Yoder’s, Reed’s, Shank, McCormick’s
Yoder’s:Jonas and Moses Yoder built their garage in 1909 at the same time as Keller did at the corner of Main and Walnut Street. In 1918, they sold their business to Ira Heckaman. Moses went on to own the Yoder Bus and Cab Company after purchasing the bus line from William Martin of Milford. This was a bus and taxi service that connected Nappanee to other communities such as Wakarusa and Elkhart. In 1909, J.W. Terwilliger and Hal Brown leased the entire second floor of the garage. They planned to have a roller rink on the second floor. They had 100 pairs of skates to rent and a band that played live music every night. The price of admission was 10 and 15 cents to skate. Ladies were admitted for free and 15 cents to skate. The Yoders were agents in Jackson, Reo, and Metz Autos.Reed’s: Frank Reed moved into the building sometime in 1918. He had purchased a meat market and operated it for a time and then opened up a livery stable and later took on the Buick Agency in Nappanee.In 1931, the back part of the garage was leased to Adams and Reed and was opened as a repair shop. They were giving cars “first-aid”. There were bowling alley lanes installed on the 2nd floor in 1935. For many years, Mr. Reed’s son Babe was the manager. Skank: Frank Reed sold the business to Ray Shank in 1950. Mr. Shank started in Wakarusa with Smith Chevrolet for 12 years. He operated the Goshen Auto Electric and handled auto parts and supplies there. For 2 years, before coming to Nappanee, he worked for I.A. Miller, Inc in Goshen.McCormick’s: Ray Shank sold all of the physical assets of Ray Shank Motors to Gordon (Short) McCormick in December 1953. McCormick’s was the first Chevrolet dealer in Nappanee. Short McCormick was the owner until his death in 1998. McCormick’s was only in this location until 1958. After McCormick’s left the building was the US Army National Guard, Fairchild Printing, an antique store, a warehouse, and a flooring studio. The building burned down in 2008.
Babcock
Alonzo Babcock's livery was constructed in 1891 by Horace Stauffer for Mr. Babcock’s use and it was said to be a very convenient and comfortable barn. The building was a wooden structure that was attached to the brick portion. The first floor of the brick portion was used for a carriage room and also had an office. The ground floor of the wooden portion had fifteen single stalls on the east side and four large double box stalls on the west side. The upper portion was used for the storage of feed.They were planning to build a carriage house on a lot near the livery for the storage of vehicles that were not in use every day. It was thought that Mr. Babcock left Nappanee around 1900 to run a livery in South Bend.
Kacy's Deluxe
Kenneth (Kacy) Calbeck was a Chrysler and Plymouth Dealer for 40 years and he was a member of the Nappanee Auto Dealers. He had Kacy’s Deluxe Motor Sales and Kacy’s Sinclair Service, which had a gas pump and was known from coast to coast. In 1922, Kacy was appointed as the manager of the Consumer’s gasoline and service station. He was later the manager of Stuckman’s Service Station in 1924. In 1928, he became associated with J.D. Rapp in a Pontiac agency and he served as the manager. When Chrysler created the DeSoto, he leased the front part of J.D. Rapp’s and rented the display space in the garage for showing the new line of cars and had taken over the front part of the building, and controlled the gas and oil part of the business.
Clipps
Orville “Peachy'' Clip was the owner of Clipp’s from 1925-1949. He resigned from his position at Stuckman and Culp in 1917 and accepted a position as a sales manager for the Smith Motor Company in 1920. He purchased Geyer’s Auto Supply in 1924. He started out with tires, batteries, engine parts, accessories, and general auto repair service. The first location was 158 E. Market Street and in 1945 they moved to 155 W. Market Street. Ferril ``Fez” Miller started working for Clipp’s in 1927 while in High School and he became a partner in 1946 and later became the owner in 1949. His son Jim started working for Clipps in 1948 and he joined as a partner in 1970. The business eventually moved to 151 S. Clark St. In 1977, they started to have a full-line machine shop and would work on vehicles for people. Rod Stump purchased Fez’s interest in 1975. Jim retired in 1998 and sold his interest to Doug Stutzman and in 2006 Rod Stump retired. Recently Clipps closed its doors.
Pletcher Motors
Started in 1926 in what was known as the Grey Goose Garage with a Chevrolet Motor Car dealership. A year later Chrysler and Hudson-Essex dealerships were taken on and the building at 152 West Walnut Street (the Napa store) was leased in 1928. In 1934 arrangements were made for the Buick dealership and Oldsmobile was taken on in 1935. They also took on selling GMC trucks in 1936.In 1945, this location on the southwest corner was acquired. The farm machinery equipment and service were established in 1943 and in 1947 were moved to US 6 east of Nappanee was eventually sold to Martin Blucker and Ted Foeckler at a later date. They formed Marty and Ted and it is known today as Plevna Implement Company Menno Pletcher started the business in 1926 and was involved until 1963. His son Fred became involved with the business in 1945 and left in 1950, moving to Goshen when he acquired a Buick Sales Agency. Pletcher’s was sold to Joe Stillson and John Stahly and they formed Stahly-Stillson, Inc. In 1965, the Pletcher's wanted to sell the building to the city for city hall and a fire station. They moved the downtown location in 1965 to US 6 east of Nappanee. In 1967 Jim Moore became involved with the dealership. They signed a dealer agreement with General Motors in 1973. It eventually became Jim Moore Motors. In 2010, it became an independent used car facility offering sales, service, and parts after GM discontinued Oldsmobile and Pontiac and McCormick Motors became the exclusive dealer for GM in Nappanee. Menno Pletcher was the son of Israel and Salome Pletcher. He was born in Harrison Township. The dealership had sold Opel, Rambler, and Johnson outboard motors, and Rupp snowmobiles. In 1990 it was selling Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and GMC trucks.
