Source:
Who's Who & Why
c.1908
Page 5

      Hon. John W. Boehne was born Oct. 28, 1856, on a beautiful farm in Scott Township. The first 16 years of his life was rather uneventful, but full of hard work on the farm. He was educated both in the parochial and public schools. At 14 he began to learn a trade, which, upon coming to Evansville two years later, he abandoned. His first work in Evansville was clerking and driving a delivery wagon in the grocery business. These were the days in the life of Mayor Boehne when he began to build the superstructure upon a foundation of Christian training given to him by devout parents. During these days he devoted every moment of his life to work and study, driving a delivery wagon during the day, and attending Commercial College at night. A useful life devoted to the betterment of mankind, is inevitably the result of a life started in this way. He soon wearied of his narrow life in the grocery business, and in 1875 became a bookkeeper in the foundry of Scantlin & Son, where he remained for the ensuing six years. In 1881 he entered business for himself, forming a partnership with Charles Schrader, Jacob Fischer and Mrs. A. Vermilion, under the firm name of Schrader, Fischer & Boehne. Six years later the firm incorporated as the Indiana Stove Works, and up to the time of his election as Mayor, Mr. Boehne was General Manager. He is now Vice President of the institution. Mr. Boehne has been intensely interested in civic affairs, and looks upon the office of Mayor as a trust, rather than an opportunity to betray the people. His enemies universally concede his honesty; his friends insist that he is both honest and right. He is a lover of men, and every inch a man.