1921 Duluth & St Louis County MN, Van Brunt.pdf - Garon.us

918 DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
He sat as a delegate from Minnesota in the National Republican Convention
of 1920 at Chicago, where Harding and Coolidge were nominated.
He holds the title of colonel from the service on the staff of three governors
of Minnesota, Governors Eberhart, Hammond and Burnquist. Dr.
Weirick is a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and a member of the Elks.
On June 6, 1914, he married Marilla Beatty, of EUensburg, Washington.
They have an adopted daughter, Margaret E. Beatty.
B. J. Cook began his business career in Minnesota on an exceedingly
humble scale, for many years was a merchant in Duluth, but is most widely
known as the promoter and upbuilder of theatrical and amusement enterprises
in Duluth, being secretary-treasurer of the New Grand Theater
Company and the Cook Amusement Company, other members of which
are Julius Cook and M. S. Cook.
B. J. Cook was born in Russian Poland in July, 1866, and came to
America alone in 1884, at the age of eighteen. For a time he sold matches
at St. Paul, Minnesota, also did railroad work at 75 cents a day, and
on moving to Duluth invested a very modest capital in a retail clothing
business. His business headquarters were on Lake avenue for ten years,
and the following eight years he did business on an enlarged scale at 321
Superior street.
He entered the moving picture field in 1914, and in 1916 the New
Grand Theater Company and Cook Amusement Company were formed.
In 1920 there occurred a consolidation of these two Duluth concerns
under the name Duluth Theater Company, which owns four of the best
moving picture theaters in the city and much other business property
besides. Mr. Cook is a public spirited citizen, and has given freely of his
time and resources to the upbuilding of the city. He served one term as
tire commissioner. He is a Republican in politics. On October 12, 1916,
he married Miss Lillian Coehn, of Minneapolis. They have two children,
L'^aac L. and Georgia Cook.
Clifford H. Oppel represents the third generation of a pioneer family
of Duluth. His grandfather was one of the very first merchants on the
site of the modern city. Clifford H. Oppel is a member of the firm of
Hale & Oppel, mechanics, who have developed a highly efificient service
chiefly for the benefit of automobile repair and reconstruction, the headquarters
of the firm being at 217 East Superior street.
His grandfather. Christian Oppel, who deserves a permanent record
in Duluth as one of the first settlers, came here from l^Iichigan when the
country at the Head of the Lakes was wild and inhospitable, with only a
few settlements here and there and without wagon roads. Most of the
settlers living on the site of Duluth at that time made trips for supplies to
Two Harbors, going on foot and carrying provisions on their backs. This
trip required two days. Christian Oppel is said to have been proprietor
of the first grocery store at Duluth. Later he took in his son Frank as
a partner, and they continued a general mercantile business under the
name Oppel & Son until the death of the grandfather.
Frank Oppel, father of Clififord Oppel, was born in Michigan and was
a youth when he came to Duluth. He was active in the grocery business
until his death, at a comparatively early age. The Oppel grocery store
was first located on Superior street and Lake avenue and later at 115-117
Superior street. This firm was the first to ship goods mto Duluth over
the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad.
Clififord H. Oppel was born at Duluth January 18, 1889, a son of
Frank and Frances (Mannheim) Oppel, and was only twelve years of age
when his father died. He acquired a public school education, and at the