SRHS
Steamboat Rock Historical Society
100 YEARS OLD
CENTENNIAL 1855-1955
A WHOLE NEW ERA
Take walk through Steamboat Rock. as the small town turns 100 years old.
Starting in front of the School. The gym hadn’t been added and the original building’s front was covered with ivy. I had completed second grade that spring, my classroom was in the small annex building to the east of the main building.
The first business, walking west on Market Street that I remember was Al Boll’s D-X station.
Next to the station was the cheese factory. Harry Blosch owned and operated this business. H.A. Eckhoff was instrumental in bringing him to Steamboat to start the business. Harry Blosch served in the army as a cook during World War II. when he returned home, he worked for a cheese factory and learned cheese making in Hazelton, Iowa.
At this time he met Wilma Brown, and they were married. They bought a restaurant and bar which they operated together.
Heine Eckhoff contacted Harry and persuaded him to buy the creamery and start a cheese factory.
At the time of the Steamboat Rock Centennial in 1955, the cheese factory was owned and operated by Harry R. Blosch. The factory made cheddar cheese for Kraft, and Colby for retail sales.
The cheese made for Kraft amounted to between 35,000 and 40,000 pounds (20 tons) each week. That’s over 1,000 tons each year.
I recall when the milk trucks were coming in and unloading in the morning you could hear the clank of the cans on the conveyor all over town. One man who had a milk route for years and years when I was a boy was Enno Harms. There were others, but I think he must have done it the longest.
I understand that there was once a cafe between the cheese factory and the drugstore. I think it was called the Pirates Den. It was before my time.
The drugstore, probably brings back the most memories. Particularly from my high school days, but this is 1955.
It was really called, Russell Holmes Sundries. It had ceased being a true drugstore when Russell bought it since he was not a pharmacist and there was no longer a pharmacy in the store. The last pharmacist was a man by the name of Boeke, who Russell bought the store from. Never-the-less everybody called it the drugstore.
The real attraction for us kids was the genuine soda fountain. I swear I have never had a malt like you could get at the Holmes Drugstore.
Russell Holmes Sundries, Left, behind the soda fountain is Karla Frerichs, seated at the counter is Elma Lyons, and Russell is standing on the right.
Russell was always there, and his dad Jim was there a good share of the time too. Jim always had a story to tell, and how I wish I could talk to him now. Usually there was a high school girl behind the soda fountain on weekends or after school. I recall Karla Frerichs, Judy Pierson, Alma Lyons as a few who worked there. I also recall that Alice Luiken (Harold Luiken’s mother) worked there for a time when I was small. Clara Buthman, (Gene’s mother) worked there when I was in high school.
In addition to the soda fountain there were a couple of large booths at the back. There was usually a game of cribbage, 500, or some other card game going on in one of them.
Russell was open every day. He was the only business in town that was open on Sunday when I was a boy. He opened about two or three in the afternoon and closed about nine or later in the summer. The other six days he was open from 8 am to 9 p.m., or later on Saturday night.
Russell sold everything from cosmetics to paint and wallpaper. Cigarettes and cigarette paper to wallpaper. Fly spray, veterinary supplies, magazines, comic books, candy, potato chips, health and beauty aids.
Right next door to the west was the doctor’s office. Dr. Temple was the first I remember in that office and Dr. Bremner was the last not only that I remember but the last doctor the town had. Dr. Bremner came at the time of the Centennial.
The school used the building for a classroom between Doc Temple and Bremner, or maybe it was after Bremner left.
Later Irvin Gast and Hollis Havens had a plumbing and electric business there.
Knights Locker was a fun place for a kid to visit. Leo and Ivadell were great people. They always took time to visit even with a kid. It was great fun to go back in the locker area and get something for my mother especially in the summer on a hot day.
For those too young to know what a locker is I’ll explain. Before everybody had a freezer, lockers were built. They were in simple terms a huge room that was kept a zero degrees. On the walls and in rows through the middle of the room were compartments approximately four feet wide, three feet high and deep. Each compartment had a door with a lock. Folks would rent one or more of these “Lockers” and keep their frozen foods in them. When a farmer had butchering done the meat would be put in his locker. When he wanted some of his meat he would come in and go to his locker and get what he needed. He had his own key for his locker and could help himself. Some folks brought in vegetables from their garden and put them in the locker too.
As home freezers became popular the need for lockers was diminished.
The Knights also did custom butchering and as a boy is was fun to stop out back and watch Leo and later his son Jerry butcher a beef or hog. I don’t know what the fascination was but every kid in town did it at one time or another.
