Kellnersville
“From 1890 to 1915 it was purported to be one of the busiest spots in Manitowoc County”
Color tinted postcard of M. Kellner and Sons General Store, circa 1909-1915. (MCHS 93.8.5)
Located in north central Manitowoc County, Kellnersville has a history filled with entrepreneurship, expansion, community building, and even some mystery. Michael Kellner is considered the village’s founder. Kellner and his family came to America from Bohemia in 1849. They first settled in Quebec, Canada before coming to Manitowoc County. The family initially worked as farmers but then opened a tannery. Kellner expanded his ventures, first opening a shingle mill and then later a gristmill in 1862. The opening of M. Kellner and Sons General Store in 1869 is what truly put “Kellnersville” on the map.
A mysterious event happened around the same time that Kellner was expanding his business ventures. In the late 1860s, there was a rumored Native American attack on the village that turned out to be a hoax. A land cession in 1831 took much of the land in this area away from the Potawatomi, Menominee, Ottawa, and Chippewa peoples. Encounters with native peoples in this area were not rare by any means in the 1860s. On September 2, 1862, reports came into the City of Manitowoc that there was a terrible massacre in Kellnersville. About 200 men came up from Manitowoc to defend the village. However, when the men arrived, they realized the reported attack was a hoax. The source of this supposed news, of a Native American attack, remains a mystery.
The Kellner homestead is considered the county’s first Bohemian settlement. Fifteen other Bohemian families came shortly after the Kellners in the 1850s. Considering that the majority of the village’s Bohemian families were practicing Catholics, the village needed a church. Before the establishment of St. Joseph’s Parish in 1870, local families attended church services in log buildings in nearby villages. One of these was St. Wenceslaus of Greenstreet, which was in Cooperstown. The current St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, that stands today, was built in 1915 and replaced the original wooden church building.
The additional settlers, combined with Kellner’s business ventures, turned the small village into a true settlement. Kellner’s success not only helped grow the village, but it grew his reputation and business. Kellner served as postmaster general for the village and opened another store in the City of Manitowoc in 1886. M. Kellner and Sons Flour and Feed Store was located on the corner of North Ninth and Chicago streets in Manitowoc. The store sold products from the Kellner farm and gristmill. At its peak, the store had about 30 employees. During the village’s nineteenth homecoming celebration in 1935, speaker Mr. Ledvina recollected “there was no busier spot in Manitowoc County from 1890 to 1915 than the village of Kellnersville”.
Kellner’s Flour and Feed Store stood on the corner of North Ninth and Chicago streets in downtown Manitowoc, circa 1890. The building was later home to a mortuary, Brenne Optometry, and finally the Salvation Army before it was razed in 1995. (MCHS 95.93.30)
The brick building that was Kellner’s store in the City in Manitowoc was offered to the Manitowoc County Historical Society in the 1990s for their historical village. However, moving the brick building to Pinecrest Village presented many logistical challenges, so the offer was not accepted. Even though the original store building no longer stands, the Kellner legacy still lives on today through the namesake town.