USA > Indiana > Adams County > Standard history of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : An authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 22
USA > Indiana > Wells County > Standard history of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : An authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 22
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
THE MILLS
Berne has enjoyed a good flouring mill for nearly forty years. Its first manufactory in this line was erected in 1881 by David S. Sprunger, Daniel Z. Sprunger and A. S. Lehman. Two years after- ward it was burned. The fire was supposed to have been of incendiary origin. The first lumber company had been formed in 1880, and two elevators for the storage of grain had been built previous to that year ; that is, in 1872 and 1875, respectively. In the summer of 1884 the Hoosier Roller Mills Company was formed by A. A. Sprunger, Jeffer- son Lehman, Levi Moses, D. C. Neuenschwander, Abraham Sprunger and Samuel Lehman. They built a planing mill, bought one of the grain elevators and the lumber yard, and conducted a large combined business. In September, 1888, the Hoosier flouring mill was burned. Another soon replaced it and that also was destroyed by fire in about a year. The third flour mill was burned in 1894 and in July of the following year the plant was completed on the old site which is now operated by the Berne Milling Company, of which Wesley O. Neuen- schwander is the manager.
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THE DOCTORS AND LAWYERS
Of the different members of the professions, it is natural, and it was very necessary, that the doctors should come early and remain at their posts. Fevers and agues seized the people of the Swiss-German colony and the founders of Berne and hold them in their grip for years. Quinine was consumed by the ton, even after Homeopathy had made some progress. For about fifteen years after Berne was laid out, Drs. John and Daniel Neuenschwander and Peter A. Sprunger had the monopoly of the medical field at Berne and in the adjacent coun- try. It seems that John Neuenschwander had served Doctor Stoll, a well-known homeopathic physician of Ohio, as a hostler, and, becoming interested in medical matters, when he joined the Mennonite colony in the late '60s he brought some books on homeopathy to read and study. Both he and his brother, Daniel, continued their studies together and gradually commenced to apply their medical knowledge by practicing among their relatives and neighbors. Their competitor of the regular school was Dr. Cleophas Baumgartner. In June, 1873, Dr. John Neu- enschwander moved to Missouri and his brother had the homeopathic field virtually to himself for about ten years. In the meantime Dr. Peter A. Sprunger had been inspired by Dr. Daniel Neuenschwander to study homeopathy, and when the latter moved away Doctor Sprunger was prepared to take up his duties and was busy night and day in a broad region, with Berne as its nucleus. He continued a large practice until his sudden death in 1895. Among other early physicians may be mentioned Dr. Ernest Franz, who pursued his first studies in the office of Dr. Peter A. Sprunger, and Dr. Amos Reusser, whose pre- ceptor, in turn, was Doctor Franz.
One of the first lawyers to open an office at Berne was Frank M. Cottrel, who, after having served as justice of the peace in Jefferson Township and been admitted to the bar, in 1890, located in that place and commenced practice. Patrick Bobo, John C. Moran and Emil Franz have also represented the local bar, both as practicing and pro- secuting attorneys. Rudolph Lehman, who located at Berne in 1887, was the first local justice of the peace. Several years afterward he became identified with the Bank of Berne.
BERNE CORPORATION
The year 1887 marked the commencement of an important era in the civic and material affairs of Berne. The village was incorporated as a town on the 30th of March, of that year, with Daniel Welty, J. F.
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Lehman and John C. Lehman as its first board of trustees ; F. F. Men- denhall, clerk ; David Bixler, treasurer, and J. F. Lachot, marshal. On the following 2d of May (1887), the following officers were regu- larly elected : Trustees-Harvey Harruff, First Ward, who served one year; Samuel Simison, Second Ward, who was its councilman for ten years, and John C. Lehman, Third Ward councilnan, 1887-90. During the year the local saloons were taxed and the "calaboose" was built. The fact that the latter is still sufficient to house law-breakers may be accounted for by the fact that Berne has been "dry" sinee 1904.
