Businessmen Anthony and Mat Schlitz had nephews who operated the Schiltz Meat Market in Clay Center. The business was started by brothers Michael Matthew (Mike) and John Mathias (Mat) who operated at 421 Lincoln. (The eastern portion of today’s Central Office.)
Mike and Mat’s father, Nicholas Sr. came to the U.S. from Luxembourg with his wife, Mary, who was from the Netherlands. They had four sons when they immigrated, and a fifth in Kansas. Mat was born in 1867 and 9 when his family moved to the U.S. Mike was born in 1875.
The brothers opened Schiltz Meat Market as early as 1904 and ran it together, selling fresh-caught fish and other meats that they butchered themselves. They were married to sisters, Josephine and Mary Harrison. Mat and Mary had four children live to adulthood, the youngest born when Mat was 41.
Mike and Josephine had one child grow into adulthood. Both helped charter the First State Savings Bank in 1905. That same year, Mike built a home at 808 Court, just a few doors east of the Catholic Church. There he hosted his nephew’s wedding reception with a “bounteous dinner.”
In 1909 the home saw a “ball of fire” lightning around 5 am, which took place during an electrical storm. It burned a hole in the kitchen floor. In November of 1905, multiple meat markets printed that they would close on Sundays between December through April 1, 1906, including Schiltz, People’s Meat Market, JG Mugler Meat Market, and City Meat Market.
Newspapers reported multiple incidents with the Meat Market delivery horse. Once the driver was thrown from his seat when the cart tipped over. In 1908 the horse made a “sudden and unauthorized turn” and the driver jumped to safety, landing in the mud.
The horse collided with the Kennedy Pop Corn Stand, which sat at the base of the alley. The stand was splintered and the horse suffered a skinned knee. In 1911 there was a report of Mat purchasing the Freeze Meat Market of Holton, however, the family did not relocate and instead, he opened a grocery store/meat market in Wakefield, which he operated for more than 20 years.
In 1912, the Meat Market received a new steel ceiling, which was placed by Vincent Hardware, owned by a relative’s brother. In 1917, Mike offered a $10 reward for anyone who had evidence about the theft of a saw from his slaughterhouse. (Just over $253 today.)
Upstairs, offices were rented by SE Keener, the traveling man with Case Plow Works and attorney George Davis.
In 1920 the Schiltz Clay Center location advertised roast beef for .18¢, steak .28¢, and bologna .20¢. ($2.92, $4.54, and $3.24 today, respectively.) Mike continued to run the Clay Center location until early 1923; he died in 1945. In 1935, Mat purchased a farm in Morganville, which he worked for many years before moving to Clay Center. He died in 1967. The family is buried in the Catholic section of Greenwood Cemetery.
