Ferdinand Nickolas 'Ferd' Kahler Sr. was born November 20, 1864, at Hermsdorf, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (now Heřmánkovice, Česko).

In 2011, the Kahler home earned a New Albany Historic Preservation Commission "Facelift Award" for "outstanding restoration and rehabilitation".

[8] The Kahler family vault was built by the Peter & Burghard Stone Company of Louisville, Kentucky at a cost of $15,000 (equivalent to $263,103 in 2023).

The plant featured highly efficient direct-geared electric motors at each work station instead of the then-common belt-driven tools powered by overhead shafts.

The Kahler Co. plant had its own dry kiln and a long rail siding, allowing both inbound and outbound freight to be handled under cover.

[10] The siding was connected to a rail line that carried freight for four railroad companies, allowing Kahler great flexibility in shipping.

[22] In 1919, Kahler procured a building permit allowing a $5,000 addition (equivalent to $118,909 in 2023) to the Grant Line Road factory.

By August 1910, the company had moved its offices to Louisville, Kentucky,[31] and its production across the Ohio River in Indiana, setting up its manufacturing equipment in the idle New Albany Woolen Mills factory.

Kahler petitioned the Floyd County Circuit Court to appoint a receiver while allowing the company to continue production during receivership.

[52] Kahler also sold the remaining wooden chassis frame material on hand to the Kentucky Wagon Manufacturing Company of Louisville.

[53] A 1915 Chilton Automobile Directory lists The Kahler Co. as a component manufacturer in multiple categories, including "Dashes - wood, metal bound, veneered and solid, in the white (unfinished) and finished".

[56] In 1915, Kahler used his experience gained from manufacturing and assembling automobiles to become one of eight prime wooden component suppliers to the Ford Motor Company of Detroit, Michigan.

[57] The Kahler Co. provided Ford with wooden Model T car frames, floor boards, battery boxes and other components.

[59] It was reported in 1917 that Kahler's contract to produce 200 car bodies a day for Ford was "reputed to be the largest manufacturing order ever received by a New Albany concern".

The resulting rail embargo forced the Kahler Co. to temporarily halt production due to the inability to receive raw materials and make shipments to Ford in Detroit.

[63] By 1921, The Kahler Co. was exclusively manufacturing wooden "open body" (without doors) automobile frames and components for the Ford Motor Company, and had an annual production capacity of 93,000 car frames, many shipped directly from the New Albany factory to the Louisville, Kentucky Ford Assembly Plant (then located at Third Street and Eastern Parkway) for use in Model T production.

[65] Kahler's factory, located on the corner of Grant Line Road and Vincennes Street in New Albany was destroyed by a tornado on the afternoon of March 23, 1917.

Hearing he had decided not to relocate, New Albany bankers offered him "on his own terms, all the money he wanted to put him (Kahler) back in business again".

[71] In 1918, Kahler moved to Bay City, Michigan, and for a short time took "active charge of a woodworking plant … manufacturing airplane parts which are shipped to other points for assembling".

[70] In 1918, Kahler secured a US government contract to build 100,000 tables, Reports claimed the order would "keep his factory busy for six months".

[77][78] In June 1915, Kahler was elected a director of the newly formed German-American Bank & Trust Company in New Albany, Indiana.

The stated goals of the association were “to promote stability of business, the employment of labor, whether organized or unorganized, by encouraging friendly relation between employers and employees…” The incorporators of the association were reported to be “well-known business men of New Albany, and are composed of coal dealers, foundrymen, transfer agents, tanners, stove molders, lumber dealers, merchant tailors and liverymen”.

He purchased the land located at 741 S. 3rd Street in Louisville, Kentucky, oversaw the building's construction and leased it to the Haury Motor Company for a ten-year term.

The Haury Motor Company sold the Durant, the Scripps-Booth and the Star lines of automobiles in "Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana".

[97] In March 1929 the Reo-Spalding Company leased the space from Kahler for $75,000 (equivalent to $1,330,814 in 2023) for a five years term, selling DeSoto and Plymouth automobiles.

By 1958, the building was leased by Thurston Cooke Edsel who offered British built Ford Zephyr, Zodiac and Consul cars.

[114] In 1922, Kahler led a group of investors to purchase the bankrupt Enterprise Ice and Storage Company in New Albany, located at 1652 Division Street.

The business proposed building a factory in New Albany to manufacture popcorn machines,[118] leasing them to theaters instead of offering them for outright purchase.

[120] In April, 1916, Kahler, acting in his capacity as Secretary of the German-American Realty Company, solicited bids for the construction of its new six-story building in New Albany.

The day after the walkout, the contractor, the Alfred Struck Company of Louisville conceded the point and the bricklayers returned to the job site.