Strycker and Michael, Rosbrugh, Kellers, Stuckman and Culp

Rosbrugh/Livery barn in the vicinity:

In 1884 Jacob Pippenger and L.B. Winder purchased the property on the corner of South Main Street. It had been occupied by Charles Rosburgh, who had run the business on the property as a livery. In 1885, Enos Rosbrugh started his livery.

Stycker and Michael:

In 1906, Strycker and Michael dissolved their partnership. Aaron Michael had the livery on S. Main Street. Strycker and Son had feed and sales stables on Lincoln Street.

In 1907, Aaron Michael sold his livery barn to Ed Collins. He made improvements to the livery barn – new floors and moved the office to the south side of the building.

Keller Garage:

In 1909, John Keller purchased the old Rosbrugh livery barn at the corner of Main and Lincoln streets. He had plans to construct a two-story brick building for an automobile garage and the second floor for a skating rink. The newspaper commented how excited they were that the brick building was being built.

The north wall was built to be thicker than the rest so if another building would be built it could use the wall also. The building also would only have a rear basement.

In December 1909, the Keller Rink opened. It was open every afternoon from 3 pm-5:30 pm and every evening 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm. Admission for the evening was 10 cents, ladies were free and it was 15 cents to skate. Nappanee High School played its boys’ basketball games in the Rink. There were also parties in the rink. Halloween Masquerades are mentioned throughout the years in the newspaper as taking place in the Keller Rink.

Stuckman and Culp:

They most likely took over once Keller left town between 1913 and 1915. In 1915, shower baths and dressing rooms were installed above the garage in the Skating rink for the high school basketball team.

In 1916, they installed a new filling station at the garage, it was 500-gallon capacity.

They were the local agents for Overland. In 1933, M.S. Pletcher leased the garage from Jesse Stuckman and Mr. Pletcher moved in his Studebaker and Rockne car lines.