The Kasper & Koetzle Hardware Co. were located at 565 Bushwick Ave., Brooklyn, nearly 60 years (1905 until 1963/64). The partners were William Kasper (1879-1976) and Frederick G. Koetzle (1873-1955).

William Kasper was born 1 March 1879 in New York City and died 97 years later, 11 March 1976, in Jericho, Nassau County, N. Y. He appears in the 1900 U. S. Census living at 92 Stanhope St., Brooklyn, with his widowed mother, Agathe Kasper, age 58, an immigrant from the Netherlands in 1870. Agathe Kasper was the mother of 15 children, 7 of whom were living in 1900.

Frederick G. Koetzle was born 10 April 1873 and died at the tender age of 82, 19 October 1955, in Brooklyn, N. Y. His obituary in the New York Times, 22 October 1955, read, "Frederick G. Koetzle, president of Kasper & Koetzle, Inc., hardware and steel merchants of 565 Bushwick Avenue, Brooklyn, died Wednesday at his home, 9 Schenck Court, Brooklyn. His age was 82. Mr. Koetzle was the oldest member of the American Steel Warehouse Association. He leaves his wife, Mrs. Louise F. Koetzle, and two grandsons."

Frederick Koetzle's son, Walter Frederick Koetzle (1908-1992), died while president of Kasper & Koetzle, Inc. (New York Times, 30 March 1992).

Another Kasper & Koetzle coal chute cover is found on Perry St. in the West Village.

Copyright (c) 2010 Walter Grutchfield