The opening of M. Kellner and Sons General Store in 1869 is what truly put “Kellnersville” on the map.

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.

General stores were the center of economic activity in many small communities in the late 1890s and early 1900s, a place where seed and crops were bartered or sold and everything people were not able to make or raise at home or on the farm could be found. The general store was the place to purchase a bar of soap, nails and hardware, thread or broad cloth for making clothes for the family, hats and hat pins, candies, toys and other treasures. Storekeepers were leading citizens of their communities. They extended and denied credit for food, supplies, and other goods against farmers’ next crop. No rural community could hope to become a village without a general store.