Sedgwick County KS Archives Biographies.....Kelchner, William H. 1864 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 5, 2007, 1:27 am Author: O. H. Bentley (1910) William H. Kelchner, owner and proprietor of Kelchner's Meat Market, of Wichita, Kan., is a native of Pennsylvania, having been born at Harrisburg, the capital of the Keystone state, on June 24, 1864. He is a son of John and Christina Kelchner, natives of Pennsylvania, and is the eldest of a family of ten children. Only three of the brothers came to Wichita, viz.: David L., J. G. Ross and John. The elder Kelehner died in Pennsylvania in 1904 at the age of sixty-eight. William E. Kelchner was educated in the public schools of his native city and began in the meat^ business at the age of fourteen. He was first employed in the city market in the city of Harrisburg. He came to Wichita in 1887 and opened a market at No. 607 North Market street, and a year later changed his location to No. 448 North Main street, where he conducted business for seven years. He then moved to No. 131 North Main street, and seven years thereafter to No. 406 East Douglas avenue, and here continued until June 1, 1910, when he removed to his present spacious quarters in the Daisy Building, Nos. 115 and 117 South Topeka avenue, where he now conducts one of the largest and most modern plants of the kind to be found in the United States, the fixtures and equipment having been installed at a cost of $25,000. The market occupies the entire first floor of the Daisy Building, the dimensions of the room being 50 by 130 feet. Through the center runs a partition. In the front part is the display room, and in the back room the cooler, cutting room and refrigerator plant. The floor is tiled, the pillars are marble, and the beams, wainscoting and all furniture and cases are quarter-sawed oak. The plant is equipped with Brecht's refrigerating machine. All the equipment is of the latest make and design. It comprises a sixteen-ton refrigerator, a cold storage room 20 feet wide and 40 feet long, which is kept at a uniform temperature of 2 degrees above freezing, a freezer 16 feet by 16, a modern fish department, the temperature of which is 20 degrees below freezing, and a cooler 12 feet by 12 for cheese. Carcasses of beef and all heavy pieces of meat are transported to the cooler and cutting-rooms on an automatic overhead track. The refrigeration is sanitary, no ice being used. All meats are cut in the back room. The refrigerator counter is 40 feet in length, and the display case 40 feet long, 12 feet angle and 5 feet clear, with beaded glass plate doors, and all electric lighted. The plant is sanitary throughout and complies with the most rigid requirements of the pure food laws. Mr. Kelchner is a Mason, a member of the Consistory, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of the Red Men, the Maccabees, the Sons of Hermon and the Fraternal Aid. He is also a member of the Young Men's Christian Association, the Wichita Commercial Club and the Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Reformed Church and a member of the School Board of Wichita. Mr. Kelchner was married on December 25, 1889, to Miss Jennie Hinkle, daughter of Mrs. Elizabeth Hinkle, formerly of New Orleans. Mrs. Kelchner was born in Illinois. Additional Comments: Extracted from History of Wichita and Sedgwick County: past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county Editor in chief: O. H. Bentley Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co. (1910) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/sedgwick/bios/kelchner346gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ksfiles/ File size: 3.9 Kb