Willard N. Keen Biography


	This biography appears on pages 815-816 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				WILLARD N. KEEN. 

	Business enterprise at Garden City finds a worthy representative 
in Willard N. Keen, who is proprietor of a general store, occupying a 
modern building, which he erected in 1910. Probably every state in the 
Union has furnished its quota of citizenship to South Dakota and among 
those who have come from Pennsylvania is Willard N. Keen, who was born 
in the Keystone state on the 15th of November, 1863, his parents being 
George M. and Mary J. (Jenkins) Keen. The family arrived in South 
Dakota in 1882, settling in Clark county, where the father secured a 
homestead on section 29, Eden township. He at once began to clear and 
develop the land and for nineteen years carried on general farming 
there. His efforts were attended with good success, for his methods 
were practical, his enterprise unfaltering. The years brought him the 
prosperity which is the merited reward of persistent and honorable 
labor and he and his wife are now living retired in Garden City, having 
a competence sufficient to supply them with all of the comforts and 
some of the luxuries of life. 

	In the public schools of Pennsylvania Willard N. Keen pursued his 
studies and afterward assisted his father. Later he engaged in railroad 
work until he came to the west with the others of the family when a 
young man of nineteen years. He also took up a preemption claim, 
covering the southwest quarter of section 32, township 117, range 56, 
in Clark county and a tree claim, covering the northwest quarter of 
section 30, township 117, range 56. In accordance with the property 
laws he at once began to develop his land and remained thereon for 
nineteen years, at the end of which time the property bore no 
resemblance to the wild and undeveloped tracts which came into his 
possession when the government gave over the title to him At the end of 
that period he rented his farm and opened his present place of business 
at Garden City, but since that time he has disposed of his lands. He 
embarked in general merchandising with but a small stock, but with the 
settlement of the county and the increasing popularity of his 
establishment his trade has steadily grown and he has been forced to 
add to his stock to meet the demands of the increased patronage. Today 
he carries one of the largest lines of general merchandise in his part 
of the state and in 1910 he erected his present substantial business 
block in Garden City, of which he occupies the first floor and basement 
and also a large wareroom containing the reserve stock. His trade is 
now extensive and is growing year by year. He has ever realized the 
fact that satisfied patrons are the best advertisement and he has made 
earnest effort to pie&se his customers, giving them the quality of 
goods desired at reasonable prices. His cooperation has been sought 
along other lines and he is now a stockholder in the Opera House, in 
the Garden City Telephone Company, in the Garden City State Bank and in 
the County Fair. 

	On the 24th of November, 1886, Mr. Keen was joined in wedlock to 
Miss Ella B. Spencer, a native of New York state and a daughter of A. 
A. and Eleanora Spencer. Her father was also one of the old-time 
settlers of Clark county, arriving in this part of the state in 1883, 
but both he and his wife are deceased. Mr. Keen is a democrat in his 
political views, but without ambition for office. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Masons and he enjoys a game of baseball, finding 
interest and recreation therein. He may well be called one of South 
Dakota,s promising business men. He recognizes the opportunities and 
the possibilities of the northwest and works for the benefit of his 
community as well as for the advancement of his individual interests. 
His plans meet the existing conditions in a way that utilizes them to 
the best advantage and his work has, indeed, been a potent force in 
public progress.