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Modern Kitehen Equipment and pots and pans serve as scenery at the II. F. Tietz Hardware, 1711-1713 George, now in its 71st year of business in one family. Pictured, left to right, are WaldoDobrunz, tinner and furnace man; Miss Dorothy Rambath, bookkeeper; Mrs. Tietz, and the owner.Tietz.Tribunr PhotoWt ■ 11 ■ I i 1 • •11 ... pi ■ ■ ■ II ..... .. — — I || I ■ 1 , I m I i .1 I I a .1 I ... - ^H. F. Tietz Hardware Firmwlt;MMTraces History To 1883iron, fertilizer, stoves and furnace jccfittings. !Another big lino is toys. And the}|independent, home-owned, sole- mowner proposition has gloves for M the working man. A whole string jot of them hangs overhead as custo- s*In 1944. the store l)ecame LaHto-ceiling laddersjthe Tietz firm, the present owner mers enter the store. Kilthat serve merchandise needs 10'recalls, was when lightning struckj * * * A|shelves high still are running at the place sometime after he the H. F. Tietz Hardware, 17 ^1713 George St., now in its 71st Stove lines carried included |a'nronane bottle-gas product. IJ111-!joined the firm.jCrosse County jobber for Shellane,!^ now in its lt;lst Stove lines carried included a propant bottle-gas product.cooking units and parlor heaters. | Tio{^ born an(i raised inJ. Swenson, stepfather of the pres ent owner. Swenson had quit teach-. j ins? school in Iowa’s Allamakeenow living upstairs j over the store, is president of the La Crosse Lutheran Hospital As-; soeiation and of Community Loan! and Finance Co , 1111 CaledonianS1■ year of business. , ________■ j The firm, owned by H. F. Tietz,'The “Radiant Home,” a hard COflljCrosse and iwas started in 1883 in the south burner, was a household word in 'half of the present location by C. the days before thermostats andstokers. The store also carried a large furnace line. Albert Anderson, a tinner, was associated with jn alt;jlt;mion m working in many' ^ County to come to La Crosse and this work as well as in roofing and civic endeavors.eaves troughs. The owner recalls the days whenThe bicycle trade kept Tietz the 8torfirst!start in business.i, tr trHe built the original structure, busy on repairs when htThe north half of the present tausi- joined up. All told there were ness was built about 50 years ago. about two or three other employes Ever since the store was found-'in addition to the Sw'ensons in theed, the firm has carried a general earlier days.e opened at 6 a.m. and re-mained open until 10 p.m. Now hours are 8 a.m.-G p.m.rdline ofhardware—stoves of all Swenson ceased to 1e active inState TouristI kinds, roofing, bicycles, nuts and lousiness in 192n. lietzs broiher-bolts, and the scores of other hardjin-law, h, L. Morgan, came in aSBureau PlansVI1lt;«Fgoods customers expect to find in a partner about that time. In 1935, a well-stocked store. Tietz report-!Tietz took over sole ownership.ed that the store has come to be j Swenson died in 1930, Mis. Swen-Day Eventtknown as a neighborhood business.The firm is the oldest hardware ! store on the North Side to remainIThe Wisconsin Tourist Bureau, (founded by Joseph Mercedes ot (■ion in 1934, Morgan about 1947☆ ☆ lt;TMiss Dorothy Rambath, a niece Rhinelander, to promote the re-1* in the hands of a single family, it of Tietz whom the latter de- sort industry of the state, will open 1 is believed. scribes as a “most faithful em-j its new headquarters at 8 S, Michi-jTietz ran a grocery store across ploye,” joined the firm as a book-jgan Ave. and Madison Street, Chi- i the street in the 1700 block on keeper in 1934. She aDo has done eago, with a five-day open house lt;George street prior to joining much of the selling and a great the week of Jan. 26, it was nn-Swenson in business in January deal of buying. !nounced Saturday by Mr. Met1916. For him it marks 38 years in Waldo Dobrunz started work cedes, the same business today. with the store about 1935 as a tin-;Swenson married Tietz’ mother, ner and furnace man. Kenneth Pauline, during the summer of Gearv, now in the U.S. Armyand representatives of Wis-iconsin industry, resort communi-w“one yes an(j the press on Tuesday eve-em ploye was the late Victor A hi-! big family.” Since 1935 the cm- cjnL, JanA preview of the open house fes*’n tlvities will Ik* given selected Wis-1916. The new Mrs. Swenson later j Germany, was with the firm eightconsjDi Chicago and Illinois offi-came to work in the store. I years. Everett Ellis is clerking in cja|s* * * the store today.Relieved to have been the first The store boasts of being26. On that evening.and his staff will be hosts at an invitation north woodsbuffet dinner, with a reception line featuring Mary Ellen Jenks, Alice in Dairyland, who is interrupting a North Dakota tour to fly to Chicago for the event.“Alice” will be met at the Chi-About the blgget event to hit large warehousing which protects j-aairport by a police-escortedstrom, who later joined the V.jpioyes and owner gather ot 3 p.m. Mercedes Taust he Hardware Co. Ahlstrom’s almost daily for coffee in the back son, Walter A , was later to lie- room.come a leading figure at Tau- Thirteen-foot-high ceilings attest sche’s. j to the oldness of the firm. Over-allAnother early employe was Ed- the property, extending from ward Forss. He also joined Tau- George street to the alley, meas-sche’s later. lures 50 bv 150 feet and includi
Newspaper Details
La Crosse Sunday Tribune
La Crosse, Wisconsin, US
Sun, Jan 17, 1954
Page 22
Full Page
Clipped by
La C.
WI, USA 06 Jul 2023
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