FRIEIDRICH LORENZ KERN

RECOLLECTIONS OF FRANKLIN L. KERN
RE: HISTORY OF FRANKENMUTH, MILLINGTON KERNS
 (Some of this information came from other records)

The Frankenmuth/Millington  F. Lorenz Kern family roots can be traced to Rosstal, Germany in the Province of Bavaria, approximately nine miles southwest of Nuremberg.

In 1852, Johann William Kern, age 16, a miller by trade, emmigrated to Frankenmuth, Michigan.  He was sponsored by John G. Hubinger to work in his flour mill.

Johann William married Sabina Ensenberger.  Since she had no brother to inherit her father’s farm, Johann and Sabina became owners of her father’s farm after his retirement from farming.  The farm was located on Frank Road on the Eastern outskirts of Frankenmuth.

The children of this marriage were as follows:
Peter, Michael, Fred, F. Lorenz, Elizabeth (Unger), and Marie (Kundinger).

After Sabina’s death, Johann married Margaret Auer.  The children from this union were:
 Adam, Matthew, George, Wilhelm, John, Anna (Hecht) and Sabina (Hilbrandt). 

The farm remained in the Kern family throughout the years, subsequently operated by son Adam, then grandson, Arthur and finally great grandson Gilbert, who sold it to Koester Builders. 

THE STORY OF FRIEDRICH LORENZ KERN

He left the farm and was involved in a number of businesses: a cheese maker; grocery store owner; operator of a transportation business hauling goods between Gera, Michigan railroad station and Frankenmuth.

His major business venture in the late 1800’s was the Kern Commercial House.  It was a hotel, boarding house, restaurant, and saloon, which he bought from Henry Rau in November of 1894. Lorenz and his wife operated this hotel until their retirement in August 1943. 

On May 27, 1894 he married Eva Margaretha Hochthanner, who lived on a farm Northwest of  Frankenmuth.  At the hotel she was responsible for cleaning the rooms and preparing daily meals for the boarders and local customers.  It is estimated that the dining room could seat approximately 25 -30 customers.  Credit is given to Mrs. Kern for serving the first “all you can eat” chicken dinners in Frankenmuth.  That first dinner was to a bridal party from Saginaw in 1895:

In 1905 a major building program was finished.  The old frame hotel was moved to the rear, with the front facing South, while a new brick addition was built in its place.  The new and old hotels were joined.  The old frame hotel was renovated to include these rooms on the main floor: the dining room, kitchen, and bed room of Lorenz and “Maggie”.  The new brick addition first floor level had a large bar room on the North side of the building, while the south side had a “sitting room” used for ladies. Adjoining the sitting room was a storage room, where barrels of beer and other items were stored.

The second floor rooms were bedrooms for traveling salesmen and a number of boarders.  An interesting feature was a “dummy waiter” used to haul food upstairs from the bar room.  Lorenz also had a cigar lighter attached to the wall near the dummy waiter which would light when pulled away from the wall.

The basement had the coal furnace and storage room for kegs and bottled beer.  Lorenz’s half-brother, William, was responsible for stoking the furnace and slept on a cot in the basement. (William never married, so his brother gave him a home).

There also were two additional structures on the property.  A garage situated right behind the old frame hotel, and beyond the garage was a large barn, where Lorenz would keep his horse and buggy.  He also had pigeons in the upstairs room of the barn.  They entered the room via a number of cut-out holes.  When he had guests, he would go to the rookery and harvest squabs for dinner.

Each year in Spring, there was a flood causing the basement to be completely flooded.  “Uncle Willie” would have to move upstairs while the hotel was heated by space heaters during that time.

Lorenz managed the hotel and the bar, where locals were served daily.  He kept good records of income and expenses, and even offered loans to poor credit risks, knowing they would never repay them.  ( Lorenz was a kindhearted man).

As he served a customer some beer, he would pour it so gently and then use a plastic knife to cut off the foam.  He would then present the glass of beer to the customer with great pride.  Cost of the glass of beer was five cents.

The bar room ceiling was made of  patterned tin.  Tables had corners where beer glasses could be placed while the patrons played cards.

Each year the nieces and nephew of Lorenz would come to Frankenmuth from Detroit for a week.  They were the children of his sister Elizabeth (Lizzie) and her husband Henry Unger.  The sisters were Anna Wollenzin, Josephine Kolfage, and Caroline Altman and their brother George.

It was said that Indian Dave would frequent the bar.  He was one of the last Indians in the area, who would travel by foot throughout the area and sleep in cornfields at night.

Brothers Jim and Harry had their first jobs at the hotel, helping wash and dry dishes.  The boarders gave them the nicknames of “Swift” and “Speed”.  One can only imagine why they got those nicknames.

I also recall that the Roth family, Ruben and Walter Kern families would eat their Sunday chicken dinners at the hotel, helping with the preparation and cleanup, so that Grandmother Kern could have a day of rest.  A tradition or habit that was practiced at the table was when someone wanted a piece of bread, they needed to clap their hands two times, and whoever was closest to the bread would toss it to the requester.   This practice probably started because most of the Kerns were ballplayers, and in those days the boarder house reach was common.

Lorenz and Maggie had three children, namely,

Elsie Barbara (Roth), born 03/19/1895

Ruben William, born 11/01/1896

Walter John, born 07/26/1898  aka Johann Adam Walter