Last week this column shared the life of August Gottlieb Obenland, a pioneer plumber and tinsmith who spent decades in Clay Center. A full version can be found on KCLYradio.com.
The town saw another August Obenland, this one with his middle name spelled Gottlob. Though almost 20 years apart in age, the pair were first cousins, with Other August as the younger. (As was common at the time, the family reused many names.)
The second August was born in 1881 in Germany, one of 10 children. He traveled to the U.S. at 3 years old on the steamship SS Pennland as part of the Red Star line. The family then traveled to Clay Center. Because he was tall, he earned the nickname “The Long August” to differentiate the two.
By 1910, Long August was working at the Great Western, a clothing store in Clay Center. He worked as a clothing merchant much of his life. Later, he purchased the R.M. Lindsey clothing stock, located in the J.M Vincent store on Lincoln Avenue, along with his brother, Albert. (He was named Christian Karl after his father, but went by his second middle name, Albert.) The store was called Obenland Bros., which opened in 1919.
Another of Long August’s jobs was “giving lectures on squirrel hunting.” After organizing a class of “young nimrods,” they met once a week in the “wilds of Five Creeks.” There, Long August taught outdoors and squirrel hunting skills
One of Long August’s sisters, Emma, owned and operated a sewing school. It began in a second-story building in downtown Clay Center in 1916. In 1940, she was working as a sewing teacher at the Clay Center grade school, despite having an 8th-grade education.
In 1918, Long August enlisted in the draft for World War I. At the time he was living in the 400 block of Lane Street, along with his mother. Men up to 45 years of age were required to enlist; Long August would have been around 37 at the time.
By 1921, Long August was working as a dog trainer, raising and selling dogs who competed at a national level. His dog Berwick raced in Tulsa, OK, after he was sold for $500. (Just over $9,000 today.) Their dogs were often successful; a man who ran the dog circuits wrote to tell Long August and his training partner, Chas. Sterling, how their dogs had finished. Smoky Hill Buck won a Tulsa Derby, creating a record for landing three firsts and two second-place finishes. Another dog, Nurse Maid, finished with two first places and two seconds. In 1922, one of his most promising dogs, an Irish import, broke its leg.
Long August’s brothers were plumbers in Manhattan, and they purchased a business in Manhattan, naming it Obenland Brothers Plumbing and Heating. (Older August was also a longtime plumber and trained the Manhattan plumbers before they branched out on their own.)
Long August never married. He died at 45 years old of malaria in Shelby County, Tennessee while on a trip. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
Research by Susan Hammond
