Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022
Joseph Daniel Fischer was born on March 26, 1869, in Carlsruhe, in Carrick Township, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. His parents were Paul Joseph Fischer (1842-1938) and Julianna Boppre Fischer (1847-1910.). They occupied a farm in Canada. When Joseph was two years old, the family moved to Shakopee.
Joseph grew up in Shakopee and attended school here. In 1898, he moved to St. Louis, but two years later Joseph moved back to Shakopee.
In St. Paul, Joseph married Annie Christine Kreger at the Church of St. Agnes on July 25, 1900. Annie Christine Kreger was born June 28, 1871, in Waconia, and died in Shakopee in 1951. Her parents were Andrew Ferdinand Kreger (1839-1916) and Mary Ann Moormann Kreger (1845-1916).
Joseph and Annie took up residence in Shakopee, where they had four children: Evelyn Margaret Fischer Strunk, Beaty Anna Beatrice Fischer, Cyrus Joseph Fischer, and Joseph Daniel Fischer.
Joseph opened the Shakopee Stone Works. In an article in the Scott County Argus on August 4, 1898, Joe, along with John Ring, worked to turn out blocks of cement at the rate of a hundred a day. “Everything at the works has been arranged to give the greatest convenience, and the way that the cement blocks are turning out from the mould show that the firm knows its business.” The Shakopee Stone Works was in what is now the library block in downtown Shakopee. “Out in the drying lot are rows of several hundred blocks now going through the ‘sweat’ while on the drying racks within are those of later manufacture. In another place is a section of walk laid to show the appearance of the finished pavement.
“The blocks are made square, 18 inches in size, and in octagons. The colors are white and slate.”
While in St. Louis, Joseph learned the science of the work from people in the cement stone works. The firm let people know that they could put down the walk for ninety cents a yard, or furnish the blocks for sixty cents a yard.
In another article in the Shakopee Tribune on November 18, 1904, Joseph and his brother-in-law L.G. Hoffmann of St. Paul leased the building belong to the Conter estate on Lewis Street (formerly occupied by Joseph Spindler) and were in the process of opening a meat market. Hoffmann was an experienced butcher and would be in charge of the shop.
Joseph was an industrious man who loved his work. In fact, this love of work, an admirable quality of character, brought on his untimely death, according to the Scott County Argus on November 28, 1929. He recently had some health problems and so was not permitted to carry on the labor. But Joseph did not give in to the demands of health. Ten days before he died, Joseph was engaged in the construction of a chimney on a residence in Shakopee.
“It was while he was making an examination of the work which had risen about a foot above the roof of the dwelling, that he fell about sixteen feet from the roof to the ground,” said the newspaper. “His limbs were severely injured and he sustained a fractured skull. The latter proved fatal and death occurred on November 25 at 5:45 a.m.”
Joseph Daniel Fischer’s service was at St. Mark’s Catholic Church, with Father Savs officiating. He was interred at the Catholic Cemetery on Tenth Avenue.
Bibliography
Scott County Argus, 4 Aug. 1898.
Scott County Argus, 28 Nov. 1929.
Shakopee Tribune, 18 Nov. 1904.