My Genealogy Hound

Eberhardt B. Schenk, president of the E. B. Schenk Hardware Company, of Mt. Vernon, influential citizen and successful man of affairs, was born near Evansville, Ind., July 10, 1844. He was reared in St. Philip and Mt. Vernon, coming to the latter city with his parents in 1856. His education was acquired in the public schools and his first occupation was that of clerk in the Union Hotel of Mt. Vernon, built and conducted by his father and uncle. He initiated his first commercial venture in 1866, when he engaged in the pump business. In this he was successful. He engaged in the hardware business in 1873, doing business under the style of E. B. Schenk. Under his management this enterprise has grown to be the leading one of its line in Posey county. Mr. Schenk occupies the office of president and his son, John Schenk, that of secretary and treasurer. The company carries a complete line of hardware, plumbing materials, stoves and furnaces, sporting goods, cutlery, and implements. The stock carried represents by far the largest investment of any similar enterprise in the county, is the most comprehensive in assortment, and in point of volume of sales, exceeds by far any competitor in the city. Mr. Schenk is known to the hardware trade as being especially well informed in all the branches and details of the line. As a merchant, he is considered as one of the most successful in his section. He is a citizen of influence, and that influence he has consistently used in the support of those measures which have had for their object the development and betterment of the commercial, civil and religious life of his city and county. He is a Democrat, takes an active interest in the questions of the day, but has never had inclination for public office. He is a member of Mt. Vernon Lodge, No. 277 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and a communicant of the Catholic church. Mr. Schenk married Miss Elizabeth Stahloefer, of Mt. Vernon.