His company, based in Detroit, Michigan, was one of the largest luggage and leather goods distributors in the Midwestern United States.
Maier moved to St. Louis in 1863 and, when the Civil War broke out, joined the Union Army.
The building contained a shoe store, a mortuary, and Maier's trunk and harness shop.
[2] After a fire, Maier moved his store to 102 Woodward Avenue and expanded the business to a four-story block on Twelfth Street, where the trunks were constructed.
A distinguishing high-quality feature was the issuing of uniquely built oak slat trunks.