Andre Koechlin

Andre Koechlin (Mulhouse, August 3rd 1789 - Paris, April 24th 1875), was a French industrialist and politician.

Grandson of Samuel Koechlin and Jean-Henri Dollfus (cofounders of Mulhousian textile industry in 1746) and cousin of Jean-Jacques and Nicolas Koechlin, it took the direction of the textile factories Dollfus-Mieg and Compagnie (DMC) with died of his father-in-law, in 1818.
He launched out as of 1826 in the mechanical engineering by creating the company André Koechlin and Compagnie (AKC) and his Mulhousian foundry (ancestor of SACM and ALSTHOM). Its factories the first Alsatian engines left (1839).
It constituted a considerable fortune, its inheritance having passed of 25.000 francs in 1813 to approximately twenty franc million in 1875.

Named twice mayor of Mulhouse, of the shortly after the Glorious Three until 1831, then of 1832 to 1843, it managed the city with authority and firmness, in particular prohibiting the begging after having reorganized the municipal institutions of assistance (1832).
It preceded the Loi Guizot while creating since 1831 a municipal and interdenominational primary university and made build a new hospital (of which the northern wing was preserved and shelters today the current buildings of the town hall). He encouraged and subsidized also the creation of rooms of asiles.
Ayant met an opposition within the municipal council about a minor business (the construction of a warehouse), he resigned with the end of the year 1842.

Preserving Orleanist, near to the Left Resistance, it supported the policy of Guizot as a deputy of Altkirch (1832-1834 and 1846-1848) and of Mulhouse (1841-1846) and was often in competition with his cousin Nicolas Koechlin, near to the dynastic opposition and the Parti the Movement. He was also general adviser of the Haut-Rhin of 1839 with 1848.
The Revolution of 1848, by causing the fall of Louis-Philippe and Guizot, involved its withdrawal of the political life. It however continued to contribute to the wellbeing of its fellow-citizens by its very generous gifts in favor of the institutions of assistance and the religious communities.

The engineer Maurice Koechlin, originator of the Eiffel Tower, is not other than his great nephew.

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