The Fetzer Architectural Woodwork company turned 100 years old this past week, and that sweet aroma emanating from the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, that was them, celebrating their German roots by grilling a year's supply of bratwurst out on their sprawling new plant's new patio.It was exactly a century ago that Kaspar J. Fetzer, not long removed from his homeland, started what was first known as the Salt Lake Cabinet & Fixture Company and offered to build anything for anybody as long as it involved wood.The Fetzers have been paying taxes ever since.Although at first Kaspar didn't pay many taxes, because starting a business is never easy, particularly when you're learning the language and you're the new woodworker on the block.But Kaspar was as astute as he was ambitious. He quickly recognized that there were two rapidly growing businesses circa 1909 that could use his services. One was the LDS Church, which needed wood for pews and church interiors. The other was the hospitality industry, which needed wood for bars.He worked both sides of the street, you might say.You can still see the evidence today. The tasteful wooden wings that flank the famed Mormon Tabernacle organ? Fetzer. The actual silver dollar bar in Jackson, Wyo.'s Silver Dollar Bar? Again, Fetzer.And that was just for starters. Soon, Kaspar's true talent became obvious: He had an uncanny ability to not just get along with people but the ability to get along with the right people.In short order, he made friends with the president of ZCMI and on a handshake landed the account to make all the late great department store's wood fixtures.That was more or less like discovering a gold mine.Ever since, one thing has led to another and another and another, resulting in a Utah-based, family-owned woodworking firm — the name was changed to Fetzer Architectural Woodwork a few years ago — with a signature that is recognized worldwide.Locally, chances are if you've admired it, they did it. Fetzer's projects include, among others, the LDS Conference Center (including the Hinckley pulpit), the Salt Palace Convention Center, the Utah Capitol remodel, the Salt Lake City Library, Gardner Hall at the University of Utah, the insides of virtually every LDS temple and any variety of retail businesses, including the just-completed O.C. Tanner jewelry store in the old Hansen Planetarium building downtown.Nationally, there's the Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Miami Carnival Center in Florida, the Nashville Symphony Hall, and dozens of completed projects for ballparks, hotels, restaurants and retail chains the likes of Nordstrom, Eddie Bauer, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Disney Stores and Brooks Brothers — all of it tracing back to word of mouth from the ZCMI days.And then there's every Apple computer store on the planet.Ten years ago, Steve Jobs of Apple came in contact with the Fetzers, and to this day the Salt Lake company is the sole provider of wood fixtures for Apple worldwide.Clearly, what Kaspar got started his progeny has taken and run with, outlasting two world wars, a Great Depression, several small depressions, that brief period in the '50s when everyone thought plastic was the answer, and, sad to say, ZCMI.First it was Kaspar's sons Percy and John who carried the baton, and now it's their children and grandchildren, most of whom, along with the company's 230 employees, were at the big Oktoberfest-style celebration that was thrown at Fetzer's 4-year-old 130,000-square-foot facility in West Valley, Utah, last Thursday, Oct. 15.They killed the fatted bratwurst, added sauerkraut and brought in a German band, complete with accordion.All in tribute to the man who got it started, Kaspar J. Fetzer, and to the 100 years his kids have kept his way of doing business alive.
E-mail: benson@desnews.com