STATUS OF LOCAL MATTERS IN 1887
In 1887, when Berne was incorporated as a village, the local busi- ness and professional men were as follows, their names being alpha- betically arranged: Allison, Morrow & Company, general store; Eugene Aschleman, saloon ; Jacob Atz, saddler; Berne Manufacturing Company, saw-mill ; David Bixler, jeweler: M. Boller, tinner: Jacob Branneman, saloon ; W. Broadwell, physician ; Brown & Koenig, black- smiths: Edward Dro, meat market ; Joseph Giauque, grocer; J. P. Habegger & Company. hardware; Harvey Harruff, postmaster; Abram Hoeker, blacksmith ; Fred Hofer, barber; Hoosier Roller Mill- ing Company, flour mill, elevator and lumber yard ; Hoffman & Gott- schalk, drugs; Lehman & Muzabaum, meat market ; Fred Meister, tin- ner ; Mendenhall, Harruff & Company, drugs; Frank Monosmith, sta- tion agent ; C. D. Sheets, groceries and drugs; Philip Shug, agricultural implements : Sprunger, Lehman & Company, general store: Philip Sprunger, architect and builder : John Wagner, boots and shoes ; Jacob Wegmueller, saloon ; Welty & Sprunger, Mennonite Publishing House ; Charles Wilson, saloon; Wittever & Yoder, livery and feed stable ; D. S. Wittever, Eagle Ilotel.
A GERMAN PROHIBITION TOWN
It will be seen by a casual review of this rather imposing list that Berne already had three saloons; but the movement for a sober, moral town had already commenced, and had borne fruit in the organization of the German Temperance Society. Even before its formation, and when no citizen was severely criticized for patronizing the saloons, there was a considerable element in the community, headed and sus- tained by such men as Rev. S. F. Sprunger, pastor of the Mennonite Church and J. Christian Rohrer, father of Fred Rohrer, who were
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solidifying the sentiment against the innocence of the tippling habit. Strong and persistent co-workers in the field were also J. F. Lehman, Moses Moser (afterward a resident of Detroit), Joel Welty, John A. Sprunger, Levi A. Sprunger, F. G. Eichenberger, C. C. Sprunger and N. G. Fankhauser. These gentlemen, and other good citizens com- menced to hold meetings, more or less formal, in the Sprunger-Lehman store, during the winter of 1885-86, and on February 4th of the latter year the matter came to a head in the temporary organization of a temperance society, with Mr. Lehman as chairman. As stated by the Witness in 1906: "The original object of the society was more that of an anti-saloon society than that of strictly temperance, to create a sentiment to compel the saloonkeepers to run their business within the bounds of the law; but as the society took definite shape and grew in membership, which it did very rapidly, the sentiment of strict personal temperance of its members approaching total abstinence, also grew very rapidly, as the only effective means by which to fur- ther the temperance cause. In the first year the membership of the society, despite the most violent opposition against the new move- ment, even among the majority of church members, grew to 79, and since then it has grown steadily nntil at present 300 names are on its roll. (Membership now considerably over 300 .- Editor.)
"But the temperance idea in Berne antedates the organization of the society for years. Despite the popular custom in those days of patronizing the three or four saloons then existing in the little village, when no one looked askance on anybody, not even on church members and ministers of the Gospel, for visiting the public drinking places, there were a number of earnest devoted souls that abhorred the custom and shunned the cup that inebriates, and both privately and openly preached the doctrine of temperance.
"Certainly no person in Berne has done more to create a temper- ance sentiment and further the temperance cause than Rev. S. F. Sprunger, retired pastor of the Mennonite Church. For years before the founding of the society he preached temperance openly from the pulpit and condemned the patronizing of saloons, and since the organi- zation of the society he has been its very soul and impetus. Next to him J. Christian Rohrer, father of Fred Rohrer, who came to this place a year before the temperance society was organized, was chiefly instrumental in agitating the personal abstinence idea, which he brought with him from Berne, Switzerland, where he was a charter member of the Blue Cross Total Abstinence Society now numbering tens of thousands in membership. Father Rohrer was the first person to sign a total abstinence pledge in Switzerland.
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"The society quietly worked as a leaven in the community and gradually changed the publie sentiment in favor of temperance and against saloons. Whereas twenty years ago about everybody patron- ized saloons, it is now actually hut little short of a disgrace to visit a saloon.
"The first aggressive move against the saloons in Berne was made in October, 1902, when the Ministerial Association of Berne, relying on the strength of public sentiment created by the temperance society, and the temperance sentiment prevailing in many churches and over the township generally, instituted a remonstrance campaign, resulting in an overwhelming majority for the remonstrators. This remonstrance was filed by E. M. Ray on November 27th of the same year, and the result was that two of the old time saloons were closed on Tuesday, December 2, 1902." After a series of exciting contests both in courts and without, the saloons were permanently closed in March, 1904.
