Shugart, Eli L. (1836-1908)

SHUGART

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 1/20/2009 at 20:43:38

Eli Lodge Shugart
Feb 26, 1836 - June 18, 1908

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.52, Council Bluffs)
E. L. Shugart, of the Shugart Implement Company of Council Bluffs, is unquestionably among the first of that class of citizens to whome the "Bluffs City' owes much of her prosperity. He became a resident of the city in 1868, and in 1869, January 1st, he began selling agricultural implements. His chances of success were no better than those of many other who have undertaken the same business and failed under equally favorable circumstances. The opening of the business was under the firm name of Shugart & Lininger, and was continued by this firm until 1873, when Mr. F. Weis was admitted as a member of the firm. In 1875, the firm again changed, and Mr. E. L. Shugart became successor of the old firm. He conducted the business alone, until September of 1880, when the Shugart Implement Company was formed. The building occupied by them was begun in the fall of 1880, and finished in the spring of 1881. It is fifty feet frontage by one hundred feet deep and three stories and basement. This company is considered one of the leading business firms of the city. In 1871, Mr. Shugart was the principal founder of the Council Bluffs Agricultural Works and continued a member of the company until the works were burned in 1877. He was Vice President of the First National Bank of Council Bluffs for a number of years, and when the Citizens' Bank was organized in the summer of 1882,, became Vice President of that bank. In 1871, he was elected a member of the City Council, holding the office four years by re-election and in 1877 he was elected a member of the County Board of Supervisors for a three years' term. In the spring of 1882, he was again elected a member of the City Council, and is at present discharging the duties pertaining to that office. He is a member of the order of A., F. & A. M. and of the following lodges: Excelsior Blue Lodge, Star Chapter and Ivanhoe Commandery. Such is briefly the career of Mr. Shugart as a public and business man. He was born in 1836, in Franklin County, Ohio, and in 1850 became a resident of Bureau County, Ill. He was educated at Vermilion Institute of Haysville, Ohio, and at Smith Seminary of Princeton, Bureau Co., Ill. September 20, 1860, he was married to Miss A. R. Donning, a native of Bureau County, Ill., and who was educated at Mount Carroll Seminary. They have two children living, both boys, aged respectively, nine and sixteen years.