In Union City, Dahnke enterprise and energy has become so intimately intertwined with the business and civic activities within the last two decades that the most casual review of the business life of the city would be incomplete without reference to the Dahnke brothers.
George Dahnke started out to make his own way when thirteen years old without money, and came a stranger to Union City as a journeyman baker, and has worked his way up until today he is at the head of about all the important industries of the county, and by big odds is the most prominent and active business man of the state.
Mr. Dahnke is a native of Nashville, Illinois. He was born September 29, 1866, a son of H. F. and Katherine (Benner) Dahnke. His youthful days he spent in clerking in his native town, and from clerking he turned his attention to the bakery business. This he followed at Nashville until 1887, and landed in Union City, October 8, of that year, a journeyman baker. He worked three months; at the end of which time he bought out the establishment where he had been employed, opening a restaurant and bakery. In 1888, he added a confectionery department to his growing business, which has kept pace with the progress of the times, and the Dahnke café has a conspicuous place in the activities of Union City.
In 1900, when the Dahnke-Walker Milling Company was organized he was made its manager, and has since continued at the head of the firm with the result that at this writing the Dahnke-Walker Milling Company is not only the largest concern of its kind in Obion County, but it ranks among the largest in Tennessee. The plant covers about five acres on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and has a capacity for turning out fourteen hundred barrels of flour and meal per day. The best and latest improved machinery is installed, a force of fifty hands are employed, a capital of fifty-thousand dollars is used in carrying on the business, and the company’s trade extends to territory in the states of Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and in fact all of the south-eastern states. An approximate estimate of the grain shipped by the plant would be about two thousand cars. In addition to this mill the company has another of equally large capacity where coarse feed is ground.
The ice company was organized in 1891 and operated at a loss, and came to the end of its resources in 1896. In that year the stock was sold to George Dahnke and brother for less than half its original value, and George Dahnke then became president and manager of the company, a position he has since retained. This ice plant has a capacity of two thousand tons storage, and manufactures fifteen tons of ice per day. The present company is known as the Union City Ice & Coal Company, several years ago dealing in coal. The plant covers an area of two acres.
Another important industry which Mr. Dahnke promoted is the Union City Cotton Gin, which was established in 1908, and is doing a prosperous business. A conspicuous fact about Mr. Dahnke is his ability as a reorganizer. He has a taken a number of concerns in this vicinity, recognized as complete failures, and has injected life and vitality into them, until they have all become very successful under his direction. Mr. Dahnke is a director in Union City Canning Company, the Third National Bank of Union City, the Obion Land & Improvement Company, and the Obion County Fair Association.
A year ago at the meeting of the Business Men’s Club. Mr. Dahnke proposed that they get an expert soil doctor to increase the average yield of grain per acre. He was appointed a committee of one to organize the proposition, which he did, as more fully explained in later paragraphs, was made president of the resulting organization, wrote to all the leading agricultural colleges in the United States, and finally succeeded in getting an expert to take charge of the technical end of the business. This was the first county in the state of Tennessee to have such an organization, and Mr. Dahnke was the man whose original enterprise accomplished the deed. He is the leading factor and director of the Obion River Drainage Company, formed for the purpose of reclaiming about fifty-seven thousand acres of the most fertile land in Obion County, by a system of leveeing and drainage, the undertaking including the straightening the channel of the Obion River. One of the drainage districts has been organized, its bonds sold, and the work well toward prosperous completion.
Socially Mr. Dahnke affiliates with the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is, as already mentioned, one of the influential members of the Business Men’s Club of Union City, and is at the present time its president. His religious creed is that of the Lutheran church, and in politics he is a Democrat, but has never assented to become a candidate for office. Mr. Dahnke was married November 25, 1891, to Miss Eleanor Hoffman. They are the parents of eight children, namely: Catherine, Louise, Mary, Helen, Nellie, Ruth, Marjorie, and George Jr., all of who are at the home.
From the proceeding paragraphs it will be understood that Mr. Dahnke is a man of very exceptional ability. He is one of those who possess “life and leading” and whose services are indispensable in twentieth century progress. As an addition to the somewhat formal biography already written, the value of this article will be enhanced by the following estimate of his work and influence, written by one who has observed the career of Mr. Dahnke and his public spirited activity, and is thus in a position to judge and appreciate this forceful business leader.
Mr. Dahnke comes of stout old German stock, and he possesses in his make-up and general character the many notable qualities that have made Germans potent factors in the history of civilization. We note that Mr. Dahnke is what he is. He is frankness personified. We do not believe there is a particle of insincerity or hypocrisy in him. Because of this and because of his veracity, his unusual, we might truthfully say, his extraordinary determination of character, he is recognized as the soul and center of Union City’s business interest. He is presiding officer of the Business Men’s Club, and has been for several years. He enjoys the profoundest confidence of the business man. He is constantly revolving in his mind some worthy plan for benefitting Union City and Obion County. He is big and broad enough to work not only for Union City, but for all of Obion County. He is a self-made man. He came to Union City a few years ago, a penniless young stranger. His favorite saying is that a man’s business is no bigger than the man himself. He established a bakery and café. Humble as this business was, he gave it prestige and honor and dignity, and gave Union City an institution that is one of its brightest and most successful ornaments—the justly famous Dahnke Café.
He acquired a majority of the stock in a run-down, dilapidated ice factory, and he overhauled and revamped it, stamped it with the stamp of success, and fine executive ability and made it, too, one of the leading institutions of Union City. He next bought a leading interest in an unsuccessful flouring mill proposition. He overhauled this business, he made a patient, exhaustive, laborious analysis of what had caused its failure. He modernized the machinery, he made a practical study of grain, and the Dahnke-Walker Milling Company is the product of his labor, one of the most successful milling enterprises in the middle west or in the south.
Mr. Dahnke, as the president of the Business Men’s Club, was the first to suggest the advisability and the possibility of “curing” the “sick” soil of Obion County. He it was who was first heard to mention the constantly increasing yield of wheat and corn year by year. It was Mr. Dahnke who made the call for the farmers to meet and effect organization and secure funds for the employment of a soil doctor. The meeting of farmers was held in the court house of Obion County, and the organization was made the Obion County Agricultural Improvement Association. Mr. Dahnke in recognition of the deep interest he had shown in soil improvement was by the farmers assembled, elected president of the association. Mr. Dahnke put his shoulder to the wheel and used his personal influence to bear upon the concern, inducing the farmers to assist in getting up the needful funds. He also came into touch with the great national organization that had been effected to bring about soil improvements, and increased crop production. All his efforts were crowned with success. The money was made up, the agricultural expert secured, and Obion County put in line with the foremost and most aggressive counties in the United States. Mr. Dahnke secured a visit from the famous D. Ward King, and as a result of Mr. King’s teachings the compulsory use of the King Road-drag has been incorporated into the road law of Obion County.
But, perhaps, Mr. Dahnke’s greatest work was the part he took in the creation of several drainage districts in Obion County, in Obion River Valley. When others doubted and quibbled and found fault, Mr. Dahnke with serene confidence and unwavering faith and fidelity held firmly to the absolute feasibility of the draining plan. This enterprise, too, has been crowned with success, the bonds have been negotiated, and work will at an early date begin on the drainage of one district, the forerunner of other drainage districts, whose reclaiming will add millions of dollars to the resources of Tennessee. This brief sketch will, we believe, fully suffice to show that Mr. Dahnke is not only a live-wire as a business proposition, but a broad, useful, public spirited citizen.
Source: Hale, Will T, and Dixon L. Merritt. A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities. Chicago: Lewis Pub. Company, 1913. Volume 5.
