Julius Fleischmann

Julius Augustus Fleischmann

• Born June 8, 1871 in Cincinnati, OH USA
• Died February 5, 1925 in Miami, FL USA

Biographical Information

Julius Fleischmann is better known as the youngest person to be elected mayor of Cincinnati, OH, at age 28 in 1900, and serving in the position until 1905, but he was also co-owner of the Cincinnati Reds. He was the oldest son of Charles Louis Fleischmann, who built a fortune through the Fleischmann's Yeast Company, a product which revolutionized baking. Julius became President of the company in 1897 upon his father's death. He was known as a progressive mayor, promoting education, creating public parks, investing n local transportation and making the police force more professional. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention on three occasions.

He always had an interest in baseball in addition to politics, supporting a local semi-pro team, the Cincinnati Shamrocks, that featured future Hall of Famer Miller Huggins. He also created a team based in the Catskill Mountains in New York, where he had a summer residence, and where he also created the Mountain Athletic Club. A number of professional players used the club to train before the baseball season, including Honus Wagner. In 1902, when John T. Brush decided to sell his interests in the Cincinnati Reds in order to focus his attentions on the New York Giants, which he also owned through syndicate ownership, Fleishmann, his brother Max, George B. Cox and August Herrmann, who was president of the city's Water Works Commission, formed an ownership group. The purchase was finalized on September 9th. The day-to-day running of the team was left to Herrmann, even though he was less knowledgeable about baseball than Mayor Fleischmann at the time, but Julius was too busy with his official duties to also run a major league team. Herrmann soon became an extremely influential figure in baseball circles and was the first President of the National Commission. The Fleischmann brothers sold their interests in the Reds in 1915.

Known for his love of sports, Fleischmann was also interested in horse racing and died while playing polo on a trip to Miami, FL.

Related Sites

• Portrait at the National Portrait Gallery
• Find a Grave Memorial