By 1895 Charles H. Doelger and Oscar Kirsten had established Doelger & Kirsten to carry on a general machine shop and repair business. By 1918 they had begun manufacturing a line of alligator shears. In 1929 Doelger died and his interest in the business was purchased from his widow by Kirsten, who brought in his son, William C. Kirsten, as partner. In 1931 they incorporated as Doelger & Kirsten, Inc. The company largely stopped making their shears by 1956 because they had been made obsolete by guillotine-style shears. A fire destroyed their patterns in the late 1960s and we do not find any data points on the business after that, although they may have continued as a general machine shop for some time.

William C. Kirsten became a physician. He died in 1971, age 76.

Information Sources

• 1895 Annual Report of the City Comptroller of the City of Milwaukee lists several small payments to "Doelger & Kirsten" for repairs consistent with a general machine shop. The 1896 1897 edition had similar listings.
• 1902 Young & Co.'s Business and Professional Directory of Milwaukee lists Doelger & Kirsten, 505-507 Cedar, as a supplier of shafting and pulleys.
• 1908 Proceedings of the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee lists several small payments to "Doelger & Kirsten" for unspecified repairs.
• 1913 Polk's Wisconsin State Gazetteer and Business Directory lists "Doelger & Kirsten (C H Doelger, Oscar Kirsten), machinists, 505 Cedar."
• 1918 issues of the Waste Trade Journal have ad from Doelger & Kirsten for their Milwaukee all steel shears.
• 1920-09-23 Iron Trade Review.

  DOELGER & KIRSTEN, Milwaukee, pioneer manufacturers of alligator shears in the Northwest, are completing the transfer of the works front 505-507 Cedar street to an entirely new plant at Thirtieth and Chambers streets. This consists of a fireproof machine shop, 100 x 200 feet, on a 30 x 250-foot site.

  Doelger & Kirsten will build five sizes of alligator shears, the two largest being possible in the new quarters. The largest shear weighs 43,000 pounds and is capable of cutting 6-inch rods, cold, and any street or steam railroad rail. The smallest machine cuts 1½-inch iron and weighs 2500 pounds, being designed for warehouse and contractor use on reinforcing rods. An automotive type, making a single revolution and stopping, is also made for forge plants, warehouses, etc. All machines have direct-connected electric motors. The steel castings from which the shears are made, are supplied by the National Steel Foundries, division of the National Brake & Electric Co., Milwaukee. The new works will employ 100 to 120 men. The equipment includes a 10-ton Milwaukee electric crane with a 40-foot span and 200-foot runway.

• 1923-09-20 Iron Trade Review. "John R. Poyser, for 12 years secretary in charge of sales for the Canton Foundry & Machine Co., Canton, O., recently has been made sales manager for Doelger & Kirsten, Milwaukee, manufacturers of alligator shears."
• 1923-11-22 Iron Trade Review has an article on Doelger & Kirsten's new plant.
• 1925 Hendricks' Commercial Register of the United States lists "Doelger & Kirsten, 3015 Chambers, Milwaukee, Wis." as makers of Shears (Alligator), Shears (Automatic), Shears (Portable Motor Driven). The brand "Milwaukee All-Steel Shears" belonged to Doelger & Kirsten.
• 1930 issue of The Iron Age. "Oscar Kirsten, surviving partner of firm of Doelger & Kirsten, Milwaukee, manufacturers of alligator shears, has purchased for $129,400 interest of Mrs. Katherine A. Doelger, widow of Charles Doelger, in the firm."
• 1931 issue of Automotive Industries. "Shear Makers Incorporate MILWAUKEE, Feb. 9— The business of Doelger & Kirsten, 3015 Chambers St., a leading manufacturer of alligator shears, has been incorporated as Doelger & Kirsten Inc., the partnership of Oscar Kirsten and William C. Kirsten, who remain principal owners, and Charles H. Doelger, who died in 1929, being merged into the corporation."
• 1952 Investigation Into Commercial and Industrial-Type Activities in the Federal Government lists shears manufactured by Doelger & Kirsten, Inc., in the possession of Ford Motor Col (No. 2½, 9 years old), and of Eglin AFB (No. 4, 9 months old).
• 1969 lawsuit, Doelger Kirsten v. National U. F. I. "Affirming trial court's use of 'replacement cost, minus physical depreciation and minus obsolescence' to determine actual cash value 'of wooden patterns of uncertain age, apparently more than 30 years old, last used in 1958 or 1959 and useable only for producing of castings for alligator shears,' which are not 'scissors to remove warts from crocodiles' but 'an item of heavy industrial equipment for which there no longer seems to be much public demand'".
• 2018 obituary for Oscar Richard Kirsten says that he "enjoyed a long run in the family business of Doelger & Kirsten."
• FindAGrave.com page on William Charles Kirsten confirms that Oscar Kirsten (1857-?) was his father.