thomas Hamilton — Allen Hamilton & Co (1838)
• H. C. Hanna — Olds, Hanna & Co (directories: 1864–65)
• Zenas Henderson — Henderson's general store (1828)
• Absalom Holcomb — Holcomb & Marquis Tannery (1828)
• A. A. Malline — Reitzell, Shunk & Co (directories: 1864–65)
• Isaac Marquis — Holcomb & Marquis Tannery (1828)
• Kerr Murray — Kerr Murray Manufacturing Company (1862)
• Samuel V. B. Noel — The Sentinel (1833)
• Henry G. Olds — Olds, Hanna & Co (directories: 1864–65)
• Noble G. Olds — Olds lumber yard and machine works (1861)
• John Orff — Orpf & Co (directories: 1864–65)
• William Robinson — The William Robinson Mill (1841)
• William Rockhill — Orff's Mill (1842)
• Henry Rudisill Sr — Summit City Woolen Mills (1843)
• Conrad Schmidt — Schmidt C. & Co (directories: 1864–65)
• B. Scliroeter — Eisser E. & Co (directories: 1864–65)
• J. G. Sctiuckman — Allen & Co (directories: 1864–65)
• Christian Sohiefer — Yorderbiark E. & Co (directories: 1864–65)
• William Suttenfield — Suttenfield Tavern (1823)
• Cyrus Taber — Allen Hamilton & Co (1838)
• Thomas Tigar — The Sentinel (1833)
• Wm. Wehrs — Baltes M. & Co (directories: 1864–65)
• Geo. H. Wilson — Allen & Co (directories: 1864–65)
• George W. Wood — Fort Wayne Times (1840)

1950 – 1989

• Jim Ash — Ash Brokerage (1971)
• Barbara Bradley Baekgaard — Vera Bradley (1982)
• Tim Borne — Asher Agency (1974)
• Ralph E. Brown — Brown Equipment Company (1968)
• Bob Carteaux — Classic Products (1959)
• Gail Cole — Cole Precision Castings (1969)
• Nord Krauskopf — K&K Insurance (1952)
• Teddi Krauskopf — K&K Insurance (1952)
• Bruce Linker — Linker's Gallery (1978)
• Patricia R. Miller — Vera Bradley (1982)
• David Ruoff — Ruoff Mortgage (1984)
• Marty Schmidt — Classic Products (1959)
• Edward N. Smith — Frost Illustrated (1968)
• Chuck Surack — Sweetwater (1979)
• Sarkes Tarzian — WPTA (1957)
• Marion Ward — Ward Pattern & Engineering (1964)
• Vern Ward — Ward Pattern & Engineering (1964)
• Edward A. White — Bowmar Instrument Corporation (1951)
• Joan White — Bowmar Instrument Corporation (1951)

1990 – the present

• Keith E. Busse — Steel Dynamics (1993)
• John Dortch — Fort Wayne Ink Spot (2018)
• Mark D. Millett — Steel Dynamics (1993)
• Richard P. Teets Jr. — Steel Dynamics (1993)

Undated in the record

• S. F. Bowser — S. F. Bowser & Company
• Homer E. Capehart — Capehart Corporation
• Fred Eckart — Eckart Packing
• Philo T. Farnsworth — Farnsworth Television & Radio Corporation
• Samuel Hanna — Barnett–Hanna Trading Post
• James A. Jenney — Fort Wayne Jenney Electric
• Gideon Webster Seavey — Seavey Hardware Company

Sources:

1. Williams' Fort Wayne Directory 1864–65 and R. L. Polk & Co. Fort Wayne city directories (1870–71, 1882–83, 1890–91, 1903, 1908, 1915, 1919, 1923, 1937, 1939, 1943), read in full text on archive.org — classified business directories and alphabetical proprietor/partner entries.
2. This history's business, founders, people and wealth sections, and the trade sections (bars, photographers, food, arts, theatres), for owners named there.