Dickinson Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and
Biographical Album of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and
Marion Counties-Hon. Christian Hoffman
Portrait and Biographical
Album of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and Marion
Counties
Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1893
HON. CHRISTIAN HOFFMAN, one of the
most widely known and highly respected
citizens of Dickinson County, has been
prominently identified with the growth
and upbuilding of Enterprise from the beginning,
in fact is one of the founders of the city. A native
of Switzerland, he was born in Buchs, on the
7th of August, 1826, and is a son of Leonard and
Agatha (Rohrer) Hoffman. His father was a mason
by trade, and also followed farming.
Our subject learned the trades of baker and
miller, and was employed in a mill at Azmoos until
1854, when he came to this country. Locating
in Wisconsin, he there engaged in carpentering
until his removal to Kansas in 1857. He settled
in Dickinson County in 1860, entering land on
section 2, Jefferson Township, nine miles south of
Abilene. His parents also crossed the Atlantic
and located in this county, where they spent the
remainder of their lives. Christian operated his
farm of three hundred and twenty acres for eight
years, after which he came to what is now Enterprise,
and bought a tract of land covering the entire
water-power. In 1869, he built a mill at a
cost of 820,000. This was practically the second
mill in the county. There was one at Chapman,
and a small one at Abilene, but the latter soon afterward
suspended operations.
In 1872, Mr. Hoffman laid out the town site of
Enterprise in connection with T. C. Henry, M.
Senn, John Johntz, and K.V. Wilson, who was then
editor of the Abilene Chronicle, and is now editor of
the Times, of Denver, Colo. The plat covered one
hundred and eighty acres, and a branch railroad was
built from Detroit, two and one-half miles distant,
in 1878. Mr. Hoffman 's business was largely a home
trade and with towns on the Union Pacific, but in
1873 he began to do a general commercial trade.
A new mill was erected in 1881, with about $200,000
invested in water-power, elevators and buildings.
The mill has an elevator capacity of thirty-five
thousand bushels, and a new elevator was
erected in 1891, with a capacity of one hundred
thousand bushels. The daily product is about five
hundred barrels, and about one-half of the wheat
raised in the county is sold to the mill. Mr. Hoffman
has associated with him his son. They do an
annual business of about $700,000, and besides the
manufacture of flour they ship corn and oats,
This is one of the most important industries in the
county, and has brought a well-deserved prosperity
to its originators. In the beginning, all of Mr.
Hoffman's partners in the town site and woolen
mill were residents of Abilene, and after five years
they withdrew from the business. For a time, it
was rather difficult for him to carry on operations
alone, but by energy and enterprise he did so. In
1872 a woolen mill was established at a cost of
$18,000, a Mr. Holsworth being secured as manager.
It was conducted for five years, and in
1881 was transformed into the flouring mill.
On the 30th of April, 1850, Mr. Hoffman married
Miss Elsbeth Senn, a sister of Michael Senn,
of Enterprise. She died on the 3d of July, 1886,
leaving one son, Christian B., who is now associated
with his father in business. The lady who
now bears the name of Mrs. Hoffman was in her
maidenhood Miss Kate Herman, daughter of John
Herman, of Jefferson Township. They have three
children, Walter, John and Elsbeth. The parents
are both members of the German Methodist Episcopal
Church.
Mr. Hoffman has been connected with other
business enterprises besides those mentioned. He
is Vice-president of the Ehrsam Machine Company,
which was incorporated in 1883, with a capital
stock of $30,000. This was increased to $60,000 in
1889, and to $100,000 in 1891. He is a
Director of the Enterprise Bank, of which his son,
C. B. Hoffman, is President, and C. M. Case Cashier.
In 1878, he erected the first stone store building
in Enterprise, and for some six years carried
on a general merchandising establishment. He
opened the first lumber-yard of the place in 1872,
and was connected with it for two years. He
owns two farms lying near the city. In his various
enterprises, Mr. Hoffman has been successful,
and has become a wealthy man, but while working
for his own interests lie has also aided greatly in
the upbuilding of the city, and the promotion of
those enterprises calculated to prove of public
benefit. It was largely through his instrumentality
that the college was erected at a cost of about $14000.
He has ever been a warm friend of education,
and, while in Jefferson Township, helped
build the first schoolhouse in the county in 1864.
During more than half of his residence in Kansas
he has been a member of the School Board, and his
labors along this line have been most effective and
beneficial.
In politics, Mr. Hoffman is a Republican. He
has never been an office-seeker, but has been honored
with various positions of public trust, and
has filled a number of the city offices. In 1865,
he was elected County Treasurer, re-elected to that
office in 1867, and in 1871 was elected Representative
to the State Legislature. His public duties
were performed in a prompt and faithful manner,
and he is alike true to every private trust. Benevolent
and kind-hearted, the poor have found in him
a kind friend, and the county numbers him among
its best citizens. Mr. Hoffman is of pleasing appearance.
He is about medium size, and his face wears
an intelligent expression and indicates the honorable,
upright life he has led. In manner he is
pleasant, and it is safe to say that no citizen of
Enterprise has more friends than he.
(c) 2009 Sheryl McClure for
Dickinson County KS AHGP