George Knapp and Knapp Dressed Beef

George J. Knapp, Sr. was born in Germany in 1849, and settled in Sandusky in 1867. Mr. Knapp started a meat business on Decatur Street in 1870. By 1886 Knapp had  moved his business to Camp Street. A listing in the 1898 Sandusky City Directory stated that George Knapp was a wholesale and retail dealer in fresh, salt, and smoked meats and sausages of all kinds. The meat market was at 509 Market Street  and the Knapp family resided at 522 Camp Street. In the early 1900s, the business was known as the People’s Meat Market.

   

In 1904 the name of the business became the Knapp Dressed Beef Company, with George Knapp,Sr. serving as president; Charles Knapp, vice president; and Emma Knapp, secretary-treasurer; and George J. Knapp, Jr. as assistant manager.

        

A newspaper advertisement from the Sandusky Star Journal of July 31, 1911, stated that employees at Knapp Dressed Beef  did their own slaughtering of livestock, so that the meat they sold was absolutely fresh.

George J. Knapp, Sr. continued in the family business until his retirement in 1922. Mr. Knapp passed away on September 17, 1926. He was survived by four sons and four daughters. Mrs. Barbara Knapp had predeceased her husband in 1909. Funeral services for George J. Knapp, Sr. were held at the Charles J. Andres Sons’ Funeral Home, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery. An obituary for George J. Knapp, Sr. is found in the 1926 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library.