Louis Chladek, born on February 22, 1852, in Bohemia, Germany, immigrated to the United States at fourteen. He initially settled in Chicago, working in a furniture factory, before moving westward. By 1869, he reached Dakota Territory, where he pre-empted land near Yankton. Overcoming numerous challenges, he established a successful farming and business career, partnering with his brother in agricultural implement sales. By 1900, Chladek had accumulated significant land holdings and retired in Tyndall, South Dakota. In 1882, he married Louisa Vyborny, and they had four children. Chladek was a dedicated Democrat, a prominent Mason, and a respected community member.
Louis Chladek is a native of Bohemia, Germany, where he was born on the 22d of February, 1852, a son of Joseph and Anna Chladek. He secured his early educational discipline in the schools of his native place and remained at the parental home until he had attained the age of fourteen years when he set forth to face the stern battles of life on his own responsibility. He emigrated to the United States, whither he came as a stranger in a strange land, while he was further handicapped by the fact that he was unfamiliar with the language of the country. His determination, energy, and self-reliance stood him well in hand, as the story of his future career well indicates. After his arrival in the United States, he proceeded to the city of Chicago, where he joined his older brother, Frank, who had come to the new world some time previously. He arrived in the western metropolis with but fifteen dollars in cash and soon secured employment in a furniture factory, where he learned the trade of cabinet making, to which he continued to devote his attention for about five years, continuing his residence in Chicago until the 1st of May, 1869, when he started for the west. He finally arrived in Niobrara, Nebraska, where he remained about two months, leaving that point on the 3d of July and continuing his westward journey to the territory of Dakota, having crossed the river and made his advent in Yankton on the evening of July 4th. There he was employed in a furniture store for about a fortnight, at the expiration of which he proceeded to a point ten miles west of Yankton and there took a pre-emption claim for himself and also one for his brother Frank.
In preparation for establishing himself as a western farmer in the new country, he purchased a team of oxen for one hundred and seventy-five dollars, a wagon for one hundred and ten dollars, a breaking plow for thirty-five dollars, and a cow for sixty-five dollars. It may be noted in the connection that his cow proved somewhat wayward and independent since the second day after she came into his possession, she took the liberty of starting forth on a predatory excursion of her own, and Mr. Chladek was compelled to make a journey to a point sixteen miles distant before he could recover his property. On his ranch, he built a small shanty of cottonwood lumber, and also a small enclosure in which to keep his livestock. He then set himself to the task of breaking his land and making it ready for future cultivation. It is needless to say that these initial experiences were novel ones to him since he had never before seen a breaking plow or milked a cow. He broke about five acres on his claim and the same amount for his brother, and in September he began securing his crop of hay, utilizing a scythe to cut the same, this likewise being an implement which he had never before handled, and from the long grass, he built the winter shelter for his cattle. With financial assistance from his brother, he weathered the winter storms without great discomfort, and in the spring he constructed a harrow and seeded the ten acres with wheat. The season proved a dry one and the crop failed. In the autumn Mr. Chladek returned to Chicago, where he passed the winter, returning to his claim in the spring. The summer of 1871 brought disaster to the crops owing to a visitation from the grasshoppers, and our subject thus passed the ensuing winter in Chicago, where he worked at his trade, as he had done the winter before, utilizing the money thus earned to carry him through the summers on his farm. The grasshoppers again devastated the country in the summer of 1873, and though the outlook was none too encouraging Mr. Chladek was not disheartened, and he passed the winter of that year in Dakota, and he had duly profited by his experiences and gained valuable knowledge regarding the best methods to be employed in connection with the improvement and cultivation of his land. The following summer he harvested a good crop, and from that time forward his efforts were attended with definite success.
In 1879 Mr. Chladek was employed by the firm of Bramble & Miner in setting up harvesters through this section of South Dakota, and in the following year he entered into partnership with his brother Frank, who had taken up his residence here, and engaged in the sale of farming implements and machinery, with headquarters in the city of Yankton. Two years later, after the railroad had been completed through the town of Scotland, Bon Homme county, they removed their business headquarters to that point and there they built up a large and prosperous enterprise. Four years later they established a branch house in Tyndall, the county seat of the same county, and the partnership thereafter continued until 1900, when it was dissolved by mutual consent, the brother of our subject finding it expedient to give his undivided attention to his large real-estate interests in Yankton county. Our subject then removed the Scotland stock to Tyndall, where he continued the enterprise successfully until 1902, when he disposed of the same and has since lived retired, though his real-estate and capitalistic interests are such as to afford him ample scope for his energies. He is the owner of three thousand acres of land in Bon Homme county, three hundred and twenty acres in Atchison county, three hundred and twenty in Campbell county, four hundred and eighty in McPherson county, and three hundred and twenty in Nebraska, and thus it may be seen that he is one of the extensive landholders of the state, having attained a high degree of success through his own efforts, while he has so ordered his life as to commend himself to the unqualified confidence and regard of all who know him, being one of the honored pioneers of the territory and state. His land in South Dakota is as fine agricultural land as to be found in the confines of the state, and the major portion of the same is under a high state of cultivation and well improved. He still retains his home in Tyndall, where, in 1897, he erected one of the most attractive residences in the town, and he has on the premises a private artesian well, which proves a most valuable accessory. In his beautiful home, he may look back upon the labors and difficulties of the pioneer days and congratulate himself upon the steadfastness of purpose which caused him to remain in this section and to profit in the development of a great commonwealth, of which he may be consistently termed one of the founders and builders. He is signally loyal to the state in which he has so long made his home and is public-spirited and zealous in promoting its welfare. In politics, he renders allegiance to the Democratic party, and while he has never been ambitious for public office he was the nominee of his party for state treasurer in 1902, meeting defeat with the remainder of the ticket. He is one of the influential citizens of the state and is quoted as one of the most substantial capitalists of the section in which he maintains his home. Mr. Chladek is an appreciative member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity and is one of its prominent figures in South Dakota. He is affiliated with Bon Homme Lodge, No. 101, Free and Accepted Masons, and the various other bodies of the York Rite, while he has also taken the Scottish Rite degrees, being identified with Yankton Consistory, No. 1, while he is also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Sioux Falls. He is one of the trustees of the Yankton Masonic temple and was one of the leading spirits in the promotion of its erection, having been a member of the building committee, in which connection his name appears with others on the cornerstone of the fine structure.
In 1882 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Chladek to Miss Louisa Vyborny, of Bon Homme county, and of their four children we incorporate the following data: Emma is a student in Rockford College, at Rockford, Illinois; Louis is attending a business college in Sioux Falls; and Bessie and an infant remain at the parental home. The family is held in the highest esteem in Tyndall and the attractive home is a center of unalloyed hospitality and good cheer.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.