MUNICIPAL ROSTER
Since the incorporation of the Town of Berne the following have served as the presidents of its council and as town elerks: Presi- dents- Jeff Lehman, 1887; Samuel Simison, 1887-1897; Christ Stengle, 1897-1898; A. J. Hawk, 1898-1901; J. H. Sullivan, 1901- 1902; Abe Baegly, 1902-1904; Sam Schindler, 1904-1905; Philip Schug, 1905-1906; W. II. Parr, 1906-1910; Philip Schug, 1910-1916; C. D. Balsiger, 1916-1918 ; ; and Anthony Michaud, 1918.
Town Clerks-F. F. Mendenhall, 1887-1889; J. F. Lachot, 1889- 1894; Amos Hirschy, 1894-1901; Christ Stengle, 1901-1907; Emil Franz, 1907-1910; Lawrence Yager, 1910-1912; Chauncey Lautzen- hauser, 1912; F. C. Foreman, 1912-1914; N. G. Fankhauser, 1914- 1915; A. P. Sprunger, 1915-1917, and Elmer W. Baumgartner, 1917.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
Of the publie departments which collectively constitute the Town of Berne the common school system is the oldest and, if anything, the most earnestly supported. In 1888, the year after the town incor- poration, the first public schoolhouse was constructed, a two-room brick structure now composing the northwest quarter of the present school building. Franklin G. Hacker was the first principal in that building and Miss Lila C. Schroek, who afterward moved to Deeatur, the first primary teacher. Mr. Haeeker continued for three school years and Miss Schroek for four. In the summer of 1892 the school building
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was enlarged to its present size, eight rooms. The handsome building, as it now stands, is valued at about $25,000.
Since Mr. Haecker's superintendeney, the heads of the local system of education have been N. C. Hirschy, John A. Anderson, John Bryan, F. G. Haecker (second term), Benjamin A. Winans, F. D. Huff and C. E. Beck. It was Mr. Winans who introduced a high school course of two years, which has since been extended to three. Mr. Huff served some eight years as superintendent and made a fine record.
FIRES AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT
A number of rather costly fires swept through different portions of Berne before its citizens, as a whole, decided that a fire department was a publie necessity. In the spring of 1883 Sprunger Brothers' mill on the north side of Main Street burned; on September 12, 1888, the flames made a meal of the Hoosier Roller Mills, the sawmill, the har- row factory and other structures: Daniel Z. Sprunger's shop followed in the spring of 1892; the last part of 1894 saw a fire of some propor- tions on Water Street, and in the fall of 1895, before the recently pur- chased apparatus had arrived, the stave factory south of the stock- yards was so completely consumed that it was never rebuilt.
In the summer of 1895 the town hall and engine house, under one roof, was erected, and an engine and other apparatus purchased. The engine arrived on September 23d, about a week after the stave factory fire, and was found, after a trial, to be in prime condition. On the 30th of October the first fire company was organized with twenty-five members-J. F. Lehman, president; F. G. Eichenberger, secretary ; Louis Gehrig, chief.
MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC LIGHT PLANT
The plant which furnishes the people of Berne with electric light and power is municipal property, and its citizens take a just pride in its service. In the early '90s natural gas was introduced as a means of both heating and lighting, but the supply gave out and for several years Berne labored under not a few inconveniences thereby. But in 1904 Henry Stuckey obtained a franchise from the town for estab- lishing and operating an electric light plant. A stock company was then formed with a capital of $18,500 and the present plant was con- structed just north of the grist mill. William Baumgartner is gen- eral manager of the plant.
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AS A SHIPPING CENTER
Berne was known as a livestoek center even before the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad provided it with facilities to meet any con- siderable expansion of its trade in that line. Among the leading pio- neer shippers of the locality were Lemuel leadington, Harry Evans and Abe Sprunger. With the coming of the railroad he commenced to ship from Berne over the Grand Rapids & Indiana line, was soon joined by Abraham A. Sprunger, Robert Schwartz, Edward Lugin- bill, Fred Meshberger, Levi Atz, Eli Riesen, William Farlow and others, while Daniel Sprunger and David Bixler established scales for the weighing of the stock at the yards. The stock yards were fully established near the depot by the late '80s.
