Nappanee High School - Napanet Yearbook (Nappanee, IN)

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CLASS ROLL Earl Hleile Ruth Berlin Reo Clyde Sherman Emmons Editli Frevert Mary Hossler Raymond Harter Noah Mlshler Aaron Moore Blanche Musser Kenton Mellinger Donald Malcolm .John Mitschelin LaMar Mutschler Herbert Miller Agnes Oswald El wood Overholser Ward R ingen berg Otto Robinson Kenneth Tobias John Ulery French Widmoyer Addie Welsh Lloyd Holderman Versie Sheets Bertha Sheets Rial Stillson Bernetlia Stahly Vera Sloat Willie Strycker Ortice Selimucker Esther Truex

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Class of If)18

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lilEMWT Tli » History of Nappanee Rxeta Kellek Men and natural advantages have been the direct means of transforming some villages into thriving, bustling cities. Few country villages, however, have been able to make substantial progress beyond the status of the rural country store. They have depended entirely upon men, and their natural advantages have remained unsuspected until some energetic, foresighted, untiring men have brought them to light. The city of Nappanee is one of the exceptions where men made might in the absence of some of these things which are usually the first essentials in the building of commercial and manufacturing centers. Like pioneers, who transformed the country where forrests stood into waving fields of ripening grain, the early builders of Nappanee paved the way for those who came after them to enjoy the blessings of a great manufacturing and commercial center. Nappanee was laid out in November. 1874 by John Culp, Henry Stahlv, and Daniel Metzler- It was surveyed by George Ager. the county surveyor at that time. The city is situated in the southwestern part of Elkhart County, on Section 36, of Locke Township and on Section 31 of Union Township, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The name of the city was taken from a town in Canada. The first building in the place was erected as a passenger depot. In a short time a post office was established, then Rickert and Company opened the first store. In the spring of 1877) a hotel was erected and thrown open to the public. It became known as the Nappanee House. The first drug store and the first drygoods and grocery stores were established. That year C. D. Volkman opened the first blacksmith shop and Joseph Strohm organized a Starch Box factory and planing mill. Later the proprietors of this factory became J. C. Mellinger, John and Frank Coppes- The first birth and death that occurred in the town was that of an infant son of James D. Lake. The first marriage was that of John Coppes and Melinda Strohm in 1878. Thus began a town which was destined to become something more than a mere railroad station. Numerous other business houses were soon under process of erection and a great many laboring men flocked to the town to seek employment. In a short time the town began to improve rapidly. In 1877 Hartman Brothers store was established. It then went by the name of Hartman and Brothers- In 1881 the creamery, poultry and egg establishment of George Freese’s Sons was built, preceeding the organization of a furniture factory and many smaller concerns. All employed quite a little army of men, many of whom were married and who at once began to buy and build homes for themselves and families. They are now the pride of this sprightly city, and their homes beautify it. A casual glance at the commodious private dwellings all around Nappanee will convince the visitor that less than two per cent of the householders here are renters. This speaks volumes for the industries of Nappanee which arc paying decent wages to their employees. By this happy combination of circumstances has Nappanee continued to grow from a little village to an incorporated city in the short period of fourteen years- Her incorporation as a city took effect in the winter of 1888-!). Schools, churches, hotels, first class business houses and several of the finest manufacturing industries in the state of Indiana having been established here within that time. Nappanee is a clean city morally, socially and religiously. A city with beautiful shaded streets and well kept lawns, with many handsome homes and more miles of cement sidewalk and paved street than any small city in the state and with its creditable business houses and hotels it is a desirable