William H. Kalbach

 
William H. Kalbach, a representative of commercial and financial interests in Oskaloosa, has attained a position of distinctive precedence among the business men whose efforts have contributed to general prosperity as well as individual success. The strong purpose, safe and conservative judgment and guiding will power which are' strong characteristics In his business career contain the secret of his advancement and prosperity. He is one of Oskaloosa's native sons, born in 1858, his parents being Isaac and Christina (Koch) Kalbach, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, and of German lineage. The father, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, is now living in Oskaloosa at the venerable age of eighty-three years, but the mother died in 1897, in the seventy-sixth year of her age.

William H. Kalbach was reared in Oskaloosa and was a public-school student until the age of fifteen years, when he entered the hardware store of Cary Cooper, with whom he remained for six years as a clerk. He next went to New Sharon, where he established the private bank of Kalbach Sons & Company, continuing active in the management of that concern for six years. He then returned to Oskaloosa and en-
tered into partnership with C. Huber under the firm name of Huber & Kalbach. This was in 1885 and in 1890 the Huber & Kalbach Company was organized, which is still in operation, conducting an extensive wholesale and retail hardware business. In fact this is the largest enterprise of the kind in Oskaloosa, and Mr. Kalbach was the active manager until about a year ago, the development and growth of the business being therefore largely attributable to his efforts. In 1895 he succeeded Judge William H. Seevers as president of the Oskaloosa National Bank and is still acting in that capacity. In 1892 the Union Savings Bank was organized with Mr. Kalbach as president and he also remains at the head of this institution. He was one of the promotors of one of the first independent telephone companies in the state of Iowa, known as the Home Telephone Company and was active in its management for six years, when with the other original stockholders, he sold out the business, being unable to give it the time required. It had proved a successful venture in every respect.

In 1884, Mr. Kalbach was united in marriage to Miss Nell Seevers, who was born in Oskaloosa in 1864, and is a daughter of Judge William and Caroline M. (Lee) Seevers. There are now two children: Lee, born in 1888; and Maria, born in 1891. Mrs. Kalbach is a member of the Episcopal church and Mr. Kalbach belongs to the Masonic fraternity and Elks lodge. Wherever found he is a social, genial, affable gentleman, whose friends are legion and all honor and esteem him for his manly virtues and genuine worth. As a man his business ability has been constantly manifested in one phase or another and everything that he undertakes he masters, so that the extensive and important commercial and moneyed concerns with which he has been identified have felt the stimulus of his untiring effort and cooperation and have profited by his keen discernment and sound judgment.