BUILDING MATERIALS
Berne also became known as a shipping point because of the lumber trade which centered there at an early period. The town was in the center of a natural hardwood distriet, and sawmills were established in the early '80s by such men as Laban Boegly and John A. Sprunger, D. C. Neuenschwander, D. Z. Sprunger and others. Hickory and ash were especially sawed into timber for both home and foreign use. The Berne Lumber Company was formed in the fall of 1883, which estab- lished and operated also a planing mill, a flouring mill and a harrow factory. In 1888 its property in the north part of town was nearly all burned. The Berne Grain & Hay Company also built a large eleva- tor and under the original proprietorship of John J. Hirschy, con- ducted a large business. It afterward was merged into the Berne Lumber Company. One of the pioneer lumber firms of the place was P. W. Smith & Company, which placed a large sawmill in operation in 1890. It was located east of the railroad tracks in the north part of town. While the hardwood for its raw supplies could be cut in the vieinity of Berne the enterprise flourished, but with the stripping of the home timber its business gradually declined.
The manufacture of bricks and eement blocks has meant consider- able to the industrial progress of the place. In 1882 the first brick yard was opened by Samuel Simison, Laban Boegly and Harvey HIar- ruff along the west side of the railroad south of town. During the early part of 1903 the Artificial Stone Company was organized, Abe Boegly having introduced the manufacture of cement blocks or arti- fieial stone during the previous year. The overall industry had its Vol. 1-15
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origin in the little factory established in 1898 by Peter Longaker just north of the sawmill of the Berne Lumber Company.
BANKS OF BERNE
Berne's business houses and industries are backed by two substan- tial banks, the oldest of which is more than a quarter of a century old. On October 18, 1891, the people of the place declared their financial independence of Decatur by rallying to the support of the Bank of Berne, organized that day by A. A. Sprunger, president : Joe Rich, vice president ; R. K. Allison, cashier, and C. A. Neuenschwander, Peter Soldner, David Studabaker and William Niblick. Rudolph Leh- man, assistant cashier, was elected cashier of the bank in July, 1894, and held the office for twelve years, or until the fall of 1903. Mr. Sprunger continued as president until his death in 1906, when he was succeeded by C. A. Neuenschwander, still in office. Mr. Neuenschwan- der followed Mr. Rich as vice president in the fall of 1892 and thus served until he became head of the bank, as stated. Mr. Neuen- schwander had frequently assisted in the bank as cashier, especially in the interim between the resignation of Rudolph Lehman in the fall of 1903 and the coming of Jesse Rupp in April, 1905. Mr. Rupp served as cashier until June, 1913, when the duties of the position were as- sumed by the present incumbent, J. D. Winteregg. The surplus and undivided profits of the bank amount to more than $19,000; average deposits, about $360,000; capital stock paid in, $50,000.
In February, 1903, the People's State Bank was organized at Berne with a capital of $40,000, and the following as its directors: Joseph Rich, president ; Rudolph Schug, cashier; Julius C. Schug, Nelson K. Kerr, Samnel Egly and Charles E. Dugan (Decatur). The bank was opened for business April 2, 1903. Its capital stock was increased to $50.000 in 1906. Since the organization of the People's State Bank there has been no change in the management with the exception of the presidency, Julius C. Schug succeeding Mr. Rich in 1914.
THE MENNONITE BOOK CONCERN
The history of the Mennonite Book Concern at Berne covers a large part of the town record and stands for the typical religions life of the home community. The Berne Witness, in its tenth anni- versary souvenir edition, has the following concise account of the rise and development of the Book Concern from a private enterprise to the representative publishing house of the Mennonite Church in America :
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"It was on May 9, 1882, that Joel Welty, deceased, opened the first book store in town in an old one-story frame shack which stood on the present site of the Bank of Berne and was bought of Jacob Braun, who had used it as a dwelling. In 1883 Mr. Welty and his brother Daniel built a new two-story frame structure which stood on the site of Rie- sen's barber shop and was torn down when the new bank block was erected. In connection with the book store, Welty Brothers also did a furniture business for a number of years. Rev. S. F. Sprunger assisted them especially in the selection of books, which were always of wholesome, instructive or religious character, and his name was there- fore also incorporated in the firm name, Welty & Sprunger, in 1884.
"In the fall of 1884 the Mennonites of America held a general con- ference here (that is, those that belonged to this organization), and upon the offer of a three years' loan of $1,000 capital to the conference on the part of Welty & Sprunger, the conference took up the offer and the book store, heretofore a private coneern, became a church institu- tion-the publishing house and book store of the General Conference of Mennonites-the largest Mennonite concern of the kind in the world, under the name Christian Central Publishing House, Welty & Sprunger publishing agents, and Joel Welty, manager; who remained as such until the fall of 1896. The loeal firm name of Welty & Sprun- ger continued meanwhile until the fall of 1893.
