Albert Lampe Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1256, 1259 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				ALBERT LAMPE. 

	Albert Lampe is senior partner of the Lampe Market Company, of 
Huron, conducting an extensive business as butchers and packers, having 
established an industry which is of the utmost importance as a factor 
in the business activity and development of the town. He was born in 
Alfeld, in the province of Hanover, Germany, January 18, 1848, a son of 
Henry and Elizabeth (Strobele) Lampe, both of whom spent their entire 
lives in the fatherland. 

	In the schools of his native country Albert Lampe was educated 
and in 1868 he entered into active connection with the butchering 
business, working for others until 1874, when he opened a shop of his 
own at Wernigerode, which he conducted for eight years. He then sold 
out and came to the United States, where he arrived on the 4th of 
December, 1882. He made his way direct to Huron, South Dakota, where he 
entered the employ of Jacob Schaller as butcher, buyer and packer. For 
seven years he was- employed in that way and in 1889 opened a shop of 
his own. It was his ambition to engage in business on his own account 
and he carefully saved his earnings until his economy and industry had 
brought him sufficient capital to take this initial step. From that 
time forward he bent every energy toward the upbuilding of the business 
and the extension of his trade until he had developed one of the most 
important productive industries of the city. 

	On the 17th of December, 1913, the business was incorporated 
under the firm name of the Lampe Market Company, with a capital stock 
of seventy-five thousand dollars. This is a close corporation, all of 
the stock being owned by the father and his five sons, with Albert 
Lampe, Sr., as president; Fred Lampe, vice president; Henry Lampe, 
secretary and treasurer; and Albert, Gustave and Carl are also partners 
in the undertaking. The business was started from a small beginning, 
Mr. Lampe having only about five hundred dollars with which to finance 
the enterprise. The trade has gradually increased as the years have 
gone by and in 1914 reached the sum of one hundred and seven thousand 
dollars, an increase of twelve thousand dollars over 1913. The growth 
has been along steady, healthful lines, being based upon sound business 
principles and thoroughly reliable methods. Their main building covers 
seventy-two hundred square feet used as sales rooms and warerooms. They 
have a most up-to-date equipment, with a refrigerating plant covering 
eleven thousand cubic feet of storage capacity operated by an eight-ton 
Remington compressor driven by a fifteen horse power electric motor, 
with forced air circulation. They also have complete equipment for 
making sausage and they also cure and smoke all their own pork and 
beef. In fact, their plant is equipped with the most modern and up-to-
date appliances, including sex computing scales, four slicing machines 
and other modern machinery, including all that goes with a first-class 
market and packing house. They also own their own slaughtering house, 
which stands on a tract of one hundred and twenty acres of land. Like 
the market, it is most modern, unsurpassed in its equipment in South 
Dakota. It is thirty-three by seventy-eight feet and in addition there 
is a large feed barn containing room for two hundred head of cattle, 
three hundred sheep and two hundred hogs. Upon the place is a large 
silo, feed mills and other modern accessories. They raise the feed for 
the stock and all work is conducted on a strictly business basis. In 
addition to their other equipment they have many horses, two 
automobiles, a traction engine and several gasoline engines. They are 
firm believers in alfalfa as a feed product for stock and now have 
twenty acres planted to that crop and expect to increase it until one 
hundred acres shall be devoted to the growing of alfalfa. 

	Mr. Lampe was married in Germany, April 6, 1875, to Miss Maria 
Nehrkorn, also a native. of Alfeld, Hanover, born February 7, 1849, a 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Christof Nehrkorn, both of whom died in 
Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Lampe have nine children: Fred, who married 
Bertha Jaehn. and has three children, Clara M., Gertrude and Frederick; 
Annie, the wife of Frank Meyer, by whom she has four children, Charles, 
Alice, Edward and Maria; Albert, Henry, Gustav, Mary, Emma, Carl and 
Elsie, all at home. They also lost two children in infancy. 

	Such in brief is the history of Albert Lampe, who, attracted by 
the opportunities of the new world, came to try his fortune on this 
side the Atlantic. He found that in America the accident of birth does 
not determine one's possibilities nor establish his success, but that 
the chance for advancement is open to all and that in this country 
"labor is king." It has been through his indefatigable energy, his 
unfaltering industry and his well defined plan that he has gained his 
advancement until he stands among the prominent representatives of 
business activity in Huron.