Interior N. M. Burgland's Meat Market

From Upper Mississippi Valley Photo Archive: (http://www.uppermississippivalleyphotoarchive.org/)

Interior N. M. Burgland's Meat Market, (ca. 1895). Photograph shows the interior of Burgland's Meat Market. There is a cashier's window and office on the left with butcher blocks and stools beyond. On the right are different types of butchered and cured meats such as hams, sausages and sides of beef hanging on hooks from the ceiling. There are barrels and a crock on the far right. The floor is made of wood and there is a gas lighting fixture in the center of the photograph coming from the ceiling. Location Depicted: 655 East Main Street, Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois

There exists no known photographs of Henry Kohrs first meat market/ butcher shop in Davenport Iowa to inform us as to what the establishment looked like inside. Fortunately, we can view photographs of other meat market/ butcher shops that were in the areas surrounding the quad cities to give us a glimpse of what it may have looked like inside.

Again from Helen Kohrs Gehrmann’s memoirs - "In February, the ice house was filled with ice and packed with sawdust. In late summer the ice would have melted and the sawdust removed, so that the building could be used for other storage. Hogs were slaughtered only from November through March, and the products were sold through a broker in St. , Missouri. The hams and bacon were wrapped in absorbent paper, and then parchment paper, sewed into muslin bags, dipped in "Chromeyellow" (glue) and hung to dry. They were packed and shipped to customers, as ordered. The original brand name was "Kohrs Crown", and the "Arsenal Brand" came into being later." Helen Kohrs, Henry and Johanna's third child, married William Gehrmann, and in 1898, Will Gehrmann became General Manager of the Company. The Henry Kohrs Packing Company has gradually developed and extended until it reached throughout the entire West. 1.

References

1. The ancestors and descendants of the Bettendorf-Kohrs and related families : a memorial to William Edwin Bettendorf, 1902-1979 by Darlene Ward Paxton; L T Sloane. Decorah, Iowa : Anundsen Pub. Co., 1984.