Two Photos: Boat Store

The Boat Store in Minneiska, Minnesota did not sell boats; it was a grocery and a meat market located on the bank of the Mississippi River.

J.C. Gentzkow and unidentified man, 1913¹Postcard sent from J. C. Gentzkow to his son Edward’s in-laws (the Franklin Hesse’s of LaMoure, ND). Postmarked March 12, 1913. Original owned by Alice Gentzkow Humphrey. Digital copy made by Karrie Blees, October 1999.

J.C., Rodney and Mary Gentzkow, undated²Karrie Blees made a photographic copy of this photo June 1996 at the Gentzkow Family Reunion at Champoeg State Park, Oregon. Original owner unknown.

Boat Store in the news

1884: Gentzkow Bros. of Minneiska have added a full stock of hardware to their general merchandise and have now a very complete general assortment. They are good follows [sic] to deal with, and seem to be doing a thriving business.³Lake City (MN) Graphic. 29 April 1884, page 5, col 2.

1885: Messrs. J. C. & W. Gentzkow of Minneiska have bought the old brewery at that place [Minneiska] and will convert it into a general boat store.⁴“Local Brevities” Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 7 April 1885, page 3: .

1886: Snow, the beautiful snow, and lots of it. Gentzkow Bros. are clearing the snow off the ice preparatory to putting up their Summer supply.⁵Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 7 January 1886.

1886: Messrs. Gentzkow Bro’s have placed a full line of dry good ands crockery in the old saloon building, which will be open to the public about the middle of the week.⁶Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 7 July 1886.

1886: Potatoes are being marketed freely and bring 40c a bushel.  A. Fox and Gentzkow Bros, are the principal dealers.⁷Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 27 September 1886, page 3.

1886: Messrs. Gentzkow Bro’s boat store business has increased so rapidly during the past two years that they have found it necessary to purchase a steam yacht to attend to it.  Accordingly they have procured the Mikado, which will in the future run between this village and the Zumbro River.  Pleasure parties, hunters or fishers encamped there will be greatly benefited thereby.⁸Winona (MN) Daily Republican 27 October 1886, page 3: Minneiska.

1886 Messers. Gentzkow Bros. have sold their steam yacht Mikado to Messers. Youman Bros & Hodgins of Winona.  Messers. Gentzkow Bros. are to have a larger boat.⁹Winona (MN) Daily Republican, Wed., 27 October 1886.

1887: Minneiska: Gentzkow Bros. have been putting a new front in their boat store, rearranging internally for the better, and now have a complete stock in store and arriving for the spring trade.¹⁰Lake City (MN) Graphic. 25 January 1887, page 8, col 2.

1887: The steamer Katherine has made several test trips and proves very satisfactory.  Messrs. Gentzkow Bros. pride themselves on having the best steam yacht on the river.¹¹Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 13 September 1887.

Wabasha (MN) County Herald, April 13, 1892, page 4, column 5

1894: Gentzkow Bros. have opened up their boat store.¹²Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 16 March 1894, page 3: Minneiska.

1894: Gentzkow Bros. will soon erect a store building near where their old store was burned in the recent fire.¹³Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 17 September 1894, page 3.

1895: The white Breast Coal Co., will put in a steamboat coal yard here in connection with Gentzkow Bros’. Boat store. Work on same will commence at once.¹⁴Wabasha County Herald (Wabasha MN). 31 January 1895, page 5, col 7.

1895: Wm. Gentzkow had the fortune of catching the largest fish ever caught in this part of the country, it weighing 37 1/4 pounds, it is on exhibition at the boat store, where Willie will be glad to show it to every one and the find [sic] points of same. Every body should see it.¹⁵Wabasha County Herald (Wabasha MN). 7 March 1895, page 4, col 4.

1895: Minneiska came near experiencing an accident this week.  Gentzkow Brothers were excavating for the purpose of enlarging their boat store; the ground being frozen very hard they were compelled to use dynamite.  They got an expert to handle the explosive; the explosive being frozen the gentlemen went down to the river to thaw it out, and in some way it got on fire.  These experts took to their heels, one going north and the other south; they would probably be going yet if they hadn’t been headed off and informed that there was no danger.  They say now it is safer to use powder, as they had not made peace with God yet.¹⁶Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 8 March 1895, page 3; Also in Winona (MN) Daily Herald, March 9, 1895, page 7, col 3.

1901: Gentzkow Bros, of Minneiska have commenced building operations on the foundation of their new boat store in that village, the new structure to take the place of the one which was destroyed by fire a few months ago. The Messr. Gentzkow have the filling of their ice house and have finished their large, new coal dock, and expect to be ready for the coming season’s business opening by the 1st of April.¹⁷“Minneiska Progress” Wabasha County Herald (Wabasha MN). 7 March 1901, page 5, col 4.

1901: A deal was made between J.C. and William Gentzkow in which the property of the former changed into the hands of the latter.  Will Gentzkow now has the store which was formerly owned by J.C. Gentzkow.¹⁸Winona (MN) Daily Republican Herald. 9 October 1901, page 6. [It is unknown when this sale was reversed and J.C. Gentzkow became sole owner.]

1904: J.C. Gentzkow is the champion fisherman at present. He caught 24 walleyed pike last Tuesday morning in about two hours. They weighed 72 pounds.  He caught them off a reef in front of the boat store. Gentzkow says fishing never was better than this fall. If Mr. Gentzkow is the best fisherman, Fred Hartman can beat all of our local sports in shooting ducks. He manages to get from five to twelve ducks almost every day.¹⁹Winona (MN) Daily Republican Herald. 8 October 1904, page 7.

