Family Owned and Operated

The History of Schleman Plumbing

Arthur A. Schleman; born in London, England in 1864 moved to New York in the 1880′s. He then married Anna Marie Ahus and together they had 5 children. The family moved to Tampa in the early 1890′s.

Henry Plant hired one of the country’s more accomplished guides, Arthur Schleman, as a guide for the Tampa Bay Hotel. Arthur’s safaris into the wilderness of present-day Temple Terrace and Carrollwood are legendary as reported in the Morning Tribune in February 1895. Arthur Schleman’s prowess as a guide is still memorialized by the Henry B. Plant Museum and regarded as being a true gentleman in Andrew T. Huse’s book “From Saloons to Steak Houses: A History of Tampa“.

Three of Arthur and Anna’s sons: Arthur, Anthony, and Robert became plumbers in the Tampa area.
Anthony helped write the first Tampa plumbing code book and later was elected Hillsborough County tax collector. Anthony’s wife Esther Schleman worked in the tax collector’s office from 1940 to 1968. Esther Schleman passed away at the age of 105.

Arthur married Isable Hackney of Citrus Park and had 12 children of which 5 became plumbers: Kenneth, Arthur, Donald, Leslie, and Roy. In 1956, Arthur and his 5 sons opened Arthur A. Schleman Plumbing Co. Inc.

Today, Leslie Schleman is the sole owner and operator of the company, but the family tradition goes on. Leslie and Shirley have 5 daughters and 2, Kathy and Esther work at the company. Esther’s son Daniel “Casey” Middleton is a master plumber and Ronald Barton, son of Leslie and Shirley’s youngest daughter is a service plumber. Also, Casey’s wife, Nicole is an Administrative Assistant.

In 1995, Leslie started Schleman Plumbing Service, Inc. Which has a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week on-call plumber. There are no overtime charges for after-hours calls.

On January 8, 2008, Shirley became owner and President of Schleman Plumbing Service, Inc. with Esther Schleman; service manager, and Nicole Middleton; Administrative Assistant.