CHARLES PHILIPPS, [pages 715-716] proprietor of the Riverdale bath and boat house, Dayton, Ohio, was born in Alsace, France, February 22, 1832, and is a son of John and Anna Marie (Fischer) Philipps. These parents were married in Alsace; of their family of two sons and one daughter, Charles is the only survivor. The daughter, named Mary, died in infancy, and Ferdinand, the other son, died near Buffalo, N. Y., at the age of sixty-five years.
Charles Philipps was but five years of age when the family came to America and settled on a farm near Buffalo, N. Y., and here the parents passed the remainder of their days, their remains being interred near the farm.
Ferdinand succeeded to this property, to which he added other lands, and passed his life on the farm, where, beside following agriculture, he was engaged to some extent in mechanical pursuits until his death. At the age of thirteen years Charles was apprenticed to shoemaking, and, having thoroughly learned the trade, was employed for some thirty years at fine work, and during this period visited many of the larger American cities. But the encroachments of improved machinery proved to be seriously detrimental to hand production of shoes and he relinquished his journeyings. He then purchased a place near Buffalo, where he carried on his trade in a small way for a number of years, and afterward became a member of the Buffalo fire department; but by reason of one hand having been crippled by disease, he was at last compelled to abandon both his trade and his position. He then opened a saloon on the Terrace in Buffalo, and this he conducted for about seven years. He then built a floating bath house, which proved a source of profit for about ten years, when the structure was destroyed by a violent storm, entailing upon him a heavy loss. In 1888 he came with an excursion party to Ohio, and desiring to adopt a new location for business, he came to Dayton and established his present bath and boat house. Here, during the season, hundreds of citizens of Dayton, of all ages, come to enjoy the boating and bathing, while every precaution is taken for their safety; it sometimes happens that bathers become over-bold, and Mr. Philipps has, since in business here, saved no less than eighteen persons from drowning. For these brave and valuable services he has received appreciative mention in the local press, and very often more tangible evidence of the gratitude of the rescued.
Mr. Philipps was married, in Buffalo, to Miss Bertha Webber, who was born in Baden, Germany, in 1841, and this marriage has been blessed by the birth of four sons and three daughters. Of these William C. is a harness-maker and dealer in Dayton and is married; Rose is a dressmaker, and resides with her parents; Albert conducts a boating house at Dayton View; Ida is the wife of Aloysius W. Kling, foreman of Walker's lithographic establishment in Dayton; Edward G. is an assistant to his father; Clara and Frankie are attending school. In their religious faith, the family are true Catholics. Mr. Philipps is a modest, unassuming gentleman, courteous and attentive to his many patrons. He well deserves the success which now attends him, and is equally deserving of the high esteem in which he is held by the citizens of Dayton, with many of whom his occupation necessarily brings him into association.
