Volume 42, number 4
January 2021
Grand River Times The Newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society
Little Bohemia, The Leitelt Family, Part 4 By: Nan Schichtel, GRHS Trustee Inside this issue: (Previous article, “Little Bohemia, The Leitelt Family, Part 3,” can be found in Grand River Times November 2020 issue)
Cover Story: Little Bohemia, The Leitelt Family, Part 4 Letter from our President page 2 History Hounds page 4 Museum Access page 4 The Great Blizzard of 1978 page 6 Photo Sleuth page 7
Family-owned businesses usually chose sons to succeed fathers, and Leitelt’s followed suit. Adolph Sr. died in March 1897 at the family home at 79 Livingston (pre-1912 numbering). He had fallen on Canal (lower Monroe) Street the previous May and fractured his thigh and never recovered. Those last months must have been agony for a man so known for his strength. Adolph Jr.’s time at the helm was not long, and he died of diabetic gangrene in 1906. That Michigan Manufacturer & Financial Record article alludes to the firm’s male leadership after Adolph Leitelt Jr.’s death. There is conflicting information about who next became president of the firm. Some publications like the one above indicated that Edward Grand Rapids City Directory, 1915, p. 618. Ansorge took over as President until 1911 when Julius LaBonte, Pauline Leitelt’s husband succeeded him. However, Mathilda’s obituary named her the successor. And, the 1916 City Directory lists her sister, Rosetta, as President. Adolph Jr.’s sisters who had worked in various roles for the company, were talented, competent, and hardworking owners, along with Julius LaBonte, Pauline’s husband. When speaking of the “Leitelt girls,” family members would always say how bright and as “able as their brother” they all were. Adolph and Theresa Ansorge Leitelt had a large family: Edward C. (by first wife in Kratzau); Adolph Leitelt Jr.; Edmund Leitelt; Mathilda Leitelt; Emelia “Emeline Mina” Leitelt; Anna Mary Leitelt Cusick; Louisa Leitelt; Laura Leitelt Besancon; Rosetta Leitelt; and, Pauline Leitelt LaBonte. With such a large family, it is interesting to note that there were few descendants of this line, and none with the Leitelt name. Continued on page 3
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Dear GRHS Members,
Welcome to 2021. The Program Committee of the Grand Rapids Historical Society has been hard at work contacting possible speakers for our Winter/ Spring lectures. Not everyone is prepared to offer a virtual program so there have been a lot of phone calls and a lot of discussions. We are asking you to set aside the second Thursday of the month at 7:00 The Grand River Times is the p.m. January through May and we will make every attempt to fill that hour newsletter of the Grand Rapids with interesting information. Programs will be presented on Facebook and Historical Society, published six times annually. Established in 1894, YouTube. Also, two of our previous presenters have allowed us to leave up the Grand Rapids Historical Society their talks on YouTube. Take a look at your leisure. is dedicated to exploring the history Trustee Nan Schichtel's recent Little Bohemia series of articles on of West Michigan; to discover its the West Michigan immigrant families from the Sudeten mountain towns in romance and tragedy, its heroes and scoundrels, its leaders and its the northern portions of the Bohemian Czech Republic, struck a chord for ordinary citizens. The Society GRHS member Anita collects and preserves our heritage, Gilleo. Anita's passing it on to new generations ancestors, the through books, lectures, and education projects. Schwinds and Bergmanns, came from Mildenau, Bohemia Executive Committee: near Frydlant. (see Gina Bivins, president Anita's article Matthew Daley, vice-president following) In addition John Gelderloos, treasurer to the families in Nan Schichtel, secretary Anita's article, Mildenau was Board members: homeplace to the Charles Bocskey Schindler family of Alpine Township, Kent County, and the Neumann Thomas Dilley family of Dorr, Allegan County. Matthew Ellis Chris Kaupa Gordon Olson, emeritus Wilhelm Seeger, emeritus Jeff Sytsma Julie Tabberer Jim Winslow Kurt Yost Jessica Riley, editor Grand Rapids Historical Society c/o Grand Rapids Public Library 111 Library St. NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Website: www.grhistory.org Email: grhs.local@gmail.com Grand River Times
Continued on page 5 About the Grand Rapids Historical Society. The Grand Rapids Historical Society sponsors eight programs each year, beginning in September and running through May, including lectures, audio/video presentations, demonstrations, collections, or special tours. Membership. Membership is open to all interested persons with annual dues of $30 per family, $20 for seniors and students, or $400 for a lifetime membership. The membership year runs from May to the following May. Members of the Grand Rapids Historical Society receive eight newsletters each year. Members also receive a 20% discount on books published by the society as well as books published by the Grand Rapids Historical Commission. Change of Address. If you will be permanently or temporarily moving to a new address, please notify GRHS before your change occurs. Let us know your new address and the date you plan to leave and plan to return. Email to grhs.local@gmail.com, or mail to Grand Rapids Historical Society, c/o Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library Street NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 2
GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Continued from front page In 1919, the family sold their interests in the company to a group of long-time employees led by president David McKay and Fred Henry Meyer, secretary and general manager, and the business was renamed Leitelt Iron Works. Soon after, some of the sisters retired to southern California where they had vacationed for several years. Julius LaBonte continued his real estate career started in Michigan, developing the Larchmont neighborhood in a rapidly growing Los Angeles. Under McKay and Meyer, “the reincorporated company used the well-known name and reputation for quality products for many years. They expanded into lumber lifts, transfer carts, turntables, car pullers, elevators, steel handling equipment, and manhole covers. They also specialized in machine repair and fabrication services. The company changed ownership at least once more before it was sold to Padnos Industries and, in 2017, was known as Padnos Leitelt Specialized Machine Shops at 2301 Turner Ave, NW, on the west side of the Grand River in Grand Rapids.” (http:// www.leitelt.com/history.html) While a well-known family in Grand Rapids, the first generation of Leitelts were German-speaking working-class immigrants and not Leitelt manhole covers are not seen as members of “high society.” They were active in their community, in church, often as they used to be, but still can be found. Photo courtesy of and especially in musical societies, as were so many other Bohemian Nikki Villa Gomez Germans. As their fortunes grew, the connections that the business brought (https:nikkivillagomez.wordpress.com/ their way and the advantages that money could 2018/10/29/manhole-monday-circus/) buy lifted their social status, and the second generation became more socially prominent, and Adolph and Theresa’s children all appeared in the The Grand Rapids Society Blue Book in 1906. (p. 33, 69) Another element of life where they distinguished themselves from other less-wealthy Kratzau immigrants was in education. In an era where public education beyond the 4th grade was considered unnecessary and unaffordable by most working-class American families - and high school was only for the rich – many of the Leitelt brothers’ children attended through 8th grade, some attended high school, and some even attended business college. Adolph Jr. was graduated from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, and later attended the Boston Institute of Technology in 1879-80. His cousin, Joseph Leitelt, Schichtel, Nan. Leitelt Iron Marker, Fulton Street Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Michigan. [Photograph]. 2016. attended both schools with him. Beyond the company name, the Leitelt name is still remembered in Grand Rapids, and perhaps best-known, because of the impressive iron monument Adolph’s employees erected on his gravesite in Fulton Street Cemetery, a municipal cemetery. To some of his Bohemian Catholics relatives, this choice of cemetery was an odd one, since there were already two Catholic cemeteries in the city. However, at that time, most captains of industry were buried in either Fulton Street, Oak Hill, or Valley City Cemeteries. Because it is so distinctive, Baxter, Albert. History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan. New York: Leitelt’s rust-covered monument is often-visited, and was featured in Munsell & Company, 1891. p. 439. Thomas R. Dilley’s The Art of Memory: Historic Cemeteries of Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 2014) Grand River Times
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY As a benefit of your membership in the Grand Rapids Historical Society, you have free access to historical programming from the Historical Society of Michigan. The History Hounds Lecture Series http://hsmichigan.org/programs/history-houndslecture-series/ offers virtual programming via Zoom, scheduled weekly starting in January 2021. For the History Hounds schedule, links to registration, and other helpful information if you need help getting up-to-speed with virtual programs, go to the HSM History Hounds http:// hsmichigan.org/programs/history-hounds-lecture-series/ – select HH Registration – Member – fill out the form, selecting “member of an Organizational Member of HSM” and enter Grand Rapids Historical Society when prompted. TOPICS Tuesday, January 5, 2021, 12:00 p.m.—1:00 p.m. “Raising the Roof on Michigan’s Barn Heritage” Wednesday, January 13, 2021, 7:00 p.m.—8:00 p.m. “Sucking the Life Out of the Great Lakes: The Sea Lamprey Invasion” Tuesday, January 19, 2021, 12:00 p.m.—1:00 p.m. “The Worst Colonel I Ever Saw: Francis Quinn and the Battle of Shiloh” Wednesday, January 27, 2021, 7:00 p.m.—8:00 p.m. “Barbed Wire Workplace: The Forced Labor of WWII’s Japanese Americans”
If you are missing visits to historical, art, and other cultural organization sites, then Museum Access may be for you. Check out their Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/MuseumAccessTV/ From their website https://museumaccess.com/about/ : "Museums are a vital part of the American landscape, showcasing the greatest achievements of the human experience, past, present and future. Visitors remember, discover and learn in these museums that present the best of our country’s culture, accomplishments and heritage. Museum Access explores these museums in a way that the everyday visitor cannot. It goes behind the scenes where ordinary folks don’t get a chance to go. Talking to the directors, curators and creative personnel to get an insider’s view of the museums." Museums visited so far include: Museum of Science & Industry; Field Museum of Natural History; Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Shedd Aquarium; Adler Planetarium; the Cloisters; Museum of Broadcast Communications; New York Botanical Gardens; Wings of Freedom WWII Aircraft; Harley Davidson Museum; CIA Museum; Mystic Seaport Museum; Illinois Railway Museum; Bruce Museum; Intrepid Museum; the Wild Center; and, the Phillips Collection.
