William C. & Emma L. Wiechmann
William 1874 - 1939 / Emma 1877 - 1947
William C. Wiechmann owed much of his success to his natural business instinct and capacity for hard work, but owed an equal measure to his loyal and helpful wife. A native of Saginaw, he attended Saginaw Public Schools through the 5th grade, before starting out to earn his own living, selling notions in the retail industry.
A true co-founder of the Wiechmann store was his wife, Emma L. Wiechmann, whom he married in 1897. William often described his wife as "an unusual business woman, with a judgement in market fluctuation and in the art of merchandising possessed by few men." When Nathan Rosenfeld, president of Jacobson’s, visited to elicit her advice, he asked her where in Saginaw he could locate a new store., she replied *”in the vacant R. P. Lewis store across the street from Wiechmann’s.” Good advice, he would eventually take with historic results.
In 1900, with little or no capital, the couple opened a 25 foot store front business at 506 E. Genesee . For the next 30 years, the Wiechmann's grew that single store into three 25-foot store fronts on Genesee. In the 1920s, William bought a triangular piece of property at 116 S. Jefferson and hired local architect, J. Fred Beckbissinger, to design a new store. William and Emma wanted Saginaw and the surrounding area to have its first real department store. Erecting a five story building with many new departments, they increased their retail space by 400%. The store opened in October 1930, a year after the stock market crash, and yet was immediately embraced by Saginaw shoppers.
During those challenging years, William and Emma Wiechmann followed the principals of good merchandising, building a relationship of customer trust, and succeeding during an era of the Great Depression where the norm was bread lines, businesses closing, and a no available work. This was an incredible performance by two community oriented people, providing the area with quality merchandise at fair prices, during our nations worst financial crisis to date.
William was recognized as an astute business man, but he chose to keep his acts of charity private, and were seldom made known, even to the recipients. In 1925, with the assistance of fellow Saginaw merchant, Al Zauel, he built a brick and mortar 21 room apartment house, intended for those unable to purchase homes. Including the latest appliances and services, the building was located at East Genesee and Cherry, and named "Edemarms," a combination of the wives Edith (Zauel) and Emma.
Emma also strove to support her community of customers, often supplying clothing free of charge to the most needy children in the area. Her community work included supplying both St. Mary’s and St. Luke’s Hospitals with iron lungs and oxygen tents. During the Christmas holidays, Emma always had a ready checkbook for various charities and devoted many hours to working with patients at the Home for the Aged.