Checking In With John Ostrow. (original) (raw)

John Ostrow was one of those guys who attracted attention wherever he went. He was charming, cosmopolitan and restless. He had already seen much of the world when he came to Fredericksburg to run a hotel in the early 20th century.

He was born in Bromberg, Prussia (today Bydgosczc, Poland) on May 27, 1878. The name Ostrow is probably Polish and Jewish.

Little is known about his early life although the opportunities that came his way as a young adult would indicate that his parents were people of some influence. An article in a San Antonio newspaper says he was "born into the hotel business."

At age 21 Ostrow joined the German Army. He served as a steward to Kaiser Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany - a job that probably didn't fall into his lap by accident. Ostrow was in charge of the food service aboard the Kaiser's ship.

The one blemish on his military record was a reprimand from Kaiser Wilhelm for missing church. Each Sunday morning there was a Lutheran church service aboard ship, and the Emperor insisted that everyone attend.

The Kaiser usually awarded medals to discharged staff members, but when Ostrow left the army the Kaiser gave him a Bible as a reminder that his religious life needed some attention.

After his discharge in 1902 Ostrow married Johanna Grebe from Hildesheim, Germany. The couple settled in China where Ostrow managed a hotel in Tsingtau, a German colony on the China coast about halfway between Shanghai and Beijing.

Both of Ostrow's children, Sylvia and Heinz, were born in China. One source claimed he owned the 2nd automobile on the Chinese mainland.

The Ostrow family returned to Germany in 1909, traveling by rail across Siberia and Russia.

Two years later John Ostrow came to the United States. The Galveston Daily News (March 24, 1911) listed "Johannes Ostrow" as a passenger on the German steamship Koln, docked at the port of Galveston. His reasons for leaving Germany are not clear, but some sources hint that he was disillusioned with the German authoritarian regime.

Ostrow got a job in Houston, and once established he sent to Europe for his family.

Three years later The Galveston Daily News broke the story that "Louis Dietz has sold his hotel building on North San Saba Street in this city (Fredericksburg) to John Ostrow of Houston."