1907: J. C. Gentzkow of Minneiska, has now under way a model structure in a fine iron clad dwelling house and store building. The building is being built on the West side of the railroad where the old boat store stood and will add much to the visitor’s first glimpse of the town.²⁰The Plainview (MN) News. 13 December  1907, page 4, col 3.

1912: Ben Gentzkow, of Winona is here assisting his father, J.C. Gentzkow in the store during the absence of Melvin Gentzkow [youngest son].²¹Winona (MN) Daily Republican Herald. Monday, 9 December 9 1912, page 8.

1932: He [J.C. Gentzkow] started the first meat market in Minneiska, known as the Minneiska Boat store.²²“J.C. Gentkow, Old Minneiska Merchant, Dead.” Winona (MN) Republican Herald, 5 August 1932, page 3.

Boat Store Remembrances

In 1963, William Wolff was interviewed by the Winona (MN) Daily News.²³Interview with William Wolff. Winona (MN) Daily News, 12 January 1963. He recalled:

Towboats going up stream stopped at Genzkow’s [sic] boat store here to load up, but traveling downstream, with a raft of 600 feet of logs in front of them they couldn’t.  Consequently, about a mile above Minneiska men would be dispatched in a rowboat to get groceries.  They would catch up with the towboat again perhaps a mile downstream from here.

In 1909 Paul W. Brown, of St. Louis, wrote a romantic piece about the golden days of river life. Newspapers along the Mississippi reprinted his work in which he describes the quintessential boat store:²⁴Graphic Sentinel (Lake City). 17 March 1909, page 1, col 5-6. The Shreveport (LA) Times. 7 March 1909, page 4, col 1-2.

But the temple of the cult of old river men is the” boat store” – usually a quiet place, with a front door opening on the street and a rear staircase leading down to the levee. Here are pulley-blocks, coils of rope, fenders and boat supplies; and here, if the store be a large one, with traditions of a thriving trade in the old days, is a back room with a stove in the center, hung with pictures of famous boats and of noted wrecks, with models of hulls suspended from the ceiling, a well-carpeted floor, easy chairs and an air of leisure foreign to the uneasy spirit of modern commerce. Here gather the worshippers of the river gods – the captains, pilots, engineers, clerks, of the old era “when the steamboat was king.” And the merchants who were most closely connected with the river trade. Many of them are now retired, living easily on the profits of investments made in the “flush times” on the river; others are still in active business, and come to the boat store only because the river is still the most attractive thing in the world for them; still others are desperately poor. But all are welcome; and so is any man who has ever felt the river’s spell, even if born so late that before his arrival at years of discretion the last War Eagle had folded its wings and the ultimate Polar Star belied her name by setting forever. The proprietor of the boat store is usually a man of, substantial resources, able to look philosophically at these small volumes of riverside business in this later day; and he is always finely hospitable; with a memory for the names of steamboat men, the heights of floods, the dates of opening and closing of navigation, and the names, dimensions and record trips of scores of boats, which is like an encyclopedia for volume and a cash register for accuracy.

What’s next?

Do you have other photos or memories of the Boat Store in Minneiska?
My first “movie” describes my early family history journeys in Minneiska and features the earlier of these Boat Store photos.

SOURCES

• 1
  Postcard sent from J. C. Gentzkow to his son Edward’s in-laws (the Franklin Hesse’s of LaMoure, ND). Postmarked March 12, 1913. Original owned by Alice Gentzkow Humphrey. Digital copy made by Karrie Blees, October 1999.
• 2
  Karrie Blees made a photographic copy of this photo June 1996 at the Gentzkow Family Reunion at Champoeg State Park, Oregon. Original owner unknown.
• 3
  Lake City (MN) Graphic. 29 April 1884, page 5, col 2.
• 4
  “Local Brevities” Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 7 April 1885, page 3: .
• 5
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 7 January 1886.
• 6
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 7 July 1886.
• 7
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 27 September 1886, page 3.
• 8
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican 27 October 1886, page 3: Minneiska.
• 9
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican, Wed., 27 October 1886.
• 10
  Lake City (MN) Graphic. 25 January 1887, page 8, col 2.
• 11
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 13 September 1887.
• 12
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 16 March 1894, page 3: Minneiska.
• 13
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 17 September 1894, page 3.
• 14
  Wabasha County Herald (Wabasha MN). 31 January 1895, page 5, col 7.
• 15
  Wabasha County Herald (Wabasha MN). 7 March 1895, page 4, col 4.
• 16
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican. 8 March 1895, page 3; Also in Winona (MN) Daily Herald, March 9, 1895, page 7, col 3.
• 17
  “Minneiska Progress” Wabasha County Herald (Wabasha MN). 7 March 1901, page 5, col 4.
• 18
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican Herald. 9 October 1901, page 6.
• 19
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican Herald. 8 October 1904, page 7.
• 20
  The Plainview (MN) News. 13 December  1907, page 4, col 3.
• 21
  Winona (MN) Daily Republican Herald. Monday, 9 December 9 1912, page 8.
• 22
  “J.C. Gentkow, Old Minneiska Merchant, Dead.” Winona (MN) Republican Herald, 5 August 1932, page 3.
• 23
  Interview with William Wolff. Winona (MN) Daily News, 12 January 1963.
• 24
  Graphic Sentinel (Lake City). 17 March 1909, page 1, col 5-6. The Shreveport (LA) Times. 7 March 1909, page 4, col 1-2.