CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - HENRY STUCKENHOFF

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CEDAR COUNTY NEWS – April 2, 1953

Henry Stuckenhoff, Pioneer Builder, Saw Hartington born, Helped to Build it.

            July 10, 1883 a young German Carpenter and builder crossed 
the river from Yankton and landed in St. Helena. This young man Henry 
Stuckenhoff, was destined not only to watch a frontier country be built 
and grow, he helped to build it and many are the landmarks to his 
craftsmanship that still stand in the northern part of the county.

            Mr. Stuckenhoff was born January 27 or 28, 1866 (he is not 
sure which is the correct date) at Hollinger, Westphaila, Germany on the 
Ruhr River. He was the second son of a German Farmer. 

            He attended school until he was 14 at which time he was taken 
to the city to learn the carpenter trade. Later he attended a building 
trade school for a year and a half. There he learned not only the fine 
points of building and construction, but how to draw plans and design 
buildings.

            As a young  carpenter he worked  at various places in Germany 
and in several nearby countries.  By that time he had decided that as he 
puts it “the world was too small”, so in 1883 he sailed for America to make 
his home and seek his fortune.

Saw Hartington Born

            When Mr. Stuckenhoff arrived in Cedar county there was no 
Hartingoton. He saw the first lots sold in Hartington and the railroad 
come into town. He spent several months here in the fall of 883 building 
counters and shelves for stores just starting up  in the new community.

            He spent his first winter in American in St. Helena where he 
built 72 tables for Reiferst Furniture store from home grown walnut timber.

            It was in 1884 that his career as a community builder began with 
the building of a house which still stands in the east part of Hartington.

            When the construction of the present court house was started Mr. 
Stuckenhoff took a sub-contract for the carpenter work and helped to complete 
that building. 

            The number of homes he built in Hartington in those early years 
are almost too numerous to mention. Among them however were the A.K. Lammers 
home built in 1900 to 1901 and 1902 he built the John Walz house in which Ray 
Hegert now lives in and the Sullivan home next to it.

Church Builder

            Some of Mr. Stuckenhoff’s outstanding work was in the 
construction of churches.

In ’96-’97 he built the present church at St. Helena. In 1901 and 1903 he 
built the Holy Trinity church in Hartington, which he later saw burned to the 
ground in a few hours.

            Mr. Stuckenhoff took the carpenter contract on the SS Peters and 
Paul’s Church at Bow Valley which was completed in 1904. During the next year 
he did some general building in Fordyce and 1907 and 1908 he built the Fordyce 
Catholic Church. The following year he built the Fordyce public School building.

            He also built and helped to build several schools including the 
former Holy Trinity high school, St. James School, Pearl Creek School and the 
school at Constance.

Other Buildings

            Besides many homes, other buildings built by Mr. Stuckenhoff 
include the Holy Trinity rectory, the hotel building in Coleridge, which is 
now the Tri-state Nursing Home. He was also the overseer on the KC building 
her and the bank and Masonic hall in Coleridge.

            At the age of 60 he retired from active building and contracting 
and went to Winona, MN where he worked 12 years for St. Mary’s college. 

Other activity

            In addition to building Mr. Stuckenhoff took a brief turn at 
farming. At one time he helped to operate the Paragon Mill and later bought 
the building where the Pohle Jewerly store is now located and operated a 
bakery for more than a year. 

            During the busy years he found time to go back to Germany and to 
visit relatives in 1910 and again in 1931.

            He did his last outside contruction in 1935 and  since that time he 
has been in retirement. He makes his home with his daughter Mrs. Alex Schulte.

            Today, Mr. Stuckenhoff told the News reporter, he passed the winter 
months visiting with friends, playing cards and reading. In the summer he cares 
for the yard and raises a garden.

            Mr. Stuckenhoff was the father of nine children, but only two of 
them, Mrs. Anna Schulte of Hartington and Dr. Harry Stuckenhoff of Wyoming are 
still living.

            While he has led a long and active life and is still going strong, 
many of the buldings he built will live on long after he is gone as a monument 
to his energy and craftsmanship as a builder.