Berthoud Weekly Surveyor May 23, 2013 Page 5
A LOOK AT BERTHOUD
The historical society and Mark French are interested in obtaining and copying old photos from Berthoud’s past. Please contact Mark at 532-2147 if you have any photos you would like to share.
Jefferes Garage replaced the City Star Barn
T
he building that houses Berthoud’s City Star Brewery was built in 1915 to house the Jefferes Garage. Prior to that year one of the town’s two livery stables — The City Star Barn — occupied the lots where the sprawling, cement-block structure stands today. Sim Jefferes, who purchased the City Star Barn in the late 1890s, ran the stable with his son Clyde until they tore down the old barn that had been built in 1885 and erected a modern garage where they sold automobiles and conducted a repair business. The photograph that accompanies this tale shows Andy Berglin, Clyde Jefferes and Henry Zoller at work in the Jefferes Garage in the
1920s. Berglin, standing at the left of the photograph, was for many years Berthoud’s best known mechanic. Born in Sweden in 1867, Berglin was trained as a steam engineer after he arrived in America in 1893. Since many early automobiles were powered by steam, Berglin’s services were in high demand in the early 1900s when steam mechanics were in short supply in the little town of Berthoud. Berglin was also a plumber, machinist, electrician, and the engineer at
Berthoud’s flour mill where steam was used to power Surveyor and heat the facility. By the Columnist time the photograph that accompanies this article was taken in the 1920s Berglin was well-versed in the intricacies of the gasoline engine. Clyde Jefferes, standing at the center of the photo, was born in Knoxville, Iowa, in 1881. Jefferes came with his family to the Berthoud area in 1886 and Mark settled on a farm in the Red French Rock district west of town. After he graduated from Berthoud High School and attended a business college in Denver, Jefferes entered into a partnership with his father, Sim Jefferes. In 1928 he purchased his father’s interest in the Jefferes Garage and ran it until his
Photo courtesy of Berthoud Historical Society
Andy Berglin, Clyde Jefferes and Henry Zoller paused for a photograph while working at the Jefferes Garage in 1920s. The Jefferes Garage was built on the site of Sim Jefferes’ City Star Barn after the old livery stable was torn down.
death in 1952. Jefferes was as adept at selling Apperson, Winton and Overland automobiles as he was at renting horses and buggies. He enjoyed doing both during a long career that spanned several decades in Berthoud. Zoller, standing at the right of the photo, was born in Norka, Russia, in 1898. When his family came to the Berthoud area in 1900 he was only two years old. Zoller dabbled in farming and worked as a mechanic until 1940 when he opened a service station at the west end of Berthoud where the NAPA Auto Parts store now stands. Later he moved his business to an existing gasoline filling station at the northwest corner of Fifth Street and Mountain Avenue, but that structure is no longer standing. Zoller sold the business to his son, Reuben in 1970. Berglin, Clyde Jefferes and Zoller were among the men who kept Berthoud’s automobiles running for a halfcentury from the 1910s to the 1950s. When the photograph that accompanies this article was taken some time in the 1920s or ‘30s they were working on an automobile positioned near a coal stove in the rear of the Jefferes Garage at 321 Mountain Ave. A system of belts that powered some of the garage’s machinery may be seen suspended from the rafters and tools and car parts may be seen strewn on the cement floor.