The 114 year-old Mittelstadt Building passes into history
LAUREL — For nearly as long as the town of Laurel has been in existence a Mittelstadt building has occupied the northeast corner of Main and Cedar.
Last week the main building was demolished to clear the site for a proposed Community Center.
Lumber yards were among the first businesses to be established in infant towns.
Laurel’s first yard was established by Fremont Everett in the spring of 1892. This yard, which initially operated in conjunction with Everett & Waite’s store, was located at the northwest corner of First Street and Oak. The present structure dates to 1911.
Laurel’s second lumber yard was started by James McDevitt later in 1892. After operating the yard for less than a year, McDevitt decided to try another line of business. On July 15,1893, the Advocate reported that McDevitt’s yard had been sold to the Mittelstadt brothers.
The eldest brother was 36-year-old Louis C. Mittelstadt who owned a lumber yard in Norfolk. Louis put up the cash but did not come to Laurel. Instead, he placed two of his younger brothers: Adolf, 29; and Edward, 19, in charge. Upon taking possession of McDevitt’s yard, Adolf and Edward lived in the back room of the small office building.
McDevitt’s yard was located east of where the Mittelstadt lumber sheds once stood. In January 1894, Louis Mittelstadt purchased six lots on Main Street and two on the east side of Cedar. For some reason the purchase did not include the corner lot where the brick building stood until last week. By the first of March, the Mittelstadts had moved their office onto one of their Main Street lots and started building the two lumber sheds that were torn down a few years ago.
March 1895 brought a third Mittelstadt brother to Laurel. Gustave A. Mittelstadt, 25, purchased Kane and Purcell’s hardware store on the corner where the drug store and ice cream parlor now stand (201 E. Second). After a year in business at that location, Louis Mittelstadt purchased the corner lot one block west (101 E. Second) and built the building that stands there today. In April 1896, Gus Mittelstadt moved his hardware business into the new building.
The brothers also purchased an entire block of residential lots in the new Goltz Addition on the south side of Main Street between Wakefield and Alma. Alexander Goltz, a cousin of the Mittelstadts, was then in the lumber business in Winside, but he also had financial interests in Laurel. Each brother took four lots.
By 1897, the brothers were thinking about getting married and setting up housekeeping, but they realized doing so in the back of a store would not have worked.
In October 1897 Gus built the house that stands at 203 W. Second. In April 1898 Edward built the house at 207 W. Second. In March 1899 Adolf completed his house at 201 W. Second. The Advocate began referring to that block as “Mittelstadt Row.”
In February 1902, the Mittelstadts purchased the lot at the northeast corner of Main Street and Cedar and announced plans to build a large brick building on that site. For some reason those plans fell through.
Perhaps the decision not to build was influenced by the decision of the other Mittelstadt brother to build.
In May 1902, Gustave Mittelstadt said he was going to put up another brick building on the lot east of his hardware store. That building stands today at 105 E. Second. Mittelstadt did not use his new building to expand his line of hardware. Instead, he started a furniture store and funeral parlor.
In November 1906 Gus Mittelstadt announced that he had purchased Alexander Goltz’s lumber yard in Winside and would be leaving Laurel. Mittelstadt sold his furniture store and undertaking business to Andrew Solso and then left town.
Ed and Adolf took over the hardware business but announced they would put up a much larger building at the corner of Main and Cedar (where they had planned to build five years earlier) and would move the hardware to that location.
Construction began on the new building in the spring of 1907. The contractor was W.E. Oxby of Laurel. Plans called for a one story brick building 70 feet long by 40 feet wide.
Oxby started preparing the ground in April and workers began laying brick on May 2. On May 30 the work was far enough along that the empty floor could be used for a wrestling match. About 100 spectators were on hand to witness the short match between a Laurel baker and one of the bricklayers who had been working on the building.
The new Mittelstadt Brothers’ building was completed during the first week in July. The inaugural event was a dance on July 23 with music furnished by an orchestra from Allen. The hardware and other merchandise was then moved from the building at the corner of Elm to the new building at the corner of Cedar. “They have a fine building and can now show their goods to excellent advantage,” said the Advocate.
And so they did for the next 65 years. Edward Mittelstadt died at the age of 61 in May 1934. Adolf died in 1944 at the age of 80. Louis, the last of the Mittelstadt brothers and the one who put up the money to start the Laurel business, survived until 1950. He died at the age of 92 and is buried in Norfolk.
After Edward passed away, his son Alfred took over the business. He had been working with his father and uncle since 1920.
Following Louis’ death, Alf, along with sisters Alma and Hilda, bought out the interests of other family members and continued the business until his retirement in 1972.
By that time independent hardware stores and lumber companies were finding it increasingly difficult to compete with the big city chain stores.
On a personal note, my wife Lucinda’s father owned a wholesale hardware business in Spencer, Iowa. Alf Mittelstadt was a customer of the A.G. Hageman Company for a number of years. Due to so many hardware stores going out of business, Albert Hageman retired about the same time.
In 1997 Alf Mittelstadt died at the age of 95. Sister Alma died the same year at the age of 87. Hilda passed away in 1983 at the age of 84.
The demolition of the 114-year-old Mittelstadt building last week closes the book on one of Laurel’s pioneer businesses.
The Mittelstadts and their historic building may be gone but many houses and farm buildings in and around Laurel were built with lumber that passed through the Mittelstadt yard.
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