The next building was on the corner west of the locker. It had been the City Hotel for years but in my time it was the Legion Hall. There was an apartment on the second floor where Roger Gast and his family lived when I was young.
In addition to Legion meetings the hall was used for reunions and such too. At Christmas time town drawings for cash or turkeys were held every Saturday with Heine Eckhoff officiating. It is hard, even for me, to imagine the crowd of people who came to town in the ‘50s, on a Saturday afternoon for those drawings. The entire first floor of the Legion Hall was packed, and there was a P.A. system set up for all the people who couldn’t crowd into the building.
Luiken Hardware
West across the street was the Implement building. In my recollection it was never open in my lifetime, but the Luikens did have some stock waterers and feeders sitting in front of the building and along the east side when they had the hardware.
Next to the Implement building, was Luiken Hardware. I often went there with my dad. I can even remember back to when Jake Cramer still worked there part time. Of course I remember Carl, Tony and Harry Luiken the brothers who owned the store. When I was in high school and had a part time sign business Carl Luiken set up my very first charge account for me at the hardware store.
I also remember old Frank Dedrick, who did plumbing and heating work for the Luikens.
In 1950, when Ben Johnson’s store closed and the Luiken brothers bought the building and opened a furniture store in it.
Between the Hardware and Furniture store stood an old weather worn wooden store building that no longer had a speck of paint on it. It was exactly what you might expect to find in an old western ghost town. The building was always a mystery to me. Why was it not torn down? What had it been used for? Today I know that it was the old tin shop that the Ruppelts ran. The building remained the same from my earliest memory until Harold Luiken finally bought it and built his modern office complex in the 1970s.
Hattie Tholen, Ubbe Peters, Margaret Eckel
West of Luiken’s Furniture was an alley. Luiken’s building covers it today. West of the ally was Ubbe’s. How could I ever forget Ubbe Peters.
During the difficult years of the depression, Ubbe was one of many who was forced off the farm due to poor farming conditions compounded by low prices.
Not to be done in by his circumstances, Ubbe and “Gusty” moved their family to Steamboat Rock, and took over the hotel which at this time consisted of a restaurant on the lower level, and a rooming house of sorts on the second floor. When the new dam and water towner were being built in Steamboat, in 1939, the workers stayed at “Ubbe’s Place”. Ubbe’s wife Gusty did the cooking and daughter Anna Marie was their waitress.
In 1946, Ubbe bought the building by the alley and opened Ubbe’s Cafe. This was simply a restaurant and tavern that Ubbe and his wife Gusty ran until they retired.
Ubbe’s had the best hamburgers I ever ate, and his price for Pop Sickles and Fudge Sickles was lower than Holmes Drug. And, sometimes if you were a few cents short or you had no money old Ubbe would treat us.
When he retired Ubbe sold the cafe to Max “Sonny” Sharpshare. Sonny had been the custodian at the school until he bought the cafe.
West of Ubbe’s was the town hall. When I was a boy, this was also the fire station. The door was never locked, and once in a while one of my friends and I would go in and look over the fire engines.
Next to the town hall Harold Luiken had his appliance store. While I am told that before my time Harold Luiken’s Appliance Store did a great deal of business, I never really saw it open. I know there were several appliances in the building. You could see them in the window. I think Harold must have gone over and opened up when someone wanted to buy something.
Next to his appliance store Harold had Luiken’s Garage. I didn’t go there to often. I remember several of the old men would often gather in the front office and sit by the old stove and swap stories. Albert VanDornum, Rynold Harms, Big Pete Eckhoff, Harry Hildabridle, John Frerichs and others.
When the new cars came out in September there was always a big open house. Back in the 50’s auto manufacturers did things a lot different. They didn’t let anyone see the new model cars before a certain day. When Harold got the new model I think he had it delivered to his house up on the hill and hid it in his garage. Then in the dark of night the night before the new cars were to be introduced he would take it into the showroom. Every dealer in the country did it this way and the only way you got to see the new models was to go to the dealership on that day. It created lots of excitement.
I remember I had a paper route in 1958, I sold Grit. Now Harold hardly ever bought a copy from me, and if he did I usually sold it to him at the garage. I didn’t like riding my bike up the big hill where he lived by the water tower.
I heard he had the new car in his garage, so I went up to the house with the excuse to selling a paper hoping to get a peek a couple days ahead. When I got up to the house there it was, not in the garage, but in his back yard. A blue and white 1958 Chevrolet. I particularly remember the year because that was the year the Chevy’s had that big “V” in the back. Boy did I think I was something because I saw the car before anyone else. I didn’t even knock and try to sell a paper. I thought Harold might see through my excuse and be mad at me.
