Hardware stores are as necessary to a rural community as eggs and flour are to a baker. It is not surprising that the first lot sold in town went to John Wetherill, who built a hardware store known as Wetherill and Morsch. It was located at the corner of Third and Main Streets.

Within the next several months, J.M. Martin and Wm. Launderville had opened a hardware business on the east side of Main Street, the Arney Bros. opened another on Main Street north of Fourth Street, and the Heinzeman Bros. & Moody started one three doors south of the corner of Third and Main Streets. The stores carried farm implements, wagons, tin ware, shotguns, stoves, pumps, well augers, and general hardware items.

Two of the stores suffered fire losses April 16, 1882. The fire began at the Hinzeman Bros.

and Moody store, and destroyed the building and contents, valued at $5000. The Wetherill &

Morsch building was lost, but the merchandise was carried out and saved.

A fire of September 11, 1895, also hit two hardware stores. Peter and August Dethlefs, who had bought their store from the Arney Bros. in 1894, lost their building and stock. They did not reopen the business. C.H. Reinholdt, owner of the former Martin & Launderville business, suffered partial damages. The store he rebuilt became one of the best known hardware firms in Manning.

C.H. Reinholdt bought into the business December 13, 1886, as a partner of J.W. Martin. The Launderville interest had earlier been sold to J.N. Smith, who in turn sold it to Reinholdt. In 1889, Reinholdt became the sole owner.

Reinholdt had become a Manning businessman in 1883, and turned his experience into making the store one of Manning's success stories.

After the fire of 1895, he built a new, one story double brick building. The north half was used for hardware and shelf goods and the south half for implements. He also added such services as plumbing and heating installation, furnaces, electric refrigerators, roofing and electrical supplies.

The business was incorporated in 1907, and in 1909, Harry Reinholdt became a partner with his father. The elder Reinholdt died in 1929, with the store continuing until 1940.

After their fire in April, Heinzeman Bros. & Moody reopened their store in June, 1882. From then until 1922, the firm changed hands many times: Morsch & Moody, Wetherill & Morsch, J.B. Henshaw, Thomas Kimball & C.A. Barnes, Fred Miller & August Reimer, Fry & Grundmeier, Hugo Grundmeier & Frank Kempf, John Rostermundt & Alfred Kuhl.

May 21, 1921, a terrible gasoline explosion caused the death of Rostermundt and the store bookkeeper, Ida Grelck. Later that year, Herman Vogt purchased a half interest in the business, and the name was changed again to ''Kuhl & Vogt" a corporation. This name was continued for the next 49 years.

Vogt retired in 1947 and sold his stock to Lester Rowedder and Raymond Sander. Employees included Charles Hershman, Dutch Meisel, Emil Fuss and Roger Hinz.

After the deaths of both Alfred Kuhl and Lester Rowedder, Raymond Sander became the sole

owner of the store. He remained in business until 1971.

Sander sold the business to John Falck, who called it Falck Hardware. The store contents and building were severely damaged in a fire in 1974. The building was rebuilt and new stock put in, but Falck eventually liquidated the inventory and the store is no longer in existence. The Piccadilly Pizza Place now occupies the building.

In 1933, Kenneth Hockett, son of Loren Hockett, purchased a Gambles Store franchise. He opened the Manning store in a building owned by Bud McMahon, on the east side of Main Street two doors north of the old fire station. Gambles-Skogmo Company's home office is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A company store was operated in Carroll, where individual owned store owners could drive to pick up merchandise.

In 1935, John Horback, Jr. purchased the franchise from Hockett. A native of Templeton, "Jack" had been living in Lake City, where he owned a Gambles store. He moved his family to Manning, and engaged Joe Horback to manage the store, while Jack ran another Gambles store in Coon Rapids.

More space was required, and the store moved north, renting the south half of the Schelldorf building. During this time, Gambles-Skogmo opened a warehouse in Marshalltown, and trucks began to deliver the merchandise. Later this warehouse was moved to Fremont, Nebraska.

In the early 1940s, the store was moved again to the C.H. Reinholdt building at the corner of Fourth and Main. At first, only the north half of the Reinholdt building was used, and the south half housed the Virginia Cafe. Jack Horback later purchased the building from Harry Reinholdt, and the entire building was used for the hardware store.

The Horbacks took an active part in the rural electrification project of the early 1940's, running two electrical crews and a plumbing and sheet metal crew.

Television was in its infancy in the late 1940s. Joe, a radio serviceman, attended many operational and repair schools on the new entertainment appliance, becoming an ardent booster and the first television repairman in the area. Because of his health, Joe gave up the repair work in 1959 and Don Zubrod, Templeton, was hired for the radio and television service department.

When a site for the proposed "Manning Plaza" was sought, Jack sold the building. The store was moved to the Ohde building, now occupied by Manning Food Market. Joe purchased the franchise at this time and became the sole owner. The franchise was sold to John Dentlinger in 1969 because of Joe's failing health. Dentlinger later held a closing-out sale, ending the era of a Gambles store in Manning.

Coast to Coast Stores, as a franchised trade name, was only eight years old when E.A. Peterson opened the original Coast to Coast Store in Manning. He started March 1, 1936, in a building west of its present location.

Coast to Coast was a home and auto store in those days, and the 2000 square foot facility in Manning was typical of small Iowa towns during that period.

After operating the store one and a half years, Peterson sold it to Floyd Muhlenbruck in November, 1938. He also ran the store about one and a half years, selling it to O.E. Pratt and his son Ray in February, 1940.

The Pratt and Son partnership continued for 20 years. In August, 1946, the Pratts took in a third partner, Ed Callen, who continued with them until July, 1952. In January, 1960; O.E. Pratt sold his half interest to Ed Dobler. Ray and Ed continued their partnership until August, 1965, when Ray sold his half to Ed, ending 25 years of Pratt participation in the Coast to Coast Store.

Dobler continued as sole proprietor until he sold to Marlin Kahl in March, 1967. The store was sold to Richard Rafferty in August, 1969, and present owner Gary Smith purchased the store in July, 1972.

In the summer of 1948, the store had been moved across the street to 318 Main Street. This provided 2500 square feet of selling space. In 1975, it was remodeled and expanded to include 316 Main, making it a 5000 square foot store.

Back in the late forties and early fifties, when television began to be a household necessity, it also called for the need for television repair service. The Gamble Store, operated by Jack and Joe Horbach, became a leader in selling sets and Joe set up and operated a repair shop in the rear of the store. In the early fifties Billy Jensen, who had attended a repair school in Chicago, and Roland Valentine opened a repair shop known as B & B TV in the rear of the Bennett furniture store. They disbanded later on to seek better opportunities.

In 1958 Don Zubrod purchased the repair business from the Gamble Store; in 1959 Leroy Voge joined Don as a service technician and worked for him for approximately 15 years.

In 1960 Don moved his equipment to the building on the corner of Third and Main owned by the Manning Heating & Sheet Metal. During that time he acquired the RCA and Zenith franchises.

In November, 1968, he opened a new shop in a new 40x60 Strand Steel building at 1417 West 4th Street at the west edge of Manning. He expanded his lines to Quasar, Hoover, and Whirlpool.

His son Brad attended Western Iowa Tech at Sioux City and then joined his father in 1975 as a service technician.

Charles Rauch, present owner of the Manning Heating & Sheet Metal, came to Manning in 1960 to manage a lampshade factory in operation here at that time.

In 1962 he became a partner of Junior Lake in the Manning Heating & Sheet Metal firm and two and a half years later became the sole owner of the business. When Rauch first entered the company it had two full-time and one part-time employees in addition to the owners. Today it has eight full-time and three part-time employees.

Lake had established the company in 1946.

The firm had been located in the two-story brick building at the northwest corner of the intersection of Third and Main streets, an old landmark built by E.C. Perry before 1900. In 1979 the building was sold to the Manning Trust & Savings Bank; it has been torn down and a new, modern building is being built for the bank.

Rauch moved to his new 70 by 180 foot building erected at the corner of Highway 141 and West street, which now affords him ample room with plenty of parking space for his expanding business. He carries franchises for Amana, Kitchen Aid, General Electric, Maytag, Snapper lawn equipment, and is a dealer for World Homes.

Norman Kuker began the Modern Gas Company on Highway 141 in 1960 with Roy Soll as manager. Modern Gas Company was sold to Phillips Petroleum Company in 1962, and moved to the front room of the Louck's Apartments until their move to the present location at 308 Main Street in 1964.

Phillips Petroleum Company sold to the Uniongas Company on July 1, 1969. In November of 1969 Dick Dammann was hired as manager. In September of 1978 Jack Ramsey was hired as manager. I n October of 1979 Marlys Karsten was hired as office clerk and Milford Wiese as Bulk Driver. Other employees of the company have been Wilbur Karsten, Ronald Schilling, Errol Wegner, Elaine Dammann, Dorothy Beck, Kathy Popp, Pat Ruhde, Jerry Spies, Marsha Feick.

A large number of clothing and general stores developed in Manning as soon as the dust was settled. In 1881, Funk Bros. Clothing Store was opened, and general stores to open that year were Callamore & Priest, Hienzman and Moody, Hoffmann & Schoop, Benson & Vauhn, Chapman Bros., and Emery. 1882 records show that stores were opened or purchased by Russell & Sharp, John Karston, Carpenter, Moershell & Howard. In 1884 John Jay opened a clothing store, and he was joined by Grelck in 1889. Before the turn of the century, general stores were opened by Benson & Co., Mallery & Jay, Brunnier Bros., Sharp & Steffen, E.C. Perry, Karston & Dethlefs and Henry Hoffmann.

In 1884, John Jay was the proprietor of a clothing store at 314 Main Street, which is now the site of the Grimm Tavern. In 1898, John Grelck purchased interest in this store and the name Jay & Grelck was used. Their stock was considered a large one with an inventory that read as high as $8,000 at certain seasons of the year.

Martens Mercantile Company went into business in Manning about 1904, and continued until 1932. It was owned and operated by W.J. Martens and his brother Henry Martens. It was a general store and carried a full line of groceries, men's wear, ladies wear, shoes, and piece goods. It was located on the corner of Main Street where the new Manning Trust Bank is being built.

There were metal hitching posts for the customers to tie their horses. AI Martens grew up in the store. He remembers getting the eggs out of the buggies, also the home made butter the farmers' wives churned. The ladies had different molds which decorated the top of the butter. Customers came every week to buy their favorite butter.

Coffee was ground once a week. The delicious aroma permeated the whole store. The coffee was Butter-Nut even in those days.

The store bought many potatoes from the farmers. At times they had 25 to 50 carloads on the railroad track. The farmers traded potatoes for merchandise.

Al enjoyed working in the store and learned a lot about it. Marcella Martens Knaack also worked in the store.

A ladies ready to wear store was operated by Bernice Vogt in the basement of the former Manning Trust and Savings Bank. She maintained this business for several years and in July, 1937, sold out to Bea Rostermundt. Bea continued the shop in that location until April 2, 1938 when she moved her shop to 322 Main Street. She shared a store with Kenneth (Hap) Dusenberry and both ladies' and men's ready to wear clothing were sold. This new store was purchased from George Lee who had managed the Lee Clothing Store here from April, 1936 to April, 1938, when he sold it to Hap Dusenberry.

The Rober-Wehrmann Co. Department Store was an important asset to the--Manning community for many years. The four men who made up this corporation were Gus Rober, Julius Wehrmann, Claus Claussen, and Ed Breckenridge.

