The Detroit River, in the 1840s, reminded a German immigrant of the Rhine. In his own land, Alois Laitner was a man of prominence. His brush factory in a small Black Forest town in southwestern Germany provided work for many of the townspeople. But his ideas of social progress and employee welfare put him out of step with the German rulers of the mid-19th century who were defensive against liberal reform.

In 1846, Alois Laitner and his family finally arrived in Detroit, and by 1855, he and his sons - Alois, Cassimer, and Lawrence - were making brushes and selling them around town, under the name A. Laitner & Sons.

With the civil war, the Laitner family made excellent horse brushes and were able to sell all they could make to the nine Michigan cavalry units, and these alone provided a sizeable market for Laitner's brush business.

By 1900, Business had expanded, requiring a move to a new location in downtown Detroit, a combination retail outlet and manufacturing plant, ironically enough on Brush Street.

Between 1906 and 1908, the Laitner Company became one of the first brush companies to install brush filling machines, designed to replace the laborious hand work of putting bristles into the brush block.

During the course of the next 80 years, Laitner developed a complete line of automotive, consumer hardware, and janitorial brushes and sold their products nationally in all 48 contiguous states through a very selective nationwide network of Manufacturers Representatives.

In 1947, the name of A. Laitner & Sons was changed to Laitner Brush Company and in June, 1984, Bob Laitner (who died in 1985 at the age of 70) and his brother Bill, great-grandsons of the founder, sold the business to Christopher Shotwell, who teamed up with Douglas Denike in 1989, ending 130 years of Laitner family control. In 2000, the company was purchased by John Kolarevic and his brother Mike.

The Laitner family tradition of hard, honest work, fairness and courtesy to employees, customers, and suppliers, with the emphasis on quality, continues to this day.

These moves together with the acquisition of some of the latest "state-of-the-art" machinery, is just another example of the continuation of the progressive thinking in the Laitner tradition.

Laitner Brush Company, with its long history, is one of the oldest businesses in Michigan, and we are looking forward to continuing growth and prosperity for years and years to come.