The building that had housed Eilers and Miller’s stores on Market Street.
The showroom in the old garage was nothing fancy. Not like they are today. But, on the day the new models came out it was decorated to the hilt. Sawdust on the floors, crepe paper streamers so profuse that you couldn’t see the walls or ceiling. There were big poster with pictures of all the models (Harold usually only had one).
There was also a table with all kinds of cookies and coffee. Of course us kids thought this was all for us. We never dreamed it was for paying customers. We never did get too carried away though Harold’s mother Alice was usually at the table to keep a watchful eye on us.
Harold’s chief mechanic was Eldon Havens, and his shop was at the rear of the garage. He also worked on small engines.
When Harold went big in the distribution of lawn mowers he gave up the Chevy franchise and the garage was taken over by Bill and Jesse Smith. Bill had worked for Harold for ten years before he and his wife took over in 1961. They added a new line to the business, aluminum boats. The Smiths ran the garage until 1971 when they closed.
Eldon Havens built a building of his own and opened his own auto and small engine repair business. It was located across the alley, south behind the hardware.
Down on the next corner west was the Harms Hatchery building. It too was closed by my time, but the building was still there as it is even today.
Up on the hill where Larry Havens lives now there is a gray metal building which was a hatchery when I was a boy. It was the DeVries Hatchery. Leonard and Ona Bea DeVries operated it and on occasion their daughter Bernadine, who was my babysitter took me up to see the chicks. Leonard died in 1954, and the business closed shortly thereafter.
Just down the hill to the west from the DeVries Hatchery, and diagonally across the street was the home Clearance Nipper who ran a Well Drilling business. Nipper was Bill Hartman’s son-in-law, and had taken over the business from him. I remember Nipper scolded me good one time when I was about five years old for throwing stones in his well casings.
Before I go too far, I had better get back to Market Street. We still have to go down the north side. Beginning once more on the east end, there is of course the Presbyterian Church. The entrance to the church faced east when I was a boy, and there was a cement stairway up to the door.
Right next door was the Frank Fredrickson house. It has been long torn down. Then back from the street to the west was the Albert Kruse home. I went to school with their son Curtis.
Then came Farmers Saving Bank on the corner. Early on, I think but am not sure, I can remember Nelly Turner in the bank. I definitely remember Doris Ruppelt, Anna Doolard, and Bernie Heard.
I remember when Bernie was robbed in the 80’s.
It was sad when the bank lost its local ownership. Sad because it had been such a solid bank for so long. Now through the years of outside ownership we have seen failures and ownership changes almost too numerous to count. Sadder still is the fact that no bank serves the community today.
Across the street west, there is now a long vacant space all the way to the alley and library. When I was a boy there were three buildings in this space that are all gone now. The last was taken down in the spring of 2000.
First was Eilers Store. Even when I was a boy it was still pretty much an old fashioned general store.
Tom Eilers was my mother’s first cousin and for that reason we did almost all our shopping there. My mom worked in the store before she was married, and had her first beauty shop there.
The store carried clothing, sewing fabric, cleaning supplies, food items (food being the best stocked items), even floor covering. In the back there was a place to candle eggs that the farmers brought in. Yes, they still did that in my time. Oh yes they still sold kerosene for lamps in the back.
Meat was limited to lunch meat that had to be sliced to order, a chicken or two, and maybe a couple beef roasts. If you wanted meat you had to go to the locker or meat market.
By the way the chickens came to the store live direct from the farmers. When another was needed for the meat case, another was killed and cleaned and put in the case. They couldn’t be much fresher.
Tom retired in 1959, and sold the store to Mr. and Mrs. Ervin Miller. The Millers ran the store only until-1961 and then it closed. Harold Luiken bought the building in 1964, and used it as a warehouse for a time until it was discovered the floor could not bare the weight. In the fall of 1979 the building dating back to 1894 was torn down.
Next door just across a vacant lot was a small house that a long time earlier was the doctor’s office where Doctor Caldwell practiced.
Ruppelt then Gast and then Burns Market.
Old Doc Caldwell (J. Willard) had his office in the building and when his son (J.W.) took over he moved it to the business part of Market Street.
I cannot recall what the building was used for when I was small. In his retirement, it was the home of Ubbe Peters and his wife Gusty.
Across another small lot was Tom Ruppelt’s Meat Market. When Tom owned the store he sold mostly meat and some basic grocery items. The grocery items might be compared with the lines that todays convenience stores carry. I don’t think he had anything but food however.
