Theodore Engel (1866 - January 8, 1935) was an American

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, hot-water production, sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

and contractor from

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

who spent fourteen years as a Republican member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

Background

Engel was born in

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, containing about 1 ...

in 1866, attended Grace Lutheran School and public schools before dropping out to become a plumber. He pursued that trade for some years before becoming a

general contractor A contractor (North American English) or builder (British English), is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the c ...

Public office

Engel first ran for the Assembly's 15th Milwaukee County district (15th and 19th Wards of the City of Milwaukee in 1914, as a Democrat, coming in third with 1042 votes, behind Republican George Reinhardt's 2180 votes and

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

Charles Towsley's 1143 votes. (Republican incumbent

August Dietrich August Dietrich (July 6, 1858 – ?) was an American politician. Born in New York City, he was educated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was in the manufacturing and real estate business. He served in the Milwaukee Common Council and on the Milwa ...

was not a candidate for re-election.) In 1916, Reinhardt was not a candidate. Engel ran as a Republican (there was no Democratic nominee in the district), and won, with 3094 votes to 1542 for Socialist Frank Bauer. Bauer challenged him again in 1918 and won by three votes, with 1,958 votes to 1,955 for Engel and 1,371 for Democrat Leonard Broennen. Bauer was not a candidate for re-election in 1920, and was succeeded by Engel, who polled 6,368 votes to 3,280 for Socialist Arthur Richter (again, there was no Democratic candidate). He would be re-elected for the next five terms, although not always by broad margins; but lost his seat in 1932, with 5,915 votes to 6,687 for Democrat Thomas H. Caffrey and 3,101 for Socialist Charles Schalbe. He challenged Caffrey again in 1934, coming in second in a five-way race.Ohm, Howard F.; Bryhan, Leone G., ed. ''The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1935'' Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1935; p. 628
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Engle, Theodore 1866 births 1935 deaths American construction businesspeople American plumbers Businesspeople from Milwaukee Date of birth unknown Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Politicians from Milwaukee Wisconsin Democrats Wisconsin Republicans Year of death missing 20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature