Postcard from the 1950s.

1981 Manning Cenntennial book
Leon G. Hass opened a shoe repair shop in Manning in 1919, moving to Manning after serving in World War I.
He continued the shop for 54 years and was located downstairs on west Main Street between Second and Third Streets for more than 40 years.
The Hass Shoe Service became the exclusive dealer of this area in Foot-so-Port shoes in 1950.
In October, 1964, Hass sold the shoe business to the Manning Bootery. He continued the repair business until 1973.
Hass' wife Mollie is now a resident of the Manning Plaza. They had two children, Harry and Pastor LeRoy, and were members of the Zion Lutheran Church. Leon also was a member of the Lutheran Layman's League, American Legion, and the Chamber of Commerce.

I have several memories of Leon & Amalia "Mollie" but one stands out vividly which is when they were taking communion by the Altar in Zion Lutheran, Leon started to wobble and then he fell over. He was apparently OK because they helped him up and he walked back to the pew.
It is amazing the memories that items of history like this bring up as I work on them. Dave Kusel

Now if you noticed in the 1981 write-up - Leon was a WWI Veteran. Unfortunately I never found any pictures or information about his service. I worked with his two sons and scanned many of their pictures but no military things were sent to me to scan.
But is always interesting how many of the Manning citizens from our past served in the military.
Leon's brother, Alfred, served in France during WWI and again I have no pictures but some military data found by my 2 Manning helpers recently.

LEON HASS - Manning Businessman feature
Four years spent in Wyoming are all the time Leon Hass has been away from his home coun­ty of Carroll in his 65 years.
Leon's first job was with the Nielsen Harness shop before going into shoe repair business for himself in 1919. He has con­tinued that business until the present time, supplementing it 10 years ago with the line of Foot-so-Port shoes.
Two children were born to Leon and his wife, Amalia, namely, Harry, administrative sergeant with the National guard at Denison and the Rev LeRoy, Lutheran missionary to Tokyo, Japan, who is currently visiting here with his family. There are eight grandchildren.
Leon has been active in Zion Lutheran church. He was an elder, served as treasurer and on the finance board. He also belongs to Lutheran Laymen's League.
A veteran of World War I, he is a member of the American Legion. He lists as his hobbies, outdoor sports, especially hunt­ing and fishing.

I always like it when I find corroborating information that connects items of history I find - I knew it was Leon Hass Shoe Service in the post card but this little feature above and in the Centennial book provides the confirmation I look for.

Now there are a lot of people my age and older who will say to themselves - "I knew that too and didn't need any proof to back me up" - and to them I say - try working on Manning history for 50 years and see how many times you won't be able to find any corroborating information or someone who would know for sure. Trust me, it isn't easy to root out errors and incorrect information and then find the actual facts that are accurate and can be trusted.

Here is another item of information that connects perfectly to the postcard I scanned which is linked below.

Leon Hass Out of Army In 1918
The Monitor - February 14, 1918
Leon Hass, son of Mr. and Mrs. Pete Hass, arrived home from Camp Cody, New Mexico, Monday evening, having been given an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army on account of having ear trouble.
Alfred Hass, another son of Mr. and Mrs. Hass, is at present in France.

Leon Hass had purchased the Earl Parish Harness Shop after serving in World War I and then located in the corner building at the south end of Block 7, formerly the Klean Klose Shop and now a parking lot for Manning Motor Co. Leon went into the shoe repair business and then moved to the Nichols location.
He and wife Mollie and two sons Harry and LeRoy lived there until he moved his shoe store to the basement of the old Manning Trust & Savings Bank Building.
From there he moved to the basement of the old post office building on lot 4, block 4 and operated his Subway Shoe Store for the remainder of his business career.

September 15, 1932

Taken on Ann Street just north of Third Street - Manning's 50th Anniversary in 1931

Claus Nielsen, Sr., Harness Shop - Leon Hass first worked for Claus right after WWI
Leon' son, LeRoy is in this picture
Taken on Ann Street just north of Third Street - Manning's 50th Anniversary in 1931

Leonard Williams home to right - later the Ray Ross home at 216 Third.
Lyden Studio photo

??, Donald Schrum, ??, Bill "Monkey" Meyers, LeRoy Hass, ??, ??, ??, ??, ??, ?William Ohde?

1919 Leon & Mollie (Hansen) Hass wedding

Hugo D. Hansen, Leon Hass, Mollie (Hansen), Malinda Nulle
Mollie was a sister to Hugo Hansen. Hugo was the father of Robert Hansen (Ruth) of southeast Manning.
Hugo and Mollie's father was Peter F. Hansen - NO connection to the Erwin Hansen/Grau family.

Ewoldt No 6

Back Row: 6 kids
Middle row: 8 people - 4th student is Alfred Hass, 5th is Mrs. George Frankforter, 6th is Leon Hass
Front row: 3 girls

I have other pictures of Harry & LeRoy and the Hansen family but won't feature them in this Manning history story.

So as you can see, one piece of Manning history can be turned into a ton of history that I have in my database and I can connect most of it.

So if you have old Manning postcards, pictures, history (family and community), documents, etc. please let me scan them so I can add them to the Manning puzzle - BEFORE what you have is eventually thrown away.
Thanks,
Dave