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Continued from page 3 The northern Bohemian village of Mildenau, Raspenau, Friedland is now known as Raspenava-Luh or Luhova, Raspenau, Frydlandt, Czech Republic. It is close to both the Polish and German borders, in a mountainous area that changed political allegiances many times through the centuries. Like most other northern Bohemian places, the place names were changed to Czech in 1945, and the German-speakers were expelled. The region has historically been known for its mining, jewelry making, and Bohemian glassware.
From Anita Gilleo: “The amateurish glimpse of the family with roots in that area north of Prague shows connection by marriage between my maternal grandmother and the artist Mathias Alten (whose family emigrated from the extreme west of the German Empire Saarland). I noticed that Anton Schwind village of origins is not mentioned in your overview. In my extensive travels I had hoped to catch a glimpse of it, but it was the Soviet era and the tour bus driver was unwilling to depart from the designated route out of Prague back to Germany. I also noted that the Lautner name on your list. One of the men in my grandmother Alten’s family moved north to Traverse City by trekking on foot and married into one of the Sleder families - not on your list but there were two Sleder clans up there also of Sudeten origin – but claiming to be not at all related. The above mentioned Schwind married into the “meat market” Sleders on Front St., Traverse City,,the other Sleders maintained a tavern on the west side of that town and was frequented by male members of the other group, at least until change of ownership years ago. And as for the Lautners, there was a large family in the TC area which we had contact because of their closeness to the “meat market” Sleders, but, to my knowledge, we did not know of any in GR. Hoping this has been decipherable and of use to you. Anita Gilleo
SAVE THE DATES Thursday, January 14, 2021 Thursday, February 11, 2021 Thursday, March 11, 2021 Thursday, April 8, 2021 Please note these are the dates of our regularly scheduled programs. These programs are still meeting via Zoom and we are working on topics. Please check out our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GrandRapidsHistoricalSociety for more information and for the Zoom link. These presentations begin at 7:00 p.m. Grand River Times
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Remembering the Great Blizzard of 1978
This historic blizzard was referred to as the Great Blizzard of 1978 and hit the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes. Grand Rapids saw fifteen inches of snow dumped on the city in as many hours. The snow started on Wednesday, January 25 and continued through Friday, January 27 of that year. Governor William Milliken declared a state of emergency and the Michigan National Guard was tasked with job of rescuing stranded motorists and helping road crews. Severe blizzards in the Midwest are compared to the blizzard of 1978 as it is the Car driving through huge snow piles; standard by which all storms are measured. The National Weather Photo courtesy of WOODtv.com Service refers to this storm as a once-in-a-lifetime storm. This blizzard claimed seventy lives. Fifty one of those died in Ohio, thirteen died in cars that were stuck in the snow and another thirteen died in homes without heat. (WOODTV.com, Ellen Baca, Jan 26, 2018)
Groceries being pulled on a sled in Grand Rapids on Gold Ave.; photo courtesy of MLive, Grand Rapids Press File Art
Leaving Kroger on Lake Michigan Drive using skis; photo courtesy of MLive, Grand Rapids Press File Art
Shovelers play after the blizzard of 1978; photo courtesy of MLive, Grand Rapids Press File Art
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOIN THE GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY OR GIVE A MEMBERSHIP AS A GIFT The Grand Rapids Historical Society sponsors eight lectures each year. Members of the society enjoy these benefits:
The Grand River Times is the newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society. Published and mailed to members eight times a year, it includes current items of historical interest, details of upcoming lectures, historically relevant activities, and short articles.
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY PHOTO SLEUTH Our January Photo Sleuth selection comes from the Robinson Photo Studio Collection. Three adorable children with an American flag, patriotic hats, and a decorated cart chat with a police officer. This picture was taken on July 7, 1941. If anyone in this picture looks familiar please email the Grand Rapids Historical Society at grhs.local@gmail.com
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Grand Rapids Historical Society, Inc. c/o Grand Rapids Public Library 111 Library St. NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503
GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Little Bohemia, The Leitelt Family, Part 4 By: Nan Schichtel, GRHS Trustee
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Inside this issue: Cover Story: Little Bohemia, The Leitelt Family, Part 4 Letter from our President page 2 History Hounds page 4 Museum Access page 4 The Great Blizzard of 1978 page 6
Leitelt Brothers Mill. [Photograph]. (C.1880s). Grand Rapids, Michigan. Grand Rapids Public Library http://www.historygrandrapids.org/ photo/215/leitelt-brothers-mill.
Photo Sleuth
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For more information on Historical Society programs, please visit www.grhistory.org Grand River Times
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