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Herman Greu ner <br />Author: Amanda Fox Date: 12 Mar 2001 12:00 PM GMT <br />Surnames: Greupner, Schmiege <br />Classification: Biography <br />surnames in this article: Greupner, Brandt, Wheaton, Houlton, Libby, Schmiege, Bishop. <br />From newspaper in Elk River, Sherburne Co., MN. <br />Thursday, January 12, 1933. <br />Elk River Historical Sketches - Herman Greupner. <br />"Herman Greupner, the veteran shoemaker and dealer, is the oldest active business <br />man in the village of Elk River, having come here 49 years ago this spring and having <br />been continually in business since that time. During these long years he has suffered <br />complete loss of his business by fire on two different occasions, but each time has <br />come through, with renewed faith in the future of Elk River, to start again. He has been <br />an active worker for the good of the community and has always done his share in every <br />civic enterprise. <br />The following historical sketch was contributed by Mr. Greupner himself, and will be of <br />great interest to the readers to the Star News: <br />I was born and brought up on a small farm near the city of Neumarkt in the province of <br />Silesia and I attended the public school there until the age of fourteen. For the next <br />three years I was engaged as an apprentice at Neumarkt to learn the trade of making <br />boots and shoes. After receiving my papers as a journeyman I worked right along at the <br />trade for the next three years in different towns until I was obliged to serve my time in <br />the army. <br />After being released as a reserve I again worked in Berlin for three years for large <br />concerns doing custom work only. After that, in June, 1883, 1 made up my mind to <br />emigrate to the United State of America, to a country where at that time one could find <br />many better opportunities. I boarded a ship at Hamburg, and arrived in New York the <br />middle of July. I stayed there about six days with plenty of chances to go to work, but I <br />could not accept them, because I wasn't accustomed to the extreme heat, the <br />temperature being about 103 degrees in the shade, so I boared a train for Chicago. Not <br />finding that city to my liking I stayed only one day and moved on to St. Paul, a place that <br />appealed to me. After looking around for a month I found a job at a shoe factory, where <br />I stayed only two months, as this work wasn't very pleasant for me. Next I obtained work <br />in a custom shop at Eau Claire, Wis., doing custom work that winter for a firm called "F. <br />A. Fast." <br />In the spring of 1884 1 went to St. Paul and at one of the leather houses was informed <br />that M. L. Brandt of Elk River had a chance in his harness shop for a shoemaker to start <br />a shop for himself. So I came to Elk River April 5, 1884, and decided to try my luck here. <br />This shop stood next to Henry Wheaton's general store. I stayed with Mr. Brandt one <br />year and then W. H. Houlton built a new shop for me on the Princeton road. When my <br />business increased makina dress shoes for the "best oeoole" of Elk River. I moved to a <br />