Carl H. Sonntag

CARL H. SONNTAG. - A man of industry, talent and ability, and an expert chemist, Carl H. Sonntag, superintendent of the Bonner Portland Cement Plant, is officially connected with one of the leading enterprises of Bonner Springs, and to his management is due much of the company's success. Bonner Springs, formerly the home of various Indian tribes, many of which roamed throughout Wyandotte county and the surrounding regions, was often visited by the Wyandottes, the Pottawatomies and Shawnees, who came here to partake of the various mineral waters that flow so freely from the earth. In 1885 it was incorporated as a city, and has since had a rapid and healthful growth. The medicinal properties of its numerous springs are well known, and for the accommodation of the many people who desire to use the waters, hotels, bath houses and a large sanitarium have been erected, and various industries have been established, while handsome residences are to be found in all parts of the city. The Bonner Portland Cement Company was founded by Mr. W. H. Caffery, and owns two hundred and sixty-one acres of land containing immense quantities of a magnificent quality of cement rock and shale, which, according to eminent authorities will furnish enough cement material to last for at least two hundred years longer, no matter how large the demand for the cement. This company was organized with a capital of $800,000 preferred stock, and $1,200,000 in common stock, and has among its officers some of the more wealthy and prominent business men of Kansas.

Carl H. Sonntag was born, in 1878, in Cleveland, Ohio, of substantial German ancestry on the paternal side. His father, Henry L. Sonntag, who was born in Germany in 1840, came to this country in early manhood, and for awhile was employed as a florist and landscape gardener in Detroit, Michigan. Going from there to Ohio, he continued as a landscape architect, and was active in the work of converting Cleveland into a city beautiful, among other things laying out West Park Cemetery, and adding many of its attractive landscape features. He belongs to the Lutheran church, and is a member of the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, of Cleveland, and is past master of it. He married, in 1876, in Cleveland, Alice Chamberlain, a woman of culture, who was graduated from Hiram College, in Hiram, Ohio, the institution in which President Garfield was educated. Three children blessed their union, namely: Carl H., the subject of this sketch; and twin daughters, Henrietta and Agnes.

Brought up in Cleveland, Ohio, Carl H. Sonntag was graduated from the grammar and high schools, and has since continued his studies profitably, having won the degrees of bachelor of science and chemical engineer. As chemist and superintendent of the Bonner Portland Cement Plant, Mr. Sonntag is ably and skilfully[sic] performing the duties devolving upon him, and is popular with the officers of the company, and with the men who are under his control.

Mr. Sonntag married, in 1905, Elsa M. Zistel, of Sandusky, Ohio, and they have one child, Martha Alice, born in 1908.