Peter Staub

Johann Peter Staub colloquially Peter Staub (February 22, 1827 – May 19, 1904) was a Swiss-born American businessman, politician, and diplomat. Staub held several public offices, most notably as U.S. Consul to St. Gallen, appointed in 1885 by Grover Cleveland. Previously he served two terms as Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee and as Consul of Switzerland in Tennessee from 1869 to 1884, promoting Swiss emigration to the Appalachian region. He was also an important colonizer who helped to established the town of Gruetli-Laager in 1869.

Staub, who was born in Glarus, Switzerland, emigrated to the United States with the trade of tailor in 1854, initially settling in New Jersey. Due to the climate which was not good for his health, he and his wife relocated to Tennessee in 1856. There he was primarily active as serial entrepreneur, opening a tailor shop and investing his profits in real estate. In 1872, he built and opened the city's first opera house, Staub's Theatre. In 1875, he founded the Knoxville Foundry Plant. He also served as trustee of the Lawson McGee Library and as chairman of the Knoxville Water Commission.

Early life and education Staub was born February 22, 1827 in Glarus, Switzerland, the second of four children, to Jakob Staub (1777-1836) and Anna Maria (née Stäger; 1802-1832), both of Bilten.

He was orphaned when he was eight years old. At age 13, he was apprenticed to a tailor, and worked in this trade in France and Switzerland throughout the 1840s. Staub married Rosina Blum in 1847. While living in Switzerland, they had two children, both of whom died at a young age.

Emigration and career In 1854, Staub and his wife moved to the United States, initially settling in New Jersey. He rebuilt it, and his tailoring business thrived in the post-war years. He reinvested his profits in real estate in the Knoxville area.

In subsequent decades, Staub's Theatre hosted performances by such diverse groups as Payson's English Opera Troupe, Boston's Mendelssohn Quintette Club, the Theodore Thomas Orchestra, and the Firmin-Jack Comedy Club, as well as lectures and readings, and minstrel shows.

Public life

During the late 1860s, Staub began working with a group called the Tennessee Clonisation Gesellschaft, which sought to establish colonies of Swiss immigrants atop the Cumberland Plateau west of Knoxville. Staub purchased a large tract of land along a remote section of the Plateau in Grundy County in 1869 that provided the core of the Swiss colony of Gruetli (now Gruetli-Laager). The land proved too wooded, barren, and remote, however, and the colony failed to develop as Staub had envisioned.

Staub was first elected mayor of Knoxville in 1874. During his first term, he expanded the city's fire department, and organized the city's public school system. Staub was elected again in 1881 and spent much of this second term helping the city develop a public waterworks. John Peter Staub (1864-1937), married firstly to Mary Myrtle "Molly" Coffman, secondly to Mary Elizabeth McCroskey; no children Mary Staub (born 1866), died in childbed Paulina Blum Staub (1868-1953), never married

Staub was injured in a carriage accident on May 18, 1904, and died the following day.