This is a reprint of a “From the Local History Room” column that first appeared in Oct. 2014, before the launch of this weblog.
George Ehrlicher, shoemaker and grocer
By Jared Olar
Library assistant
The first two Pekin City Directories, published in 1861 and 1871, mention a merchant named George Ehrlicher. His 1861 city directory entry says, “Ehrlicher George, firm of Reuling & E, res. Ne cor. of Sixth and Margaret,” indicating that he lived at the northeast corner of Sixth and Margaret streets, and was one of the co-owners of a grocery store called Reuling & Ehrlicher, located on the south side of Court Street, 11 doors east of Fourth Street.
Ten years later, however, George’s city directory entry reads, “EHRLICHER GEO., dealer in groceries, provisions, queensware, woodenware, stoneware and liquors, ss Court 5 d e Fifth; res ns Margaret 3 d e Sixth.” By that time, he had started his own grocery store on the south side of Court Street, five doors east of Fifth Street.
If the only information available on George Ehrlicher were the old city directories, we could hardly guess that he in fact was a prominent citizen of Pekin. “Pekin: A Pictorial History” (1998, 2004) p.132, reveals that George’s full name was “Johann Georg Ehrlicher,” and says that he “arrived in Pekin from Germany in 1851 first working as a shoemaker and later as a grocer. He died at the early age of 52, leaving behind his 41-year-old widow, Johanna, with 9 children to raise.”
That information matches the city directory entries on him – George disappears from the Pekin city directories by 1876, the directory of that year only listing his widow Johanna and his son. Additional details about him are provided by Ben C. Allensworth’s 1905 “History of Tazewell County,” pp.999-1000, which included George Ehrlicher in its section on the biographies of the notable men of Pekin, as follows:
“George Ehrlicher (deceased), whose death, April 29, 1876, was regarded as a distinct setback to the early development of Pekin, was a shoemaker by trade, but, in later life, was successful as a groceryman, and prominent as a liberal minded and progressive citizen. A native of Bavaria, Germany, and date of birth, March 13, 1824, he was a son of George Ehrlicher, born in Bavaria April 17, 1784; his mother being a native of the same part of the kingdom, and born May 17, 1794. As was the custom in the Fatherland, Mr. Ehrlicher began his self-supporting career at the age of fourteen, being apprenticed to a shoemaker, and later, for a number of years, working as a journeyman.
“In July, 1850, our subject made his way to a sea-coast town, embarked in a sailing vessel for America, and finally located in Tazewell County. In 1851 he became proprietor of a shoe business, continuing the same until 1860, when he disposed of his establishment and opened a grocery store on Court Street. Owing to ill health, he was obliged to dispose of his place in 1875, and permanently retired from active business. He was a Democrat in politics, and one of the founders of the St. Paul Evangelical Church.
“On May 25, 1853, Mr. Ehrlicher was united in marriage to Johanna Hindermeier. His wife was born June 23, 1835, and died April 12, 1904, being survived by three sons and four daughters.”
Both George and Johanna came from Anspach, Bavaria. George’s place in the community of Pekin must have been significant indeed if his early death at age 52 in 1876 would be “regarded as a distinct setback to the early development of Pekin.” The subsequent history of his family bears out that George had placed them on a solid footing. Thus, “Pekin: A Pictorial History” goes on to say that after George’s death, his son George J. Ehrlicher “helped to provide for his nine (sic — eight) brothers and sisters. In the years to come, he held a substantial place in the city’s and state’s commerce. He was proprietor of Schipper and Block department story. His brothers, Henry M. and Otto D. are recognized as Pekin’s first druggists. George was succeeded by his son, Arthur, in the company which flourished in Pekin for almost 100 years and broadcast the name of Pekin across the state.”
As noted in this column previously, the brothers George, Henry and Otto and their wives donated the land on 14th Street between Court Street and Park Avenue where the original Pekin Hospital structure was built in 1918. Also, the Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society’s library was christened the “Ehrlicher Research Center,” in recognition of the 1997 donation that enabled the society to buy the building – the donation came from Arthur Ehrlicher’s widow Virginia J. Ehrlicher (1918-2003), a former head librarian at the Pekin Public Library. Arthur had died in 1990. He and Virginia are buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Pekin.
