AFTER THE WAR

H.A. (Heine) Eckhoff was also the rural mail carrier. He was a real promoter of The town Steamboat. He always was in the thick of community functions like Christmas drawings, Santa’s visit, town celebrations, the Calathumpian parade, Fourth of July fireworks, and anything to better the town. 

There were many business men that had retired too. Men who had helped build the town like: Ben Jaspers, L.G. Johnson, Henry Schwitters, and Charlie Sentman, Tom Eilers, Jim Holmes, and more. All respected for who they were and what they had done. What made them so special was the fact that they were all interested not only in their welfare but the welfare of the community as well. 

Harold Luiken was not mentioned before. He was saved for last because while he had worked or been in business since 1929 in Steamboat Rock, he would go on to build a business that would span into the 21st century. 

Harold H. Luiken was the grandson of Henry Luiken the German immigrant who was the first Luiken to arrive in the community and has been discussed earlier. Harold’s parents were Enno and Alice (Tholen) Luiken. 

At the age of twelve Harold graduated from the eighth grade and he began assisting his father full time on the family farm. 

In the fall of 1929, at the age of twenty, Harold began his first real nonfarming job working for the Sentman Oil Company in Steamboat Rock as a tank wagon operator. He was paid $90. a month plus room and board. 

In the spring of 1930 he acquired the insurance agency that had been established by his grandfather, Henry Luiken, in the mid 1880’s. His Uncle H.A. Eckhoff, was the rural mail carrier and also had the insurance agency. The postal service ruled that he could not operate the insurance agency and also carry the mail, so he sold out to Harold. It is interesting in that Henry Luiken had owned the agency and was Postmaster at the time. Changing times. 

In the fall of 1930, Harold left Sentman’s company to take a position as the first tank wagon salesman for the then forming Farm Bureau Service Company. He remained in this position for the next five years. 

Harold was married on September 13, 1934, to Trena Christians, daughter of Sarah and Elda Christians. They had two sons, Harris Dean, and Royce Eugene. 

In the spring of 1935, Harold purchased the Gellhorn Auto Company from Ernest M. Gellhorn, and renamed the business Luiken Chevrolet Co. 

Harold recalled, the difficulties he encountered in getting his new business going. “When I had purchased the Chevrolet Dealership, I sold three new cars right away and then in June, the Chevrolet motor company went on strike and when it ended in September it was time for tooling up for the ‘36 models, so therefore no cars were available. At that time Enno Harms of Steamboat was digging ditches for drainage and one day he stopped at the garage and asked me if I knew anyone he could get to help him, and I immediately said, ‘Yes, I’ll help you’ and much to his surprise I did help him for a number of days. Hand digging was not an easy job.” 

“It seems that mother misfortune was smiling down on me that first year of operation. First was the five months of the Chevrolet strike during the summer of 1935 and then the big winter of ‘35 and 36’. When I began on May 1st I borrowed $500 for opening capital, and May 1 the next spring I borrowed another $500.” This from Harold’s book, My Three Score and Ten…Plus. 

In the book he also wrote some prices he paid for things in 1935, ”the minimum phone bill was $1.50 per month. My grocery bill at the two general stores were $16.78 and house rent was $12.00 per month. My top mechanic in the shop was paid $15.00 per week and father was $12.00 per week. My light bill at the house for the month of April 1935 was $2.36 and my light and power bill at the garage for April was $9.19.” 

In 1935 Harold was also appointed Fire Chief of the Steamboat Rock Fire Department. The Fire Chief’s job was somewhat a given since the fire fighting apparatus was housed in the Chevrolet dealership which he now owned. He served as fire chief for 37 years. 

Harold, maintained the auto business for twenty-eight years. In 1938, he added home appliances to the product line, all the while still maintaining the insurance business. 

It was also in 1938, that Harold was elected to the Steamboat Rock town council for the first time. Harold, ran for the Steamboat Rock, town council on the issue of replacing the old washed out dam on the Iowa River with a new one. 

In August of ‘38, it had seemed fairly certain that the dam would be built when a representative of the Iowa Conservation Commission visited Steamboat to discuss the project, but the matter was dropped by government agencies. 

Now that Harold, George Harms, and Robert Ruppelt were elected they made a majority on the council. Even though inexperienced, they began to form a committee, and Harold headed it. 

The fight continued through the winter and in March of ‘39, a committee of Steamboat Rock business men went to Des Moines. Included in this group were Harold Luiken, chairman, Mayor Raymond Karsjens, Robert Ruppelt, J.A. Holmes, Ben Johnson, Ubbe Peters, Otto Filbrandt, Russell Holmes, and A.E. Luiken. 

After consulting with Dean Peisen, Hardin county representative, the group contacted M.L. Hutton, chief director of the state conservation commission. After several more meetings, they were successful in obtaining a $3500 grant for the new dam. A local fund raising drive added another $1000. They then had to convince the federal government, to provide help from the W.P.A. They did, and the dam was built in 1939. The same dam that is still in place today. 

Harold served on the council for the next 32 consecutive years, and many improvements in the town came in that period. In 1939, a modern up to date public water system was built, again with W.P.A. labor. During the 1940’s curb and gutters were installed along Market Street, and many of the streets were black topped. Modern street lights were also installed. From September 1942, to December 30, 1944, Harold served on the Hardin County Rationing Board. There was little or no auto business during the war and he needed this job to get through the war years. 

After the war the auto business really picked up. From 1946 to 1949 there was a mad scramble for all the new cars manufactured. Servicemen were writing to Harold asking him to save them a car for when they got home, and he did his best to accommodate. Price controls were in effect and it was unlawful to sell a car for more than the manufacturers list price. A lot of black marketing was going on in the automobile business in that four year period, but Harold didn’t bend to it. 

Harold sold his first car after the war to his Uncle Heine Eckhoff, for his mail route. It was a 1946 Master four door sedan at $1200. Harold recalled, “He was sadly in need of a new car.” 

1950 was the year that television became available in Iowa, and Steamboat Rock. Harold immediately installed an antenna on his Chevrolet garage. Harold sold RCA TVs. Installing antennas required climbing, many times on top of very high two story houses. In winter it was a cold nasty job. If it was windy winter or summer, it could be dangerous, but he prevailed, and installed a lot of antennas in town. 

It was also in the 1950s that motorized power lawn mowers gained popularity. Harold had been selling power reel-type mowers for sometime, and had been a big deal in the 1940’s. 

It was early in the ‘50s when the rotary mowers began to come on the market and Harold saw potential. When they started making riding models Harold was convinced that this was something to investigate. As different models came on the market he bought one of every kind in order make his own tests to find the best. He spent a great deal of money in order to experiment with the different types of riders. He wanted one that would perform satisfactorily on the hill where he lived next to the water tower. 

Harold was conducting his tests as a milestone in Steamboat Rock’s history came. The town was now 100 years old.