A bit of New Bremen business history is shared with the NB-NK Rotary Club  

Mr. John Gilberg, retired owner of Gilberg Furniture and Gilberg-Hartwig Funeral Home in New Bremen shared the history of his family businesses with fellow Rotarians at the weekly Rotary meeting of the NB-NK Rotary Club.  The Gilberg family still operates one of the oldest businesses in New Bremen, dating back to 1926 when John’s father Paul Gilberg opened his first retail shop the “People’s Radio and Gift Shop” with his partner Earl Hegemier.

 In 1917 Paul Gilberg was a freshman in high school working for a local furniture maker.  His son John relates the story, “My dad was making 10 cents an hour when he heard that another fellow at the factory got a 1 cent raise.  Dad went in and asked the owner if he could get the same raise and when the owner said he couldn’t, he quit the job.”  John’s dad found a new job working for A.H. Albert, assisting at his funeral home in New Bremen.  “Back in those days, the undertakers as they were known, also operated an ambulance service and often times even built the caskets for the burials.  Back then, that was all quite an undertaking, hence the term undertaker,” shared Mr. Gilberg.  “Most of the funeral parlors had a retail business attached to them as well, and Mr. Albert operated a furniture store in addition to the funeral parlor.  My dad helped out at both places and began to learn the businesses”

 Mr. Gilberg continued on, “In 1924, my dad left the business to go to embalming school in Cincinnati .  Mr. Albert actually paid for my dad’s school but when he returned to come back to work for Mr. Albert, he wouldn’t hire him back because the business had slowed significantly.  So, he took  a job working at Mr. Speckman’s retail store.”  Back in those days, there were several funeral parlors in New Bremen, five to be exact.  So, rather than try to make it in the funeral business, John’s father decided to try something else he had gained experience in.

 “My dad had a good friend, Earl Hegemier,” related Gilberg.  “In 1926, they borrowed $250.00 from Earl’s grandfather, drove their Model T Ford to Toledo and bought a stock of radios to start their retail business.  The original location of “People’s Radio and Gifts” was on the SE corner of the intersection of what is now SR 66 and SR 274 (where the Marathon station currently sits).  Evidently, their business succeeded because “in 1929, dad bought the A.H. Albert Funeral Home and went back into the funeral business.  Also in 1929, dad and Earl moved their retail business to Main St. (in one of the buildings that is part of the Crown complex that currently stands at the NW corner of Main and Monroe Sts.) and changed the name to “Gilberg and Hegemier,” explained Mr. Gilberg.  Eventually, their retail operation expended to include furniture and appliances.

 In 1945, the Gilberg family purchased the first television set in New Bremen and that propelled them into the TV business, until their exit from television sales and service in 1979.  John became involved in helping his father in the two businesses in the 1950’s, becoming a licensed mortician in the 1960’s.  They continued to operate the ambulance service as a part of the funeral home until 1975 with the development of emergency services companies.  “Back when we operated the ambulances all those years, we were only trained in First Aid and only carried basic medical supplies and oxygen.  In all the years we transported patients, we only had one person pass away during a transport run,” shared John.

 It was in 1929 that the two businesses took shape and they are still quite recognizable today.  Gilberg and Hegemier eventually became Gilberg Furniture, currently located along SR 66 near Amsterdam Road, south of New Bremen.  Gilberg and Hegemier Funeral Parlor is now Gilberg-Hartwig Funeral home, run by Mr. Steve Hartwig, located at Franklin and Monroe Sts. in New Bremen. 

Hosting Rotarian: John Gilberg