The Roseville General Store will be moved from the location where it has stood for more than 100 years to the Cedar Valley Engine Club grounds near Charles City.  In front of the store are Al Koenigsfeld (left) of Charles City, and his sister, Pat (Koenigsfeld) Schmitt, of Rockford, and Steve Montag of Nora Springs, treasurer of the Cedar Valley Engine Club.  Koenigsfeld and Schmitt are two of the 11 children of former store owners Lawrence and Marcella Koenigsfeld. 

 

Donations sought to restore building

 

The Koenigsfeld family and the Cedar Valley Engine Club are seeking donations of money to help with restoration of the Roseville General Store, as well as items sold at the store, photos and stories.

 

Tax deductible donations may be made to the Cedar Valley Engine Club, with Roseville Store written in the memo section of the check, and sent to Al Koenigsfeld, 3124 230th St., Charles City, IA 50616.  He can be reached by phone at 641-228-1946.  For more information, visit www.restorerosevillestore.com

By MARY PIEPER, mary.pieper@globegazette.com

 

ROSEVILLE — The Roseville General Store, which has been closed for the past 30 years, soon will be moved from the spot where it has stood for more than 100 years.

When it reaches its new home at the Cedar Valley Engine Club grounds, it will be restored to look the way it did back when you could buy everything there from livestock feed and tires to a bottle of pop that only cost a nickel.

“We would like to save some of that history,” said Al Koenigsfeld of Charles City, one of the 11 children of former store owners Lawrence and Marcella Koenigsfeld.

Jake Keifer had the store built and opened it in 1903 in the unincorporated community near Charles City, known as Roseville.

It was sold two years later to Bill Hageman and two years after that it was sold to John Sinwell Jr.

The Sinwells closed the store in 1910 and used the building as a home for John Sinwell’s parents.

Peter and Dora Koenigsfeld bought the building in 1932 and turned it into a store again.

Their son, Lawrence, and his wife, Marcella, eventually took over the store. The family lived in a house across the road from the store.

All the Koenigsfeld children spent time working there while growing up.

During the summer months the store remained open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The store was open on Sunday mornings so people could stop and get groceries after attending Mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church across the road. Then it would close until 4 p.m. and remain open until 8 p.m. or until business slowed down.

 

Building will be moved to Cedar Valley Engine Club grounds

Al said what he remembers most about the store is all the people who came in.  “There were some real characters that came and shopped here,” he said.  The store also was a gathering place for people to get together and chat.

Al’s wife, Mary Koenigsfeld, said in the evenings the older siblings would try to get the younger ones to go to sleep so they could slip over to the store and hear some grown-up conversation.

The store used to have a couple of gas pumps outside. “It was the original convenience store,” Al said.  The store closed in 1968.  Ron Holland House moving of Forest City will move the store to the Cedar Valley Engine Club grounds sometime within the next few weeks.

Steve Montag, club treasurer, said the store will make a nice addition to the site because the club is devoted to preserving the past.  The club will put in a new foundation for the building.  In addition to giving the outside of the store a new coat of paint, the Koenigsfelds will furnish the inside.

Although the building has been empty for many years, the family still has some of the items that used to be in it, such as a cash register.

The Koenigsfelds also are seeking donations of other items that resemble the originals.

Members of the Cedar Valley Engine Club hope to have the store open during its annual three-day show on Labor Day weekend and sell ice cream cones or candy there, just like in the old days.