Unfortunately, in 1934, with the economy still deep in recession, Carl was struck by an automobile while seek­ing assistance for his disabled vehicle in the country north of Indianapolis. His untimely death precipitated a crisis, as Oscar and Harold sought to keep the business going.

They recognized that hard work would be the key to their success in those difficult times, and work hard they did. Harold oversaw sales and contrac­tor relations, finance and purchasing and administration. Oscar ran the shop and fabrication. Both performed erec­tion operations, using ropes, pulleys and whatever other equipment they had available at the time.

The company's next turning point also grew out of tragedy: a fire in one of the fraternity houses at DePauw University in Greencastle. As a result, the fraternities there moved to require fire escapes, and they went to Geiger & Peters to build them. This was the first major business the firm had had in quite a while.

In the following years, the magni­tude of its projects progressively grew. These included the 1939 Hooks downtown drug store and the Wil­son Carburetor Factory. The company supported this growth by hiring Frank Allen bacher, an engineer and archi­

tect who had been chief engineer for the Panama Canal.

By 1940, Geiger & Peters was prospering. Harold, Oscar and their mother established Maryden Realty Corporation and bought the Maryden apartment building. This decision would become more significant in 1957 when Maryden acquired the property on South Sherman Drive on which Geiger & Peters later built its current plant.

With the start of World War II, the brothers were called by the draft board. The government, however, decided they could best serve the war effort with their business, a conclusion that proved a mixed blessing.

The war, itself, did not produce prosperity. In 1942, the government embargoed all construction not essential to the effort. There was unprecedented bureaucracy, with regulations never envisioned by American business. Separate boards governed war produc­tion, wage stabilization, allocation of material, price stabilization, and excess profits. Each had its rules, and these were often in conflict.

To Harold fell the formidable respon­sibility of accomplishing the company's tasks with minimal controversy-while still maintaining his own sanity. This is not to say that Oscar had an easy job,

fabricating steel with the labor short­age generated by the personnel demands of the battlefields.

Geiger & Peters was assigned to build 75 transit sheds for use by the Army. These were 100 feet by 35 feet and could be assembled in the field. Oscar and Harold traveled to Washington, D.C., to obtain priorities to get the steel for the sheds and then to Chicago to fight for this supply, While the project kept the plant busy, the terms of the gov­ernment work allowed only a three per­cent markup. Any profits above that were forfeit.