When the Gast’s bought the store, they expanded the grocery lines. When the Burns’ took over they expanded the lines carried even more. It was amazing how much they carried considering the size of the building.
Across the alley, where the library is now, was the telephone office. The only family I recall running the telephone office were the Williams. I am told that a family by the name of Lewis operated the office prior to that. I guess it was really Emma that ran it, Harry Williams was in the trucking business for a time. The Williams family lived on the side where Lois Luiken now lives and there was a big open archway into the room where the switchboard was. That was on the side where the library is now.
Betty Frerichs and Hattie Tholen helped out at the telephone office.
I remember when dial phones came into town. My dad built the equipment building that is still used today behind the present library.
It was shortly thereafter that the progress club started the library. It was first housed in the town hall and later moved into the present building. I have never been much of a reader, but Sophie Potgeter Rowen and Esther Primus really encouraged me to do so. When I read one in a series of animal books and enjoyed it they saw to it that the others in the series were brought in so I could continue to read them. They were great ladies. Lois Luiken the present librarian has also been of great help with my research for this book.
Next door to the west was the barber shop. The first barber that I remember was Ott Filbrandt. There were a couple of others in between but the next one that stayed for any length of time was Claude Heard, Rex Heard’s brother. After Claude, George Hemmen took over. He was the town’s last barber. The barber shop was the last business on the north side of Market street.
Go back with me now to the school corner and walk south from the old D-X station there were three business houses.
The first now houses Sheryl’s Beauty Shop. The first business that I remember this building housing was a cafe owned by Walter Heffelmeier. It was called “Walley’s Wagon.” In the center when you walked in the door was a rectangular lunch counter much like the bar in the TV show Cheers. There was no liquor sold at Wally’s though. Around the sides of the room were red booths.
Wally was a great guy and all the kids loved him. He had a nickname for every kid in town. He always called me Winkle. His wife Geneveve was the kindergarten teacher in Steamboat Rock for many years, and a sister to Doris Ruppelt.
I don’t know what Wally did after the cafe closed, but when I was in high school he worked for the County Conversation Commission at the time when they made Steamboat Rock and Tower Rock into a nice park and camping area.
For a number of years the building housed Dale’s Produce. They bought eggs and chickens.
After the produce closed the building was once again a cafe for a very short time.
I then opened a sign and silkscreen business in the building for a year (1967).
Susan Dardis opened a beauty shop called the Headhunter in the building after I left. A Mrs. Graham then bought the building, I’m not sure what it was used for.
Sheryl, (then Hughes) bought it in 1972 or 73. She opened Sheryl’s Hair Fashionette. It is still operating today.
Next door was and still is the post office. My entire life in Steamboat Rock, my aunt Marie Eilers was the postmaster in Steamboat Rock. I had moved away when she retired. Over the years she was assisted by my aunts Louise and Ruth Eilers, Betty Asher, and Vera Okken.
Heine Eckhoff was the rural mail carrier that I remember, and Paul Primus followed him. Heine owned the post office building and it was remodeled extensively at least three times in my years in Steamboat that I can remember.
Next door, was the Cafe. A building also owned by Heine Eckhoff. Heine tried his darndest to keep the cafe open over the years. My earliest memory was when the building housed the school’s industrial arts shop back before the addition had been added to the school.
A great many tried to make a go of the cafe over the years. Some did a better job than others. I won’t pass judgment here, just list those I remember (they may not be in order).
Most of these were there when I was in junior high or high school. Mr. and Mrs. Clearance Nipper, Lucille Krull, Bill and Dee Raske, Mrs. Esther Bunger, Ray and Helen Folkerts, Herman (Tuffy) and Jan Snettjer, Larry & Carol Williams. After I left town, Charlene and Gordon Daleske ran the cafe for a time and then Sabrina Neilson. She was last, and I’m sure that there were others.
There were several businesses operated out of peoples homes. Two have already been mentioned My mother had a beauty shop in our home, Dolly’s Beauty Shop. Others included Curly Hoekstra and later her daughter who had a shop in the house at the east end of Market Street across from the cemetery entrance.
Harry Folkerts and William (Bill) Eckel operated a construction business from their homes. So did John Gast and Sons. Walter Steinfelt also operated out of his home.
Joe Cervetti had a large shop behind his home that he operated out of. Ralph Gast operated on his own from a shop on his property after Joe retired.
When I was young Henry Schwitters had an upholstery business out of his home, or should I say garage. In later years Mrs. Bill (Marian) Rewerts did upholstery work. Bill Rewarts ran a trucking business.
In the 60’s Lee Pieters had a pump repair and well drilling business in Steamboat that is run by his son Kevin today.