Glatzel Papers

Edward Glatzel (1898 - 1982) was a noted Chaska historian and proprietor of the Glatzel Shoe Shop for 60 years. He was born in Chanhassen Township, one of eight children and a descendent of Wendelin Grimm, the man who developed a strain of alfalfa strong enough to survive the Minnesota winters.

As a young man he spent winters working in his Uncle's harness shop. In 1922 a town shoe repairman quit business and customers asked his Uncle if he would provide the service. He worked from his Uncle's harness shop until 1930 when he moved to the West 2nd street location where he survived poor business during the 1930's to become a Chaska downtown fixture. His shop retained basically the same atmosphere it had from the beginning; most of the shoe repair equipment had been in his shop as long as himself. Through the years he gained a reputation as the town historian keeping shop bound notebooks which contained information about early township and city actions and residents plus obituaries.

The Chaska History Center has one of his shoe repair machines, donated by his family, in its permanent collection.