F. W. Boettcher Biography This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography, including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 804-805 Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm F. W. BOETTCHER. The title of general of finance has been aptly bestowed upon those men who, marshaling the peaceful hosts of industry, conquer new realms of commerce and widen the reach of business. activity. Of this class the subject of this sketch is a notable representative, his financial operations assuming breadth and scope, which indicate the determination, persistence, sound judgment and power of combination which distinguish the born leader of men. Coming to Eureka in very moderate circumstances, he has made his way to the front rank in business affairs, and his success is made still more emphatic by the broad and generous interest that he shows in all that concerns good citizenship. Mr. Boettcher was born in Le Seuer county, Minnesota, January 15, 1863, and is a son of Charles and Rachel Boettcher, natives of Germany, the latter born in Hanover. She is still living in Le Seuer, Minnesota. In early manhood the father followed the occupation of farming, but devoted the last thirty or forty years of his life to the work of the ministry in the Methodist church. He was pastor of the church at Le Seuer for a time. The subject was educated in the common schools of the towns where his father preached. Leaving home at about the age of fifteen years, he began his business career as clerk in a store at Gaylord, Minnesota. At the age of eighteen he went to Minneapolis, where he was engaged in the produce commission business for two years and then returned to Gaylord, where he was employed in a bank for several years and also served as bookkeeper for the Pacific Elevator Company. Leaving the bank in 1887 he again went to Minneapolis where he worked for H. Poehler Company until the fall of 1888, and then came to Eureka, South Dakota, with whose business interests he has since been so prominently identified. In the spring of 1888 his brother, J. E. Boettcher, had opened a bank here in a building only 8 x 10 feet on the site of the present bank building -lot 1, block 4, second addition to the town of Eureka. The same fall our subject took charge of the business, and to the building he soon made a small addition on the south and another on the east. At that time he did mostly a land business. In 1891 he tore down the building and erected a more substantial and commodious structure, 24x 40 feet, which is supplied with one of the best safes in the state -a Carey screw door safe, weighing two and a half tons, and has the only vault in town. It was the second bank established at Eureka and is now the leading financial institution of the place. Mr. Boettcher was the sole owner of this bank until April 19, 1897, when it was re-organized under the name of the German Bank of Eureka, the stockholders being Frederick W. Boettcher, president; Alvin H. Poehler, of Minneapolis, vice-president; and Walter C. Poehler, cashier. On the 1st of July, 1899, C. Vorlander purchased Walter C. Poehler's interest and became cashier, while L. P. Johnson was made assistant cashier, the other officers remaining the same. They do a general banking, collection and real estate business and receive a liberal share of the public patronage. On first coming to South Dakota, Mr. Boettcher took up a pre-emption and went through the regular claim shanty experience. Later he took up a homestead and now owns one thousand acres of farming land. He has a ranch in Emmons county, North Dakota, stocked with four hundred and twenty head of cattle; is president of the Eureka & Mound City Telephone Company, and personally superintended the work of constructing the line. In 1892 he built the largest elevator now in Eureka and was engaged in the grain business from 1891 until 1898. At the same time he was also interested in the ice and coal business, and owned and operated grain elevators at Hillsview and Ipswich in connection with his other business, but now gives the greater part of his time and attention to his banking interests. He is one of the most enterprising and progressive business men of McPherson county, and by his connection with various concerns has materially advanced the interests of his community. In his political affiliations, Mr. Boettcher is a stanch Republican and formerly took quite an active and prominent part in local politics, having been a member of the central committee of his party. He was the first mayor of Eureka and has been school treasurer for several years, but now refuses all political offices. He organized the first bank in Eureka in 1889, and for some time it was the finest in the northern part of the state. Socially, he is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America.