TERPINC, Fidelis

After schooling in his hometown of Kranj and later Ljubljana, T. dedicated his life to that of an entrepreneur. In 1820, he and his father established a leather rolling mill at Kranj and promoted the development of straw product manufacture and built an industry in the surroundings of Ljubljana.
In 1825, T. purchased an estate in Fužine, moved from Kranj to Ljubljana and during trips across Europe acquired the knowledge and skills that he used back home. On the riverbank of the Ljubljanica at Fužine, he constructed large flour mills with water wheels with a combined power of 330 hp, and they supplied flour to a large portion of Carniola as well as Trieste. In addition he organised wholesale trade with agricultural crops, promoted modern farming methods and stockbreeding and presided over the Agricultural Association of Carniola. He also founded the first farrier and veterinary school in the Slovene territory.
His activity gradually acquired an international dimension, and was acknowledged at agriculture and trade fairs in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and London. T. was named an honorary citizen of Ljubljana, and elected a member of the Paris-based Academy of Agriculture of France.
After 1836 he stopped trading in agricultural crops and dedicated his efforts to industry. He transformed a number of mills along the Ljubljanica river into saw and oil mills, and in 1842 – to further expand his operations – he founded a joint-stock company which built in Ljubljana the first paper-making plant, as well as a plant for the manufacture of tanning agents and dyes.
Following expansion and modernisation in the early 1850s, his paper mill had 200 employees. The production of paper was so high that he was able to meet the demand from within the province and allowing him to export surplus to Croatia, Slavonia and Hungary. Via the Port of Trieste, T. was also involved in maritime trading. In the 1860s he expanded his activities to Verje near Medvode, and Goričane, where wood pulp has been used in paper making since 1872.
In 1862 T. built a water- and steam-powered cloth and blanket-making shop in Ljubljana, which at the time of its establishment employed 130 workers.
In the 1860s he became the first deputy governor general of the province with Slovenian origins, but in 1868 he resigned from all public functions due to ill-health.