Born in 1850, Ernst Kirchner grew up among 18 siblings and trained as a locksmith. Shortly afterwards, he visited engineering factories in Chemnitz and the local master craftsman's school for mechanical engineering. On his travels abroad, he noticed the technical superiority of American woodworking machines. It can therefore be said that the foundation stone for a large company was laid at this moment.
Kirchner rented a small mechanical workshop on Torgauer Platz in Sellerhausen. On July 1, 1878, the Deutsch-Amerikanische Maschinenfabrik Ernst Kirchner & Co. was founded with 30,000 marks, partly from his own savings and a loan. Initially, with 17 employees, the company specialized in the construction of woodworking machines.
However, some time later, the company celebrated the completion of its one hundredth machine, a band saw. In 1887, the company already had 200 employees which meant that new buildings had to be erected. The variety of products also grew and so, in addition to log band saws, circular and frame saws, planing, milling and drilling machines and lathes, machines for the production of plywood and complete sawmill systems were also produced in the Leipzig district of Sellerhausen. Even King Albert himself visited the company on the occasion of the completion of the 10,000th machine.
In 1897, the company was transformed into a public limited company ("Kirchner & Co. AG") and the 40,000th machine was delivered in the same year. In addition to the many branch offices in European cities, Kirchner ensured that the company became known throughout the country, and the woodworking machines were also exported to foreign countries such as South America and East Asia.
After the death of the owner Ernst Kirchner in 1926, his nephew of the same name took over the management of the company which had 2500 employees at the time.The global economic crisis also took its toll on the factory.
After the Second World War, the company, like many others, was transferred to public ownership in 1946 and became Mitteldeutscher Holzbearbeitungsmaschinenbau, or VEB Mihoma for short.The company was soon converted to the production of chipboard, thus creating a prerequisite for the development of a furniture industry in the German Democratic Republic.In 1953, the company was assigned to VEB Fräsmaschinenbau Leipzig which produced special sanding machines.
In 1970, the state-owned company Mihoma was assigned to VEB Mikrosa as Plant IV and external cylindrical grinding machines were manufactured which were mainly exported to the Soviet Union. With the end of the GDR came the end of the factories which were almost all demolished in 1990. The only thing that remained is a yellow brick building from 1900 which formed the right-hand side of the factory entrance. It is now home to a wine store. At least this one relic of the former industrial buildings in this part of the city has been preserved and will always be a reminder of the former Ernst Kirchner & Co. machine factory.
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