"In the fall of 1888, after the great mill and factory fire on North Jefferson Street, in which he had been a heavy loser, J. F. Lehman went into the employ of the publishing concern, and has remained in it ever since, now almost eighteen years. Until 1896 he was Mr. Welty's assistant in the management, and since then its full-fledged manager.
"The present name of the firm, 'Mennonite Book Concern,' dates from 1893 when the General Conference was in session at Bluffton, Ohio. Early in the '90s the furniture business was disposed of and a bindery was established instead, superintended by Peter Boegly, now at Fort Wayne. About New Year, 1895, this bindery was moved to Fort Wayne by Mr. Welty where it continued under his management as a branch of the Mennonite Book Concern until the fall of 1896, when it was sold to Mr. Welty and others as a private undertaking. In the fall of 1904, the book store was moved to its present comfortable quarters."
The Mennonite Book Concern publishes a German weekly paper called "Christlicher Bundes-Bote," established in 1882, and the Mennonite. founded in 1884. Rev. C. Van der Smissen has been general editor of the publishing house as well as special editor of the
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Bundes-Bote, since January, 1912. The Kinder Bote should also be mentioned, and a German Sunday School quarterly. The Mennonite Book Concern is a publishing and a sales house, but has no printing facilities. For a number of years the printing of its publica- tions was done at St. Louis, Dayton and at Elkhart, but since 1900 the contract for that class of work has been carried out by the Berne Wit- ness Company. The good results have been mutual and have also greatly added to the postoffice business of Berne.
THE BERNE WITNESS
The Berne Witness Company, which may be called the official printing honse of the Mennonite Church in the United States, has one of the most complete establishments of the kind in Indiana. The Berne Witness, now a tri-weekly, which gave the company its name was founded by Fred Rohrer in 1896, some time after he grad- uated from the Tri-State Normal College. The history of the paper and the company, from first to last, was prepared for the thirtieth anniversary number of the Berne Witness, from which, with slight changes in text to conform to the historical plan of this work, the following account is taken :
On July 31. 1896, Fred Rohrer returned home from attending Tri- State Normal College, and on August 4th, with the financial aid given by his brother, John, bought the job printing plant of Joel Welty, then leased by J. F. Lehman, and moved it into rooms over the Sprunger, Lehman & Company store. An old Washington hand press was also bought, and this with a few other articles purchased at Decatur, and 100 pounds of body type, composed a plant costing less than $600- the full capitalization of the first newspaper in Berne.
At 4 p. m., on Thursday, September 3, 1896, in the presence of a large number of bystanders, the first proof of the first newspaper printed in Berne was taken off the press. For the first year the paper appeared in the form of a seven-column folio. The next year it was enlarged to a five-column quarto, and the force of two increased to three. In April, 1899, it was again enlarged, to a six-column quarto, and the force increased to four, and soon to five persons. March 1, 1900, a German edition was also added and continned nntil November 1, 1901, when the two were merged and issned semi-weekly.
In 1900 a deal was made with the Mennonite Book Concern for the printing of its publications, a weekly, a semi-monthly and a quar- terly, which were then being printed at Elkhart. To cope with the great increase of printing matter, the foree was increased from five to
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eleven and some of the old machinery gave place to more modern and efficient equipment. About $3,000 worth of machinery and material were added to the already fair equipment, and the plant was moved into the entire west third of Champion Block.
In November, 1900, Mr. Rohrer, who heretofore had owned the plant alone, formed a partnership with Henry M. Rensser, William Narr and David C. Welty. The business grew steadily from year to year, more machinery and hands being added until a foree of eighteen were kept busy almost constantly.
Early in 1906 two more partners were taken into the firm, and it was thought best to incorporate, which was done in May of that year. The capital stock was made $12,000, and the business was managed by three directors. A book bindery had also been added to the equipment. At the end of the first decade the gross earnings had grown from $1,200 the first year to about $12,000 the tenth year. With the record of the first decade as an incentive, it was up to the management to continue progressively. The business kept growing from year to year, more machinery and hands being added annually until the year 1909, when some of the lady typos were displaced by a new model 5 linotype.
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