Karl B. Schotte and Carrie E. Kron

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Husband Karl B. Schotte ¹

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           Born: 14 Nov 1868 - Kittanning, Armstrong Co, PA 1
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         Father: G. A. Schotte (      -Bef 1926) 1
         Mother: Margaret Crary (      -Bef 1926) 1

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       Marriage: 1893 2

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Wife Carrie E. Kron ²

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         Father: George Philip Kron (      -      ) 2 3
         Mother: Mary Daugherty (      -Bef 1914) 4

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Children

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1 F Margaret B. Schotte ²

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         Spouse: [Unk] Both (      -      ) 2

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2 M Karl B. Schotte, Jr. ²

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General Notes: Husband - Karl B. Schotte

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He was educated in the public schools of his native place, and turned his attention to pharmacy, in which he obtained a license, and engaged in business. In fact, he owns a large interest in a prosperous pharmacy at the present time. The telephone began its expansion at a time to enlist his services and his enthusiastic interest. When the Kittanning Telephone Company was organized in the summer of 1896, he was elected secretary, and the wisdom of his selection has been justified by the years. John G. Ayres was elected president, and Dr. R. P. Marshall, treasurer. The first board of directors included C. J. Jessop and Abe Greenbaum, besides the officers. Mr. Schotte was elected general manager within the year. The original capital of the company was $4,000. It began giving service for about seventy subscribers. In March, 1902, the capital stock was increased to $12,000; and in September, 1904, it was increased from $12,000 to $60,000. In February, 1907, it was increased to $150,000. In the spring of 1907, the Kittanning Telephone Company purchased by merger the stock of the Armstrong Telephone Company, and the stock of the Cowanshannock Independent Telephone Company. Later, in 1907, it acquired by merger also the stock of the Apollo Telephone Company. In the fall of 1912 the stock of the Kittanning Telephone Company was increased to an authorized capital of $500,000; and in April, 1924, the authorized capital was increased to $1,000,000. The first office of the company was on Market Street, on the second floor of the old Kittanning National Bank. When the bank built its present building, the telephone company moved to its office in Patterson Way, off Jefferson Street, finally removing to its present handsome building on Arch Street in the fall of 1924. It began to branch out and form connections with other companies at an early day in its history. It connected with the People's Telephone Company at Butler; the Pittsburgh & Alleghany Telephone Company at Pittsburgh; the Summerville Telephone Company on the North, and the Huntington & Clearfield Telephone Company on the East. It has real estate, plant and equipment worth $800,000. A Stromberg-Carlson super-service 10-position multiple switchboard recently was placed in operation in the Kittanning exchange, making the exchange one of the most modern type. In 1925 the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania withdrew from furnishing local service in Armstrong, Clarion and Westmoreland counties, leaving the Kittanning Company in sole possession of the field. Before it completed negotiations with the Bell Telephone Company for the purchase of its properties in this territory, the Kittanning Company had in service 6,267 stations, It took over six hundred and eleven Bell stations, of which one hundred and ninety-three were duplications; so that four hundred and eighteen stations were added to the independent company's list, making a total of 6,685. Six exchanges are operated at Kittanning, Apollo, East Brady, Ford City, Leechburg and Rural Valley, the East Brady exchange having been acquired from the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania in the recent transfer of properties. The success of the Kittanning Company is due in a measure to the business and executive ability of Karl B. Schotte, its administrative chief. Mr. Schotte himself attributes the success of his company to "the policy adopted early in its history of buying only the best material and the best available equipment; and of discarding obsolete mechanism just as soon as improvements were made in any telephone apparatus, and of keeping the plant and equipment to a high mark of efficiency." In the adoption and pursuit of this policy Mr. Schotte, every one agrees, was the prime mover. Indeed, the history of the growth and development of the Kittanning Telephone Company is a history of the career of General Manager Schotte. He is a member of the United States Independent Telephone Association, the Independent Pioneer Telephone Association of the United States and the Pennsylvania State Telephone and Traffic Association, of which he is a director. Mr. Schotte assisted in the organization of the Independent Telephone Association of America in Pittsburgh in 1913, and served as a temporary director. He also served as president and secretary-treasurer of the Western Pennsylvania State Telephone Association. Mr. Schotte is a trustee of the Kittanning Free Library. During the World War he served as Food Administrator. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; of the Kittanning Country Club; secretary of the Rotary Club; president of the Kittanning Chamber of Commerce; and a member of the vestry of the Episcopal Church. [PAH, 118]

1 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (NW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 118.

2 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (NW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 119.

3 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 552.

4 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 552, 959.