David Hummel, born in Germany in 1822, served a three-year apprenticeship as a stone mason before immigrating to the United States at the age of nineteen. Arriving in the spring of 1841via New Orleans, he eventually found work in Columbus, Ohio at the State House then under construction.

Following completion of the State House, young Hummel settled into Cincinnati's strong Germanic population. He married in 1847 and shortly thereafter began his masonry business. The David Hummel Building Company had its first office on Plum Street in downtown Cincinnati, followed by its second location at Elder and Logan Streets. From these venues, the young company quickly earned a reputation for expert fabrication and installation of cut stone. Early influential clients of the Hummel company included Mr. Procter, Mr. Gamble and a premier brewer of his day, Christian Moerlein.