The History of Detroit, Vol. III, pgs. 384-387

Conrad Pfeiffer, who passed away on the 24th of May, 1911, was during the long period of his residence in Detroit closely associated with many interests and activities which have left their impress upon the development and the improvement of the city. He was a man of high ideals and of most kindly and generous spirit and thus it was that his activities were often a force in the uplift of his fellowmen and the betterment of the community. Mr. Pfeiffer was born in Caldern, Hessen, Germany, March 7, 1854, and he acquired only a limited education, for his people were in very modest financial circumstances. From early youth, he displayed a laudable ambition and unfaltering energy and it was this that led him to try his fortune in the new world, believing that America offered greater opportunities. He was seventeen years of age when he crossed the Atlantic and he earned his first money in the new world as a farm hand, carefully saving his wages until he felt he could take up the locksmith's trade. This he mastered with characteristic thoroughness and developed a high degree of efficiency along mechanical lines. Step by step, he won promotion until he was made foreman in the Riverside Iron Works. In 1881, he became an employee in the brewery of Philip Kling and afterward secured the position of foreman in the brewery of Charles Endriss. He afterward established business on his own account along the same line and in 1902, incorporated his interests as a stock company, of which he became president, with his nephew, Martin Breitmeyer, as vice president and treasurer and Henry C. Dietz as secretary. The plant was enlarged from time to time as the business grew until it became one of the foremost concerns of the kind in Detroit.

Mr. Pfeiffer was united in marriage to Miss Louisa Cramer, a daughter of Dr. Louis Cramer of Detroit, and they became the parents of five children: Lillian, passed away August 16, 1921; Florence is at home with her mother; and three sons, Edgar, Walter and Louis, died before reaching adult age.

Mr. Pfeiffer possessed a studious disposition and was especially interested along scientific lines. His wide reading made him an authority on geology, bacteriology and biology and he possessed one of the finest libraries of the city. He was a patron of the German drama and one of his last acts was to provide for a penniless German actor. While he was of a most generous spirit, his benevolence was also entirely unostentatious in its character. He was greatly interested in those things which are of cultural value in life and made generous contribution to the Detroit Orchestral Association and to the German singing societies and also to the Detroit Museum of Art. He was particularly interested in the Harris school, from which one of his daughters was graduated. He served as president of the Turner society and he contributed freely to a wide range of public movements and more than once brought noted lecturers to Detroit, personally assuring their fees. In 1905, he became a member of the city plan and improvement commission, but he never sought to figure prominently in any public connection. He usually supported the Republican Party but was independent inasmuch as he cast his ballot according to the dictates of his judgment. The Republicans frequently urged him to become the mayoralty nominee, but this he steadily declined, as he preferred the quiet and retirement of home life. A contemporary writer has said of him: "The dominant trait of his personality was the conscientious independence which refuses to be moved to any course of action or to accept any opinion from any other motive than because it appealed to his own best judgment." His was no stubborn, conceited independence, but that which belongs to the soul fearless and sure of itself and which willingly accords to others the liberty he claims for himself. An incident typical of his character occurred while he was in Italy several years ago. His letters of introduction from prominent churchmen in America secured him the privilege of entrance into the Vatican library. This is an extraordinary concession, seldom accorded to any but Roman Catholic scholars. He became acquainted with Cardinal Merry del Val and the papal secretary was deeply interested in what was regarded as a unique type of self-made American. They conversed in German and at length Mr. Pfeiffer was invited to an audience with Pope Leo. He found himself in an uncomfortable position but frankly explained that it would not be consistent with his free-thinking principles to perform the customary obeisances in the presence of the pope. Mr. Pfeiffer was always loyal to his honest convictions and nothing could swerve him from a course which he believed to be right. In the last few years of his life, he suffered from an incurable malady, but he bore his sufferings with cheerful spirit, gaining joy and happiness from his favorite authors and the companionship of his friends and the members of his own household. His life history indicates what can be accomplished in America by the young man of ambition and energy - accomplished not only in the way of attaining wealth but in gaining all that comes in the way of culture from the study of books, of music and of art.

From: The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Volume III, pgs. 384-387 

Published by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Detroit-Chicago, 1922