This store was one of the leading merchandising establishments in this section of the state. It afforded the people of the time with a medium where they could purchase practically all of their needs under one roof. It became known for many miles around as the trading headquarters of this area.

The firm was in business under this name since 1907, succeeding Henry Hoffmann Sr. Many improvements and enlargements were made as the years passed. The store employed from 20 to 30 people according to the seasons.

The store contained four principal departments. On the lower, or street level, were men's and boys' clothing, shoes and a grocery department, with a dry goods department and women's and girls' shoes in an adjacent 25-foot half of the two-story Lewis-Reinhold building. An elevator connected the first and second floors. Upstairs was a large pleasant area where women's ready to wear, lingerie, and millinery were sold. Only good name brands of merchandise were carried throughout the store.

The departments were interconnected to accommodate the store traffic. A money exchange system ran from the central cashier's office, by means of overhead conveyance wires that carried tubes containing the change or receipts to the various customer stations.

Farmers in the vicinity brought in their produce consisting of eggs, butter, and potatoes and traded them for merchandise. Many car loads of potatoes were shipped by railroad from this point every fall. Some of the farm families had more than enough credit to last them through a year's purchases for their families. Trading was done in the basement and required the services of two employees.

The store suffered some fire and water damage in December, 1933, when fire destroyed the entire Lewis Reinhold building next door. A large fire sale was held at that time. In February, 1939, another fire which originated in the Lewis Reinhold building destroyed both buildings completely. A modern one-story building was built to replace the burned-out one, but the RoberWehrmann Co. went out of business at this time.

The two-story building was built in 1917 with a 50-foot front and complete basement.

After the disastrous fire of 1939, the RoberWehrmann Company decided to cease the operation of their department store; they had served the people of Manning and surrounding community for 31 years. They did, however, decide to rebuild a new, modern one-story building in the same location, and leased it to the Brown-McDonald Company, a Nebraska company operating a chain of 27 department stores.

Eddie Johnson became one of the first employees under the managership of Frank T. Johnson from the McDonald firm. He assisted in installing fixtures and preparing merchandise for the grand opening on November 4, 1939.

In 1944 Eddie left for military duty and six months later Frank Johnson also left for military service. In November of that year Mr. Vaughn Genzler, a manager of one of their Nebraska stores, came to replace Frank. In August of 1948 Mr. Genzler left the firm and Eddie Johnson became the new manager. After some time, in 1950, the Brown-McDonald Company became the J.M. McDonald Company with 102 stores.

Since this was the only store operated in the state of Iowa by this firm, they finally decided to confine their program to Nebraska and Kansas. They sold the store to Eddie Johnson in August, 1964, and it became known as the present "Johnson's Department Store". The grand opening for the now locally owned store was held August 21 and 22, the consecutive birthdays of Eddie's wife, Marcella, and Eddie's.

On October 14, 1979, Eddie observed his 40th year in the building at 4th and Main, which includes 25 years with the McDonalds and 15 years of private ownership.

Present employees at this 1980 writing are Edna Vollstedt, Elberta Grimm, Milda Peters, and Helen Petersen. The present employees, along with their employer, have a total of 138 years service in the McDonald and Johnson stores to the people of this community.

For memory's sake some prevailing prices in 1939 were: Overalls, 98c a pair; men's chambray work shirts, 59c each; men's white dress shirts, 98c to 1.98; Sanforized cotton print fabrics, 29c a yard; men's 3-piece suits 19.98; men's dress pants, 3.98. Salaries were 35c an hour. The men's assistant manager received $70.00 per month. The average working week was 70 hours.

Brothers Lewis E. and Herbert A. Schelldorf established Schelldorf's Clothing store in 1916. Located at 309 Main Street, the store was originally owned by W.J. Martens and known as Martens Clothing Store.

Schelldorf's carried fashions for men and boys, including Kuppenheimer clothes, O'Donnell shoes, Mallory hats, Hansen gloves, Superior underwear, and Wearpledge clothes for boys.

