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CHARLES I. GROBLEBE. Springfield has long been noted for a lumber center, and ever since the days of the Civil war large yards have been located here, and this line has been one of the leading assets of the city, which is a distributing point for the vast Ozark lumber region, and. although much of both the pine and hardwood forests have been denuded of their best trees, in southern Missouri, the lumber business here has not abated, but the supply of lumber is obtained in more remote sections of the country, for the most part. One of the most successful of the younger lumbermen here is Charles I. Groblebe, whose place of business is located on South Campbell street.
Mr. Groblebe was born October 2, 1879, in Carroll county, Arkansas. He is a son of Charles and Mary (Mitchell) Groblebe. The father was born in March, 1844, in Germany, from which country he emigrated to the United States in his youth and settled in St. Louis. He served in a Missouri regiment in the Confederate army during the Civil war. After the war he went to Arkansas and engaged in the lumber business at Eureka Springs, and became a well known lumberman throughout northwestern Arkansas. He is now 71 years of age and is still active. His wife, Mary Mitchell, was born August 24, 1950, and reared in Arkansas, and her death occurred September 12, 1883 when our subject was four years of age. He has three brothers, namely: George was born April 4, 1870, lives in Arkansas; Earl was born July 7, 1879, and lives in Elgin, Washington; Edward, born August 6, 1881, is employed on the Missouri &.Northern railroad.
Charles I. Groblebe grew to manhood in Arkansas and when a boy he worked with his father in the sawmill or on a farm, and he received his early education in the public schools of his native state. He was a poor boy and fought his way up from the bottom, and he is deserving of a great deal of credit for what he has accomplished in the face of obstacles that would have discouraged many. He had to work hard when a boy, often in severe winter weather, when scantily clad, and he attended school only three months of the year. He came to Springfield, Missouri, in 1902, and in order to better equip himself for the battle of life, took a course in the Queen City Business College, remaining there a year, after which he worked two years in the local lumber yards, the meanwhile mastering the various phases of the lumber business, and in 1905 he went into the business for, himself, and prospered from the first, his success growing with advancing years until today he is one of the widely known lumbermen of southwest Missouri. He is one of the few in this line who own their own property where their yards and buildings are located, and is the only dealer in Greene county owning an auto truck for the delivery of lumber. He carries a thirty thousand-dollar stock, which is extensive and complete, and he aims at prompt and honest service whoever he deals with.
Mr. Groblebe was married in 1906 to Kate Brown, who was born, reared and educated in Springfield. She is a daughter of Thomas Brown and Mahalia (Stutzman) Brown. She is one of three children, the other two being Alberta and Frank.
Two children have been born to our subject and wife, namely: Katherine, born May 5, 1907; and Annabell, born August 2, 1913.
Politically Mr. Goblebe is a Democrat. He is a member of the Springfield Club, and is a member of the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian Association and Young Men's Business Club. Fraternally he belongs to the Free and Accepted Masons, and is a Knight Templar. He is an active member of the South Street Christian church, and has been a member of the official board of the same since 1907. He teaches the largest adult woman's Sunday school class in Springfield. He is a man of genial personality and is popular in the circles in which he moves.
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