Gottlieb Charles Wachter (1865–1928), commonly known by his middle name, was a German-born businessman and

city commissioner City commission government is a form of local government in the United States. In a city commission government, voters elect a small commission, typically of five to seven members, typically on a plurality-at-large voting basis. These commissione ...

Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck () is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the state's second-most populous city, after Fargo. The city's population was 73,622 in the 2020 census, while its metropolitan popula ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Wachter is best remembered as the patriarch of one of the earliest and most prominent families of North Dakota's capital city.

Biography

Early years

Gottlieb Charles Wachter, commonly known by his first initials or middle name, was born in the town of

Bernstein Bernstein is a common surname in the German language, meaning "amber" (literally "burn stone"). The name is used by both Germans and Jews, although it is most common among people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. The German pronunciation is , but in E ...

, near

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1865."Charles Wachter, Bismarck Pioneer, Dies Suddenly After Week's Illness," ''Bismarck Tribune,'' March 17, 1928. Wachter emigrated from Germany to the United States circa 1880, as a teenaged boy. For nearly a year previously Wachter had worked as a

meat cutter A meat cutter prepares primal cuts into a variety of smaller cuts intended for sale in a retail environment. The duties of a meat cutter largely overlap those of the butcher, but butchers tend to specialize in pre-sale processing (reducing carcas ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

before settling in the area of Bismarck in the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...

in 1881, where he continued to work as a meat cutter until he had saved enough money to start his own company in 1885, the Wachter Dray and Transfer Company."A Look at an Influential Clan," ''Bismarck Tribune,'' February 5, 1980, pg 7G.

Business career

This would prove to be the first of many family owned business enterprises in Bismarck bearing the Wachter name. Wachter's one-man dray operation burgeoned into a substantial

corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and re ...

enterprise with more than 50 teams of horses and the farmland needed to support them, cutting and delivering ice from the Missouri River, hauling and selling coal and wood for heating, and providing excavation work and

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

space. On April 27, 1892, Gottlieb Charles Wachter married Annie Clotier Robidou (1866-1941)."Mrs. Annie Wachter taken by death here early Friday," ''Bismarck Tribune,'' November 7, 1941. The couple had three children, named Emma Louise, Eugene Charles, and Paul August Wachter. Wachter turned his sundry businesses over to his sons in July 1923. Gottlieb Charles Wachter, patriarch of this branch of Wachters, served on the local school board, where he was influential in providing for an elementary school on the south side of Bismarck. In 1918 the city memorialized Wachter by naming this elementary school in his honor. Wachter also served on the city commission from 1925 until his death in 1928.

Death and legacy

Gottlieb Charles Wachter died in March 1928. He was 62 years old. Following the death of their father, Eugene (d. 1960) and Paul August (d. 1961)"Paul Wachter, Sr., is dead here at 62," ''Bismarck Tribune,'' January 30, 1961. took over the family businesses, with Eugene managing the Wachter Ranch and Paul overseeing the other various business enterprises in and around Bismarck. In 1929, the family created Wachter's, Incorporated to manage the growing business empire.North Dakota Secretary of State's Records, Corporation Records, Casefile #1419/ This meant looking ahead to development on the south side of the city, an area plagued at times by flooding from the Missouri River."Over One Hundred Years of Growth," ''Bismarck Tribune,'' February 5, 1980, pg. 4a. In 1936 the Wachter-O'Neil construction company was involved in building a dam at the Fresno site in

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, part of a series of projects along the Milk River. This was followed by Wachter's involvement building the

Fort Peck Dam The Fort Peck Dam is the highest of six major dams along the Missouri River, located in northeast Montana in the United States, near Glasgow, and adjacent to the community of Fort Peck. At in length and over in height, it is the largest hyd ...

, which allowed them to see ahead to the impacts the

Garrison Dam Garrison Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Missouri River in central North Dakota, U.S. Constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1947 to 1953, at over in length, the dam is the fifth-largest earthen dam in the world. The res ...

would have on Bismarck. The completion of the Garrison Dam changed the flow of the Missouri River, capturing much of the water in

Lake Sakakawea Lake Sakakawea is a large reservoir in the north central United States, impounded in 1953 by Garrison Dam, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam located in the Missouri River basin in central North Dakota. Named for the Shoshone-Hidatsa woman Saka ...

and

Lake Oahe Lake Oahe () is a large reservoir behind Oahe Dam on the Missouri River; it begins in central South Dakota and continues north into North Dakota in the United States. The lake has an area of and a maximum depth of . By volume, it is the List of l ...

. The Garrison Dam was completed in 1953, freeing up floodplain land that the Wachter family had invested in for development beyond farming. Farming and ranching were still significant enterprises. At one time the Wachter Ranch contained 28,800 acres in

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

and Oliver Counties and was the largest deeded ranch in North Dakota. The Wachter family ran Dakota Sand and Gravel and operated a Mayflower moving company franchise. As automobiles became the norm, the family purchased and ran Missouri Valley Motors for a time.''Polk's Bismarck (Burleigh County, ND) City Directories, 1955,'' pg. 239. Other businesses operated by the heirs of Charles Wachter included Kirkwood Motor Inn, Kirkwood Plaza shopping center, the Bank of Kirkwood Plaza, House of Bottles, Towne and Country Liquor, and Towne and Country Real Estate. The most influential member of the third generation of the Wachter family was Paul H. Wachter (d. 1973), son of Paul August. This younger Wachter was well known for his business enterprises and land developments in the Bismarck area. Over the years he served as managing director for the Kirkwood Plaza Shopping Center (now

Kirkwood Mall Kirkwood Mall (originally known as Kirkwood Plaza) is an enclosed regional shopping mall in the city of Bismarck, North Dakota. At 850,000 square feet, Kirkwood Mall is the second largest mall in North Dakota, boasting over 90 shops. Opened in 1970 ...

), Wachter Real Estate Trust, Wachter’s, Inc., Dakota Sand and Gravel and other enterprises.“Paul H. Wachter, City Developer, dies here at 55,” ''Bismarck Tribune,'' October 29, 1973, pg 1. Besides being a businessman, Paul H. Wachter was an inventor and a philanthropist. He is also remembered for his patents for a spatula and a device to keep rainwater from getting into the engines of tractors. The Wachter family is well known for its donations of land to the city of Bismarck. Some of their most notable donations include space for parking lots south of the

Bismarck Civic Center The Bismarck Event Center (formerly Bismarck Civic Center) is a 10,100-seat multi-purpose facility located in Bismarck, North Dakota. It was known as the Bismarck Civic Center until September 2014. Ritterbush Brothers received an Award of Merit f ...

, land for the Wachter Aquatic Center and Schaumberg Ice Arena, and part of the land for Wachter Junior High School and Dorothy Moses School. Besides their commercial enterprises, the Wachter family was helpful in developing several residential areas in Bismarck. Some of their developments include areas south of Lincoln, Cottonwood Lake Estates, and River Place First Addition in

Mandan The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still res ...

.Deena Winter, "Riverside Development nears Final OK," ''Bismarck Tribune,'' June 11, 1992.

Footnotes

External links

"Wachter Family,"
BisManCafe, www.bismancafe.com/ * http://bismarcktribune.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/article_bf2ed05c-94c6-5d87-9805-8fda34e08a2c.html * http://bismarcktribune.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/ann-benrud/article_76e67… {{DEFAULTSORT:Wachter, Charles Politicians from Bismarck, North Dakota 1866 births 1928 deaths