Ted Rix entered the business in its later years, as a partner of Lewis Schelldorf. It was sold to Al Beisch in 1950.

Albert Beisch purchased the Schelldorf Store from Lewis Schelldorf and Ted Rix April 1, 1950. He later moved the store to the east side of the street, into the former Livingston pool hall.

Beisch's Clothing Store featured men's and boys' wear for 25 years. The business was sold to Gary Smith February 1, 1975; the building was made a part of Smith's Coast-to-Coast Store.

Herman C. Pahde came to Manning on September 3, 1916, at the age of 21, having been employed by the Rober-Wehrmann Company as window trimmer, card writer and decorator. He had just completed a course in that profession at the Koester School of Decorating in Chicago.

One prerequisite for this position at the RoberWehrmann Co., was to be able to speak the German language, which at that time was still being widely spoken in the Manning area.

In 1917 he was called into the U.S. military service and served his country overseas for one and a half years, resuming his duties at the Rober-Wehrmann Co., when he returned.

The annual style shows which he staged and directed drew crowds from a large area and greatly enhanced and increased that business. In an account of the 1920 style show taken from the Monitor, it states that the show was staged in the Manning opera house with music furnished by the Jentsch orchestra. After opening remarks by Mr. Rober, Mr. Pahde gave his "Hints on Fashions" and what to expect in styles for the coming season. Eleven suit and eleven coat models were introduced by spotlight and then, as Mr. Pahde described each garment, the models walked down a promenade from the stage into the audience and back. Six skirt and waist models were shown along with childrens' apparel, and eleven dress models. In men's wear he presented one young man's outfit, and four models of suits and overcoats.

The main feature was the live model drape by Mr. Pahde. Using Miss Dora Ohde as his model, Mr. Pahde took a piece of silk, a few yards of ribbon, some netting, a piece of braid and a good many pins and fashioned a dress in a short time. As the model walked the promenade the dress appeared to have been sewn rather than pinned. All hats shown were by courtesy of the Bon-Ton Millinery.

In 1925 he became a co-partner with Peter F. Hansen in the firm of Hansen-Pahde, taking charge of the ready-to-wear, millinery and piece goods. This department grew so rapidly that in 1956 he decided to go into business for himself under the firm name of Pahde's Ready-to-Wear and Millinery which he and his wife operated for nine years.

He was married to Alma Rohr in 1921. They have two girls, Mrs. Don Struve (Dorothy) of Fort Dodge and Mrs. Bob Kohnke (Donna) of Fairfax, Virginia.

Mr. Pahde retired from business in 1964, but has been kept busy with his hobbies of travel, collecting antiques, refinishing furniture and caning chairs.

He has been a life-long member of the Lutheran Church and holds a life membership in the American Legion Emil Ewoldt Post.

Genevieve McNeley entered the women's clothing store business in 1948 at the death of her husband. She originally had a store in Scranton; in 1950, she opened a store in Manning at 311 Main Street, but discontinued it after one year.

In September, 1964, Mrs. McNeley returned to Manning to open a store at 309 Main Street. She purchased the business from Herman Pahde, and continued his reputation of carrying a fine line of women's and girls' fashions.

Mrs. McNeley was 64 when she opened Genevieve's with Naomi Wiemann and Luella Gruhn as her employees. In 1974, due to ill health, Genevieve managed the business from her apartment and Luella Gruhn and Lillian Andresen worked in the store. March 18, 1976, at the age of 78, she announced her retirement and the store was closed. The building has been used as various offices for the past years, including the office for the Municipal Light Plant and for the United Telephone Company.

Earl V. Westering of Logan, owner of the Golden Rule Stores, established his Manning store in 1953.

Mrs. Marie Brady managed the store for 20 years until her death in 1974. Mrs. Esther Paulsen has managed the store since that time.

Wiese & Sons Herefords