Dreyers among early Germans doing business on Broadway

Robert Spaun shared this early 1900s postcard showing the north side of the 300 block of Broadway. The building to the left was owned by Heinrich F. and Henrietta Meyer. After their deaths, they deeded the land to the city for the construction of a new City Hall. Two long-term building tenants were John Dreyer, tobacco factory, and J.A. Becker, fruit and confectionary shop. They relocated to other Hannibal business sites in 1909, to allow for the demolition of the building.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

John Dreyer and Christina (Teny) Funk were married in mid December 1877. The ceremony was conducted by the Rev. Charles E. Bode, pastor of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, located on the northeast corner of Eleventh and Lyon.

Christina’s brother, Henry Funk, born in 1856, and Alice Withers, born in 1860, were married on Thanksgiving day, Nov. 28, 1879. 

The Dreyers and the Funks were of strong German heritage; Christina and Henry Funk’s father, Henry Funk Sr. (circa 1819-1882), worked as a laborer in Hannibal, his adopted home. Casper Heinrich (Henry) Gottleib Dreyer, (1822-1890) father of John Dreyer, was a West End shoemaker, since his arrival during pre-Civil War years. All lived along the Market Street corridor.

The Funk family patriarch, Henry Sr., resided on the east side of London Street, south of Market. The Henry Dreyer family lived and worked nearby, on the northwest corner of Market and Bates.

For a short time, John Dreyer worked for his father at his shoemaking shop.

Then, as the 1870s came to a close, John Dreyer and his bride’s brother, Henry Funk, partnered in a business venture: Dreyer and Funk Tinware, Roofing, Guttering and Repairing. The adventuresome duo set their sights on the opposite end of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad line, at Atchison, Kan. There, in January 1880, in a leased, newly constructed building on the corner of Ninth and Commercial streets, they set up shop.

Advertising liberally in the Atchison Southern Sentinel newspaper, the young men did their best to capture their fair share of the trade.

Alas, success wasn’t to be. The business venture failed and Henry and Alice Withers Funk, who had been living at 522 Commercial St., returned to Hannibal.

In 1881, the young entrepreneurs were in business in Hannibal, operating a tin shop on the south side of Market, five doors west of London Street. This partnership was also short lived.

John Dreyer went to work for his brother, Gottlieb W. Dreyer (circa 1854-1881) who operated a cigar shop at 303 N. Main St.

Death intervenes

John Dreyers’ wife, Christina, the mother of two young children, Wilhelmina (Minnie) and Ralph Walter Dreyer,  died Oct. 14, 1881. She was buried at Hannibal’s Riverside Cemetery.(Wilhelmina Dreyer was born Sept. 2, 1879, and Ralph Walter Dreyer was born March 9, 1881.)

About six week’s after his wife’s death, in early December, 1881, John Dreyer purchased the fixtures of J.A. Becker’s cigar shop, which was in business at 324 Broadway.

John Dreyer moved the cigar business two doors to the east, 320 Broadway, located in the same building, while J.A. Becker converted his business to the sale of confections and fruit. The two would remain business neighbors for the next 28 years, until 1909.

(John Dreyer’s father-in-law, Henry Funk, died in 1882, John Dreyer’s children became the beneficiaries of their mother’s share of her father’s estate.)

Martin property

By 1869, a large building stood on the northeast corner of Fourth and Broadway, featuring four storefronts on the first floor, facing Broadway, and 18 rooms on the second floor.

A popular business location for those of the German heritage, the stores in this building were early occupied by people with surnames such as: Becker, Fenner, Haussler, Dreyer and Sultzman.

The brick building had been constructed sometime after a devastating fire which swept the row of frame structures on the north side of the 300 block of Broadway on April 28, 1860.

Sometime in its history, the building, with storefronts numbered 320, 322, 324 and 326, had been purchased by Heinrich F. and Henrietta Meyer, who operated a saloon at 212 Broadway.

The childless couple had amassed property wealth through their frugal ways, living continuously upstairs over their saloon from 1860, when they first went into business, until their deaths in 1895 and 1903 respectively.

Doing business at 320 Broadway were:

1885-1892: Dreyer Brothers, John and Frederick, cigars and tobacco.

1895-1909: John Dreyer, cigar manufacturer

Doing business at 322 Broadway:

1877-1881: Illinois House boarding house, Edward Price, proprietor

The storefront at 324 Broadway was, for a long period, a cigar shop.

1871-1873: C.W. Holmes, cigars

1875: J.D. Dawson, cigars

1877-1879: Wm. F. Fenner, groceries

1879-1881: Thomas H. Bacon, attorney, upstairs over 324

1881-1885: John A. Becker, cigars

1888-1909: John A. Becker, confectionery and fruit

Doing business at 326 Broadway:

1871-1873: Haussler & Rigler, bakers and confectioners

1875: Robert D. Glenn, produce

1879-1881: Jessie Watson, shoemaker

1888: Martin Sultzman, saloon

1895-1905: Henry Sultzman, saloon

Next week: Where John Dreyer and his cigar factory relocated.

This illustration represents the west half of the 300 block of Broadway, in 1885. Illustration is based upon the Sanborn Map of the same year.  The brick building to the left, with four storefronts, was torn down circa 1909 in order to make way for the construction of Hannibal’s city hall, still standing in 2025. Illustration by Mary Lou Montgomery

Market Street is shown meandering southward in this 1885 map, based upon the Sanborn Map of the same year. The Henry Funk Sr., family resided on the east side of London Street, south of Market, as shown with the number 2. The Henry Dreyer Sr., family lived on the northwest corner of Market and Bates, as noted with the number 1. London Street was later renamed South Arch. Illustration by Mary Lou Montgomery

The Grove House was advertised in both German and English in the 1871 Hannibal City Directory. See accompanying map for specific location.

The Illinois House was advertised in the 1871 Hannibal City Directory. See accompanying map for specific location.

Mary Lou Montgomery, Suburban Newspapers of America Editor of the Year, Dailies, 2010, 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,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,”  and “St. Mary’s Avenue District.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com