These stories can also be heard on Sunday mornings around 10 am on WILD 102’s “Look Back in Time” program. Each week’s radio story will be posted here on our website.
Weekly radio stories are researched, compiled, and read by Sheila Winstead, RCHS Board Member.
June 16, 2024
Last week we started telling you about Lester B. Hartz, who had several grocery stores in Roseau
County in the 1920s. This story was published in the book “Remembrances” and was written by
Hazel Wahlberg with Mr. Hartz’s approval.
We ended last week’s storytelling about a trip to Lake of the Woods hosted by Mr. Hartz for his
friends and employees from the five stores he had started in Roseau County. His business grew
and his generosity continued.
It was in the sixth store opened in 1931 at Labree and 2nd Street in Thief River Falls that the
central office was established. J. H. Winjum was hired as manager. Already plans were made for
a seventh store. A fleet of Dodge trucks was purchased – a far cry from the horse and wagon
days to the thirty-four White diesel-powered units that now served the large Hartz operation
When L. B. Hartz and Harriet Lamson of St. Paul held their wedding reception in 1936,
representatives from stores at Roseau, Bagley, Ross, Warroad, McIntosh, Stephen, Greenbush,
Crookston, Warren, East Grand Forks, Baudette, Williams, Karlstad, Fosston, Kennedy, Shelley,
Bemidji, Argyle, New York Mills, Newfolden, and St Thomas, Larrimore, and Grafton, North
Dakota were present.
Another milestone in the Hartz operation occurred when the new Hartz supermarket was opened
in Thief River Falls in 1943. Now the owner could point with pride to the one hundred successful
stores in one hundred communities in the northwest. The large warehouse, built three years
earlier, was the scene of much activity with incoming and outgoing cars and trucks of foodstuffs.
As with any large operation, the businesses were not without their share of problems. A lawsuit,
a few truck accidents, and a fire at Bemidji caused some special concerns, yet on the thirtieth
anniversary, the announcement was made that the business had passed the five million mark
with one hundred and fifty stores that were independently owned and operated. Sixty-seven
employees staffed the home office and warehouse.
The Hartz Foundation was the sole owner of L. B. Hartz, Inc. until October 1977, when Congress
passed legislation making it illegal for charitable foundations to own or control a mercantile
business. Promptly, L. B. Hartz approached the retailers of the stores to offer them a wholesale
functioning cooperative. The earnings representing their interest in the wholesale were to be
allocated annually to the retailers, and the funds were to be used to pay their
indebtedness to the Hartz Foundation. The interest on the unpaid portion of this
indebtedness plus incomes from Foundation investments provided funds for the charitable
gifts of the Hartz Foundation. The Roseau County Historical Society has been a recipient of several Hartz Foundation grants.
At the time this story was published, Mr. Harry Simmons was the longtime director and secretary
of the Hartz Foundation. The emphasis for the distribution of funds remains on educational
scholarships, but funds for other types of public improvement are included, such as ambulances,
fire equipment, athletic scoreboards, street signs, hospital and nursing home improvements, Boy
Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H organizations, church improvements, and Senior Citizen groups.
In recognition of this great benefactor, an L. B. Hartz Park has been established in Thief River
Falls, south of Main Street, between the armory and the Red Lake River. It is used for picnics or
local entertainment.
A degree of Occupational Proficiency, dated May 11, 1975, was awarded to Mr. Hartz from the Area Vocational Technical Institute.
His Foundation continues to benefit many people and organizations to this day, including Roseau County Historical Society.
Thank you to 
(www.roseauonline.com) for letting us share our county’s history with your listeners by donating air time, studio time, and production staff every week.