|
|
A great portion of the Karlsruhe information is resourced in MCHENRY COUNTY, Its History and Its People, 1885-1985, also North Dakota Place Names by Douglas Wick and Origins of North Dakota Place Names by Mary Ann Barnes Williams.
Karlsruhe is a town and a township. Karlsruhe Township [T153 R77] was renamed from Regstad Township. The first settlers arrived in this area about 1902, with many of them being Russo-German Catholics. A Great Northern Railroad station was built here in 1912 in Section 7 which was on the Surrey cutoff line. The post office was established 15 May 15 1912 with John E. Sauer as Postmaster. The village was named for Karlsruhe, North Baden, Germany, and translates to "Charles' repose" or "Charles' peace." The elevation is 1546, the Zip Code is 58744, and the village, which incorporated in 1927, reached a peak population of 289 in 1940 and in 2018 it was 88.
Digested from "MCHENRY COUNTY, Its History and Its People, 1885-1985:
In 1899 Gottffried Ackermann (Gottfried, Godfried, Ackerman), from South Russia, settled two and a half miles east of Karlsruhe [T153 R77 S10]. In 1900 Siegfried Hausler [Heisler] and his brother Mike, settled four miles east of the site and Anton and Joseph Masene [Massini] settled six miles east [T153 R77 S1]. These families were the first settlers in the Karlsruhe area.
In 1901 Anton Kraft with his wife and three sons, John, Allen, and Ambrose came first to Harvey and then took land two miles east of Karlsruhe [T153 R77 S4]. Henry Schiele and
Pete Bossert immigrated with them.
By 1904 all the free land from about ten miles east of Karlsruhe to four miles west of it had been claimed and settled. In 1904, in the church on the hill, the pioneers gathered to select a settlement name. Expectations were a name after a hometown in Russia. Balloting eliminated all but three. Those three names were then auctioned. The winner was Karlsruhe when no bid outbid the Philip Boechler and Mike Boehm bid of $40.
In 1910, after the Great Northern Railroad built their Surrey cut-off through the township, August Gefroh, who owned the townsite, sold the land to Mr. Tallman. Mr. Tallman had it surveyed and platted and the first lots were sold to Nick Boechler, John Sauer, the German-American Bank, the First State Bank and the Miller Drug Company of Balfour. The banks and Miller Drug never opened businesses there but Nick Boechler had a building moved from Balfour and opened a general store, the first business in Karlsruhe.
The first homes built in town belonged to Nick Boehcler, Mike Schwab, Mike Boehm,
Wendelin Black and Wendelin Senger.
After the Great Northern Railroad built the Surrey cut-off through Karlsruhe Township in 1910, the townsite of Karlsruhe was platted and lots were sold in 1910 and 1911.
In 1912 August Gefroh and his nephews, Anton and Andrew Guttenberg, erected a two-story building and opened a general store that sold groceries, clothing, hardware, machinery and caskets. Next door Peter Jager established a meat market. Both businesses burned in the mid 1920's and Gefroh then went into business alone, first in the implement business, then building a hardware store where the Gefroh Senior Citizen Center is now [1985] located. Peter Jaeger moved his business into his home, until he built the present [1985] Red Owl store. When prohibition was repealed, Mr. Jaeger had the first beer parlor in the basement of his store.
Three grain elevators were built, one of which burned and the other two were eventually purchased by H. O. Foss. In 1947 both elevators were purchased by a cooperative of farmers and Joe Schmalz managed them until 1957.
The Great Northern built a depot and a water storage tank as well as two bunk houses as homes for the families of the two section foremen. Mr. Bugoni was the depot agent with operators on duty twenty-four hours a day. Otto and Godfried Storing were section foremen and they, with their brother Herb, established a feed grinding business where the Kasmer Wald residence is now [1985].
A bank was opened with Adam Fischer as manager. At first it was located in a small frame building that had been moved from Balfour. About two years later the brick building was constructed that is now [1985] the post office.
North of the brick bank, on the site of the mobil park, Miller's Meat Market opened where Balser Miller sold meat and some groceries. After his death the shop was
operated by his son, Joe, until he went to Detroit in the 1930's. Peter Jager bought the building, dismantled it and used it in enlarging his store.
North of the meat market was the Sauer Cash Store, owned by John Bossert, Nick Boechler and John Sauer. It burned in the mid twenties and the Karlsruhe fire hall now [1985] occupies that lot. After the fire John Bossert built the present [1985] Bossert Hardware and added a John Deere dealership.
In 1917 Joe Schmalz sold his farm at Esmond [Esmond, Benson County] and purchased the John Miller blacksmith shop and a large storage building erected by the bank. He leased part
of the building to Eugene ("Put 'em in High") Black's auto repair shop and the first garage was opened. The first autos were the Overland, Dodge and the Maxwell. The garage burned in 1935.
On the east side old Main Street Al Kraft and a man named Wahl opened the Cash Store. Wahl sold his interested to Frank Wald who also had the post office in that building. North of that was a community hall and beyond that a pool hall and bowling alley. Both buildings were destroyed by fire in the early twenties.
The church on the hill north of town was moved into Karlsruhe and in 1927 a new church was built. The old church was purchased by Peter Lenertz, moved and made into a shop where Oslie Larson did automobile repair and welding. After Larson left, Henry Bock, a son-in-law of Peter Lenertz, operated the repair shop. Sometime later it was remodeled into a pool hall and barber shop and still later Raymond Zerr made it into a garage.
In the late twenties, Robert Grim who was second man for the H. O. Foss elevators, constructed a large building south of the present [1985] senior citizen center. It was a pool hall, a dance hall and sometimes boxing matches were held there. Frank Wald moved his grocery store into the recreation building also. The establishment burned to the ground.
An off-sale liquor store was established by John Pluth and J. C. Merck in the Peter Lenertz place on the west side of Main Street.
Matt Duchsherer constructed a building on the lot the Pivot Bar now [1985] occupies where movies were shown and dances were held. Later it was used as a power plant and garage. J. C. Merck purchased the building and remodeled it to make an off-sale liquor store, then sold it to Ambrose Wald who demolished the building and built Ambrose's Bar.
The public school, which is now [1985] the VFW Hall, was built in 1915 and the old school house was moved to the east side of Main Street, where in about 1926, Annie Gefroh, a rural school teacher, opened a restaurant. The building was later purchased by Mike Wald and enlarged to make a garage and gas station.
In about 1930 Adam Feller opened a general store. He also had gasoline pumps and a Minneapolis Moline dealership. It was later converted to a restaurant.
In 1932 a city hall was built with W.P.A. labor. It was used as a dance hall and also as a gym for the high school until the present school [1985] was built.
City of Karlsruhe
|
|
|
