HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG3853.AM: C.F. Eckhart (Dakota City, Neb.)
Records: 1860-1871, 1913, and n.d.
Dakota City, Dakota County, Neb.: General store
Size: 0.4 cu.ft.; 1 box
BACKGROUND NOTE
John B. Ziegler and C.F. (Charles F.) Eckhart opened a general merchandise store in Dakota City, Nebraska in the summer of 1859. The earliest available advertisements referring to the new “Ziegler and Eckhart” store appear in the Dakota City Herald of August 1859. The Ziegler/Eckhart partnership also included Dakota City Pottery, which pre-dated the general store venture. The existing records do not document the exact date or reason, but by August of 1862 the partnership had apparently been dissolved, with Eckhart taking full interest in the general store, and Ziegler running the pottery [see Warner’s History of Dakota County, pp. 67-68]. On May 7, 1871 a devastating fire swept through Dakota City, burning four businesses downtown, including the C.F. Eckhart store. Though the building was a loss, a large quantity of the stock was saved. Eckhart continued to sell goods on the premises of the J.P. Eckhart Hardware store while he supervised the construction of a new brick building. In September of 1871, the new C.F. Eckhart store opened for business. Sometime between 1873 and 1878, the C.F. Eckhart family moved to California.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This material is arranged in three series: 1) Correspondence, 1860-1871, n.d.; 2) Records, 1860-1868, n.d.; and 3) Miscellaneous, 1858-1871, 1913, n.d. The bulk of the materials in Series 1 and Series 2 date from 1860-1868, and relate to the stocking of the store, shipping of goods to Dakota City, invoices, receipts, and some customer account information. Series 3 consists of information about Eckhart, Ziegler or the store gathered by the NSHS staff from newspapers or county histories.
Correspondents include: William Eckhart (brother of Charles Eckhart, proprietor), 1864; Joseph La Flesche, 1860; John Kesler, 1860-1863; Kountze Bros. banking firm, Omaha; George B. Lake, 1864; William Lockwood, 1860; Algernon S. Paddock, 1864; William M. Wyeth, 1860, 1863, 1864.
INVENTORY
Series 1 – Correspondence, 1860-1871, n.d.
Box 1
Folder
- 1860-1863
- 1864
- 1871, n.d.
Series 2 – Records, 1860-1868, n.d.
Folder
- 1860-1868, n.d.
Volume
- Invoices, 1865-1868
Series 3 – Miscellaneous, 1858-1871, 1913, n.d.
Folder
- Miscellaneous
Subject headings:
C.F. Eckhart (Dakota City, Neb.)
Dakota City (Neb.) — Businesses
Dakota County (Neb.) — Businesses
Revised 08-23-2007 TMM
