AUGUSTA (nee KRUSE) KOHRS

AUGUSTA (nee KRUSE) KOHRS

1849-1945

Augusta Frederick Christiana (nee Kruse) Kohrs in 1889: This was the year Montana became a state, and when her husband was acquiring land that would soon total over 1,000,000 acres.

Photograph: Paper. L 12.9, W 9 cm
Source: Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, GRKO 15886
Retrieved on May 3, 2009 from http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/grko/slideshow/kohrs/GRKO-15886-Augusta-Kohrs-18.html
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From the Helena Independent Record, Helena, Montana
01 November 1945

Obituary of Augusta Kohrs

Although her senses had begun to fail her in the last few years, Mrs. Kohrs keen mind and indomitable spirit remained with her to the end of her long and useful life. A philanthropist in her own right, she made possible in 1933 the $115, 000 addition to St. Peter’s hospital, known as the Conrad Kohrs memorial. Since the death of her pioneer husband in 1920, Mrs. Kohrs has made Helena her home (804 Dearborn, Helena, MT 59601) except for occasional trips to New York City and summer months spent on the extensive Kohrs ranch near Deer Lodge.

Her death brought the end to a life that in later years had been devoted to civic, fraternal and church charities. Although many were little known except by their receivers. Mrs. Kohrs gave liberally of the fortune she had her husband accumulate to innumerable individuals and organizations in Helena and in Montana. For many years following the death of her noted husband, Mrs. Kohrs was active in the management of the Conrad Kohrs company, incorporated as a holding company to administer the vast real estate, livestock, mining claims, bonds, mortgages, and stocks owned by the estate for heirs.

Born January 26th, 1849, in Germany, Mrs. Kohrs attended private schools and came to the U. S. as a teacher in 1866, settling first in the German community at Davenport, Iowa. She was united in marriage with Conrad Kohrs at Davenport, February 23, 1868. As a bride of 19, Mrs. Kohrs came up the Missouri river by steamboat from Omaha to Fort Benton in the same year. The trip took 48 days. The bridal couple was met at Fort Benton by a Kohrs conveyance which took them to the 30, 000 acre home ranch at Deer Lodge, where they lived until coming to Helena in 1899.

Even in the days before the turn of the century, the Kohrs were known for their kind hearted and philanthropic deeds. Many a pioneer was grubstaked by them. Many were given loans when in need of help. Mr. and Mrs. Kohrs came to Helena in 1899 when many of the major cattlemen of Montana made their headquarters here. Although not a member of many organizations, Mrs. Kohrs’ home was the scene of hospitable entertainment. Oldtimers recall that President Theodore Roosevelt was an intimate friend of the Kohrs. At one dinner in his honor, Senator Thomas H. Carter was present. The song “The Irish and the Dutch, They Don’t Amount to Much” was sung for their amusement. Mrs. Kohrs was an ardent follower of the opera. She went to New York City for the Metropolitan season each year, not missing until 1943. She was a critic of the leading stars of the day.

She was a member of the First Presbyterian church and gave liberally to it and aided in the erection of the Helena YMCA. Although the livestock holdings of the Kohrs estate have been liquidated, the properties are still vast. Among the real estate holdings are the Beveridge, Kohrs, Tracy and Brazier blocks in Helena, the Higgins block in Missoula and the Kohrs (CK) ranch in Deer Lodge, now operated by a grandson, Conrad Warren. The Kohrs company also holds a sizable interest in the Northwestern Bancorporation, acquired during the time Conrad Kohrs was a director of the Union Bank and Trust company of which he was president.

Preceded in her death by her husband and one son, William, Mrs. Kohrs is survived by her daughters, Mrs. Anna Boardman of 702 Madison avenue and Mrs. Katherine Bogart of 712 Monroe avenue; two gransons, Conrad Warren of Deer Lodge and Lt. Col. Robert Warren of the U. S. army medical corps now in Italy; a granddaughter, Mrs. Anna Bache, with her husband, an army major in Georgia, and four great grandsons and three great granddaughters.

At the time of her liberal donation which made possible ther erection, furnishing and equipping of the Conrad Kohrs Memorial, the Lewis and Clark County Medical association paid partial tribute..... She is a woman who will be revered in future years for the many ways in which she has made possible better hospital facilities for the entire state.

Funeral services for Mrs. August Kohrs, 96 who died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. J. M. (Anna) Boardman, 702 Madison Avenue, Helena, Montana were conducted at the Boardman residence. The Reverend Emil Ziegler officiated. Pallbearers were A.T. Hibbard, Howard Schuyler, E. G. Toomey, George Grossberg, Earl Murphy and Eddie Phillips. Burial was in the Deer Lodge Cemetery beside her husband.

Resource

1. Helena Independent Record, Helena, Montana 01 November 1945
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Children of Carsten Conrad Kohrs and Augusta (nee Kruse) Kohrs

ANNA CATHERINE KOHRS (1868-1958)
KATHERINE CHRISTENE KOHRS (1870-1958)
WILLIAM KRUSE KOHRS (1879-1901)