New Dundee’s story lives on in Kavelman’s photos
Every community should have had a Herman Kavelman.
Luckily for New Dundee, Herman spent most of his life in that Wilmot Township village. He was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, in July 1882 on the eve of the family’s departure for Canada. A few years later, Gottlieb Bettschen was erecting the Jubilee Block in New Dundee, named to honour Queen Victoria’s 50th year on the throne. Over the first 20 years, several merchants sold dry goods and groceries from Bettschen’s building — including Joseph U. Clemens, Jacob Kriesel and Alvan C. Clemens. In 1899, Kriesel hired a 16-year-old apprentice who, 11 years later, had not only married Jacob’s sister, Millie May, but purchased the business.
For the next 60-plus years, New Dundee’s centre of life was Herman Kavelman’s store. Herman was more than a shopkeeper — fire chief, librarian, clock repairman, leader of the store’s hot stove gossip group ... and photographer. He and his camera seemed to be all over town preserving images of people, homes, construction, vehicles, celebrations, disasters — in short, all the things that make up a community’s story. Many of these photos he issued as postcards in the early decades of the century. Some 300-plus of his glass negatives, many from the 1900-1930 era, have survived and are in the Township of Wilmot Archives. However, they took a circuitous route.
Herman died in 1977 at age 95 but, four decades on, remains an oft-talked-about New Dundee personality. Six years earlier, retiring from the store (and selling it) he auctioned off his goods, including his photographic legacy. Wilmot native (but Windsor resident) Clarence Howling purchased Herman’s cameras and glass negative collection. Clarence passed away, and his son Ralph felt the archive should return to New Dundee. His cousin, Gordon Howling, operated the village’s longtime service station, Howling’s Garage, and accepted the gift. After Gordon’s passing, his son John contacted New Dundee teacher and local historian Marilyn Sararus for advice on a long-term solution. Sararus and other local history people in Wilmot worked for years to identify the scenes and people shown in Kavelman’s rich archive. Eventually, John Howling transferred the negatives to the Township of Wilmot Archives at Castle Kilbride. It is a happy historical story because far too often the end to such collections has been: “Oh, we threw them out. Didn’t think anyone would want them.”
A few of Kavelman’s negatives were of photos which he did not personally take. The Vollmar and Kraus scene dates from mid-1887, when Herman was just five years old. Morell’s Liquor Store, at left, and the Vollmar and Krauss temporary location were both primitive frame structures but, according to the sign, V and K was about to open a new substantial general store. The firm’s delivery wagon has a full load and the horse is eager to leave the picture.
For about five years before Herman Kavelman took over, Alvan C. Clemens was the proprietor. Photographed behind his store between 1906 and 1910, his sleek new wagon boasts a fine pair of horses to speed deliveries to New Dundee homes.
The third scene is on Main Street. Two nicely turned-out horses are ready to either deliver to customers or rush the week’s purchases home. The wagon at left features rolled-up side awnings and a rather surly preteen. The latter two photos were taken by Herman Kavelman in the early years of the 20th century. All photos are courtesy of the Township of Wilmot Archives.