Former building Fraefel & Co.

History: Arnold Fraefel (1852-1919) learned his trade as an embroidery designer at the “Industrie- und Gewerbemuseum St.Gallen”. In 1883, he and his wife Emma Eberle founded the “A. Fraefel-Eberle St.Gallen” art embroidery and parament factory. One year later, the young company acquired the “Felsenburg” as a residential and commercial building as well as a production facility. International recognition came in 1888 when Fraefel's products were awarded a gold medal at the “Esposizione Mondiale Vaticana” and Pope Leo XIII awarded Arnold Fraefel the Order of Merit “Pro ecclesia et pontifice”. This led to a worldwide reputation. The company experienced its heyday around 1910 in business with the USA, where it operated branches in Chicago, New York and Toledo (Ohio). In its heyday, the company employed 150 of its own staff, mainly hand embroiderers and seamstresses, who put the finishing touches to the products. Numerous homeworkers throughout eastern Switzerland worked on hand embroidery machines for “Fraefel & Co.”. A second mainstay alongside church textiles was the production of club flags. The world economic crisis, which caused the American business to collapse in 1929, and the Second Vatican Council in 1965, which dispensed with liturgical pomp, led to a decline in the production of paraments that threatened the company's existence. The company still tried to keep its head above water with club and military insignia, but finally had to give up in 1983 - 100 years after it was founded. Current use: After interim use as a special school, the “Felsenburg” is now a residential building.