Keuffel & Esser Co
Organization
administrative history
Keuffel & Esser
William J. D. Keuffel (1838-1908) and Herman Esser (1845-1908), both recent immigrants from Germany, began in business in New York in 1867, selling drawing materials and drafting supplies. K&E began offering surveying instruments in 1876, built a three-story factory in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1880, was incorporated in 1889, and made sextants and stadimeters according to U.S. Navy specifications in the early decades of the twentieth century. The firm ceased production around 1969.