1800s entrepreneur sold seltzer in a shop on St. Mary’s Avenue

Joseph Schoknecht advertised his soda and seltzer factory in the Hannibal Daily Courier, May 15, 1882. It describes the location at Broadway Junction, which could refer to the intersection of St. Mary’s Avenue and Hawkins street, where his business was located in 1887. newspapers.com

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Before long-time Mark Twain School principal, Miss Leila Reynolds, posed as a young woman for a picture with Sam Clemens aka Mark Twain in 1902 …

and before noted artist Robert Briggs Velie served as a delivery boy for Harry Houck’s dairy in 1916 …

and before Silas Osterhout moved into the historic Bradley house on St. Mary’s Avenue in 1905 …

and before W.L Pound, a pioneer steam locomotive engineer, settled with his family at the corner of Hubbard and St. Mary’s Avenue prior to the beginning of the 20th Century …

and before John S. Mainland expanded Hannibal’s street car tracks onto the avenue in the early 1900s …

Civil War veteran Joseph Schoknecht was living and operating a business on the avenue, historically calculated to be at the triangular intersection of North Hawkins and St. Mary’s Avenue.

A sketch from the 1913 Sanborn Fire Prevention Map shows a frame building, the front parallel to St. Mary’s Avenue. The back of the building, nestled up to the street on Hawkins Avenue, also had a small addition on the east side of the building. And, to the north, there is a frame house and another building, closer to the road, both facing the avenue.

These three buildings were located on lots 7 and 8, in Block 7, of Garth’s Addition.

By the time this 1913 sketch was made of the property newly annexed into the city of Hannibal, Mr. Schoknecht had been at eternal rest for some 13 years. But the path he forged in leading Hannibal expansion westward would continue for generations to follow.

Early newspapers associated the name Schoknecht with St. Mary’s Avenue as early as 1885, when Joseph Schoknecht advertised Hill City Park in Garth’s Addition, nearby to his soda and seltzer plant and home, in the addition’s block 7. He sold hard liquor at the park, but not on Sundays. (The park would later be called Smith Park.)

Garth’s Addition, subdivided in 1883 by John Garth, is bounded by Hawkins Street on the east, Garth Avenue on the west, and Minnow Creek to the south. The addition crosses St. Mary’s Avenue and continues to the addition’s northern most boundary, Rackliffe Avenue.

After Mr. Schoknecht’s death in 1900, the family sold the property. In 1903, Samuel W. Glover and wife, Zurelda, purchased lots 7 and 8 in block 7, Garth’s addition, and operated a grocery store at that location. In January 1904, the Glovers sold the property to George H. Kirtlink for $2,350. The property included a dwelling house and store building at that time known as the Glover store.

A real estate transfer recorded in a March 28, 1905, Marion County newspaper reports that George H. Kirtland and wife sold lots 7 and 8, in block 7, Garth’s addition, to James H. Dodd and wife. In exchange, Dodd sold Kirtland a 41-acre tract of land on the London dirt road. The corner store was addressed 2300 St. Mary’s. 

New building

Circa 1930, J. Forrest Palmer moved his business, St. Mary’s Pharmacy (previously located at 2907 St. Mary’s) across the street and to the south, into a new stucco building which had replaced the frame building of Mr. Schoknecht’s era. By this time, the corner store was (and remains) addressed 2700 St. Mary’s Avenue.

In 2024, the building is owned by Jason Lee Utterback.

Mr. Schoknecht

Joseph Shoknecht was born in Germany, circa 1835.

Ancestry information reveals he enlisted in the Union Army as a private in 1861, and was discharged in 1863.

He was married to Catharine Dehmer on June 22, 1866, in St. Louis. The following year, he operated a saloon on the west side of Main, between Seventh and Eighth, in Kansas City.

The 1870 census shows that the Schoknechts were operating a boarding house in Kansas City, and they had a two-year-old son, Henry.

By 1880, they had moved to Hannibal with their expanding family, and Joseph Schoknecht opened a saloon, first at 401 Broadway, and in later years at 801 Broadway and 159 Market. They were living on St. Mary’s Avenue by 1881.

Henry Schoknecht, born in 1869, was married to Nellie Pine, daughter of Marion County, Mo., Judge George W. Pine, in 1892. He became an architect and builder, and lived in St. Louis for 40 years. 

Health deteriorates

Joseph Schoknecht experienced frostbite in his feet during his service during the Civil War and he had lasting repercussions, and it became necessary to amputate both big toes. The Quincy Daily Whig reported on May 12, 1900, that Dr. A.J. Blickhan of Quincy, Ill., had been called in for a consultation, because blood poison had set in, and it might be necessary to amputate both of Mr. Schoknecht’s legs. Dr. Blickhan left Quincy on the 8 a.m. train for Hannibal to assist.

Mr. Schoknecht died at his home on St. Mary’s Avenue in Hannibal on July 8, 1900, at the age of 65. He left a wife and seven children.

Note: All of the people named in the introduction to this story have been previously profiled in the Hannibal Courier-Post, and those stories will be included in this author’s upcoming book, “St. Mary’s Avenue District,” to be released by Labor Day 2024.

This is a segment from the Sanborn Fire Prevention Map of 1913, accessed via the MU Digital Library. The area shown represents lots 7 and 8 of Block 7, Garth’s Addition. At left in the illustration is the building that is believed to have been owned by Joseph Schoknecht, and used to make seltzer as early as 1885. Circa 1930, the building was replaced by a stucco triangular-shaped building that stands today at 2700 St. Mary’s Avenue.

This notice was included in the May 12, 1887, edition of the Hannibal Morning Journal.  Joseph Schoknecht was operating a seltzer plant on the lot now numbered 2700 St. Mary’s Avenue. newspapers.com

Mary Lou Montgomery retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri," "The Historic Murphy House, Hannibal, Mo., Circa 1870,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’ and the newest book, “Oakwood: West of Hannibal.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com