Nappanee Carriage Company
The Carriage Company was originally the Rupp Carriage Works. It had moved from Milford to Nappanee in 1891 and outgrew the original factory that was in Nappanee.Mr. Rupp, Miller, and Cosper entered into a partnership and started negotiating to purchase a lot that had been used as a lumber yard. It was decided from there to build a forty-four-foot by an eighty-foot brick building.Henry Frazier was the architect of the project. The building was to be three stories high and have all the conveniences and modern improvements. It would have a galvanized iron and plate glass on the front and it was styled after the Coppes Hotel. The first story was a platted glass for a display of Rupp vehicles in carriage, buggies, and road wagons.Fred Rupp moved to Kendallville after coming to the Nappanee area. It is unsure when they started to call the carriage works, Nappanee Carriage Works.
Strycker and Michael, Rosbrugh, Kellers, Stuckman and Culp
Rosbrugh/Livery barn in the vicinity: In 1884 Jacob Pippenger and L.B. Winder purchased the property on the corner of South Main Street. It had been occupied by Charles Rosburgh, who had run the business on the property as a livery. In 1885, Enos Rosbrugh started his livery. Stycker and Michael:In 1906, Strycker and Michael dissolved their partnership. Aaron Michael had the livery on S. Main Street. Strycker and Son had feed and sales stables on Lincoln Street. In 1907, Aaron Michael sold his livery barn to Ed Collins. He made improvements to the livery barn – new floors and moved the office to the south side of the building.Keller Garage: In 1909, John Keller purchased the old Rosbrugh livery barn at the corner of Main and Lincoln streets. He had plans to construct a two-story brick building for an automobile garage and the second floor for a skating rink. The newspaper commented how excited they were that the brick building was being built.The north wall was built to be thicker than the rest so if another building would be built it could use the wall also. The building also would only have a rear basement. In December 1909, the Keller Rink opened. It was open every afternoon from 3 pm-5:30 pm and every evening 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm. Admission for the evening was 10 cents, ladies were free and it was 15 cents to skate. Nappanee High School played its boys’ basketball games in the Rink. There were also parties in the rink. Halloween Masquerades are mentioned throughout the years in the newspaper as taking place in the Keller Rink. Stuckman and Culp: They most likely took over once Keller left town between 1913 and 1915. In 1915, shower baths and dressing rooms were installed above the garage in the Skating rink for the high school basketball team. In 1916, they installed a new filling station at the garage, it was 500-gallon capacity. They were the local agents for Overland. In 1933, M.S. Pletcher leased the garage from Jesse Stuckman and Mr. Pletcher moved in his Studebaker and Rockne car lines.
Automobile Agents
John Keller: When bicycles first came into existence Keller began manufacturing them in 1891. His company is known as Keller Cyclery Company. His wooden framed bicycles were known as the “Nap”. He quit making bicycles when concerns about mass production increased. When progress was made and some concerns went into building them in great numbers, he quit making them.He opened a bicycle livery in 1895 and people were able to rent bicycles if they so wished to. After he quit making the Nap, he started to sell the Ariel Bicycle and had a repair shop. In 1892, he made a round trip on his bicycle from Nappanee to Columbiana County, Ohio. The total miles he rode was 750. It was said that he had favorable roads and weather for his trip. He participated in many bicycle races. Once Nappanee had paved roads it is thought that he started to manufacture the Nap once again. The Nappanee News mentions a 1910 model. Several times from 1908 to 1912, he is mentioned as the manufacturer of the Nap. Keller was an agent for Cadillac Automobile. He sold 7 Cadillacs, including his own, which was more than any other make in the town. Marvin Coppes: Marvin was the son of John and Malinda Coppes. He was connected with Coppes Brothers for many years since his father was one of the founding members. After college, he came back to Nappanee and became an automobile agent. He was also the proprietor of Coppes Pharmacy. He had cars and motorcycles to be seen at both Yoder Garage and Keller Garage. He was a seller of Indian Motorcycles and he sold Chalmers-Detroit and Hudson automobiles. He called his agency Chalmers, Hudson Automobile Company. George Lamb:Mr. Lamb came to Nappanee in 1900 on the solicitation of citizens. He had a business making scrubbing brushes and held the patent for it while in Goshen. When he came to Nappanee in 1900, he went into business for himself; the manufacture of screens, easels, book cabinets, brushes, and novelties in furniture.He was an agent of Pierce-Racine automobiles. In 1905, there were 4 Pierce-Racine cars all sold by Mr. Lamb and that number includes his own car.Chas Volkman: Conrad Volkman is known for a few firsts in Nappanee. He was the first to build a home in Nappanee after dismantling his home in New Paris and rebuilding it on the corner of Market and Madison Streets. Conrad also was the first one to have an automobile in Nappanee. His horseless carriage was a 1902 Oldsmobile. The car had turned up on the town’s 75th anniversary. The car had gone to the Fieldhouse Museum in Elkhart upon Mr. Volkman’s death in 1911. When that collection was dispersed, the automobile was purchased by a Pennsylvania collector for $4500. Even though Mr. Volkman could claim a few firsts in Nappanee, he couldn’t claim to be the first to equip his car with the balloon or air cushion tires. That honor goes to Lowell Blosser and his Hudson super six automobiles.
Brown Brothers
The Brown Brothers were dealers in agricultural implements, wagons, buggies, windmills, buckeye binders, and mowers. They started their business on March 1, 1889. They sold Studebaker wagons. The Studebaker wagons were very popular with Nappanee farmers. They also sold the Oliver chilled plows. Their building was located across from the Coppes Hotel.
