Founded ARBAUGH Department Store in Lansing in 1906 ("F.N. Arbaugh Co."). The Arbaugh building is one of the largest in Lansing.
Also Founded the Capital Area United Way foundation in Lansing.
The State Journal
Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan, Sunday, March 6, 1955
F. N. ARBAUGH, PIONEER MERCHANT HERE, DIES
Civic Leader, 82, Succumbs at His Home
Frank N. Arbaugh, 82, founder of one of Lansing's largest department stores and dean of the city's retail merchants, died at 9 p.m. Saturday night at his home at 439 S. Verlinden ave.
He founded the F. N. Arbaugh company and as its president and general manager directed it as it became one of Lansing's most prominent retail institutions. He was chairman of the board at the time of his death.
His death ended a long and colorful career in which he started work here before the turn of the century as a clerk in a small store and rose to a position of prominence in the business world.
Mr. Arbaugh had been in failing health for several years but was alert to changing conditions and enjoyed daily walks throughout the business section which he saw develop from its infancy.
A native of Johnstown, Pa., Mr. Arbaugh spent his youth on a farm in Westmoreland county, Pa., and then moved to Indiana, Pa., where he was graduated from the Indiana State Normal school in 1893.
After leaving school he found that jobs were scarce because of the historic panic of 1893. He taught school for a short time and when that ended he drove a contractor's team engaged in rehabilitating his home city of Johnstown after most of that town had been swept away by the historic flood.
In 1896 Mr. Arbaugh came to Lansing and obtained a job as clerk at $20 a month in the small dry goods store of J. M. Cameron which occupied one room with a 22 foot frontage on Washington ave. near Kalamazoo st. Eight months later in April, 1897, he purchased half interest in the store, which had a total inventory of approximately $3,000.
Skyline Forerunner
Under the name of Cameron and Arbaugh the business grew and two years later occupied a 66-foot frontage on the avenue. In 1902 another great step in expansion was achieved and the department store became the forerunner of a new skyline that transformed Lansing from a village into a thriving industrial city.
The firm purchased the southeast corner of Kalamazoo st. and Washington ave. where the famous old Octagon house, which many Lansingites remember, had stood for years. In 1904 the Octagon house was moved a half block east on Kalamazoo st. and the following year construction work was started on an imposing five-story structure, which, when completed, towered above all of the one and two story buildings that made up the city's business district.
In 1906 the F. N. Arbaugh company was incorporated and the name of Cameron was dropped from the business. In 1915 a five-story addition was built to the south of the original structure giving the company a frontage of 132 feet along Washington ave.
Always alert to change and economic conditions, Mr. Arbaugh was vitally concerned with the high cost of living that followed World War I. In 1918 he conceived the idea of a self-serve grocery where prices could be kept at the lowest possible figure on foodstuffs. Since then the self-serve grocery idea has spread all over the land, but the Lansing merchant was one of the real pioneers in this field.
Watched City Grow
Probably no other man in the retail business of this community took a greater interest and played a more active part in its civic and industrial growth than did Frank Arbaugh. He was at times associated with such businesses and organizations as the old Auto Wheel company (now part of the Motor Wheel corporation), the Reo Motor Car company, Lansing company, Federal Finance company, Industrial bank, Lansing Stamping company, Hotel Olds Building company, Capital Furniture company, Barker-Fowler Electric company, the Chamber of Commerce, Merchants association, Community Chest fund and many others.
As Lansing grew, Mr. Arbaugh often recalled in recent years how he watched Washington ave. from his corner office on the third floor of the Arbaugh building. From this vantage point he saw the one and two-story frame buildings pass into history. He took pride in watching the skyline change with the coming of such structures as the Masonic temple, Hotel Olds, Prudden building, Bank of Lansing building, Olds Tower building, J. W. Knapp's new store, and others.
From his office window he saw the mud streets of the early part of the century replaced with brick as the horseless carriage and later the modern automobile and truck shoved horse drawn vehicles into the background. He witnessed the coming of the city's first street car and its passing into oblivion when motor coaches became the city's chief transportation.
Mr. Arbaugh grew up with Lansing and his name has been a household word in central Michigan for many years. On October 5, 1946, he was honored by the Lansing Rotary club of which he was a charter member. At that time his fellow citizens paid tribute to his contribution to the community over a period of nerly a half century.
When his son, George, succeeded him as president and general manager, Mr. Arbaugh became chairman of the board. He continued as board chairman and George as a director, when Frank Knapp became president and general manager.
Survivors include his widow, Mattie; a son, George; two daughters, Mrs. Richard B. Foster and Mrs. Guy Shumway of Lansing; five grandsons and two granddaughters, Frank Shumway, Louise Shumway and George H. Arbaugh, Jr., of Lansing, Richard Foster, Jr., at Dartmouth, Walter S. Foster at Cranbrook, Mrs. Harry Asby of Houston, Tex., and Frank Edward Arbaugh in Colorado; five great-grandchildren, and two sisters, Mrs. Sarah McGahan of Youngstown, Pa., and Mrs. Bertha Griffith of Ligonier, Pa.
The body is at the Estes-Leadley funeral home.
(Information supplied by Find A Grave contributor Jacob M. (#47454866)).
Also Founded the Capital Area United Way foundation in Lansing.
The State Journal
Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan, Sunday, March 6, 1955
F. N. ARBAUGH, PIONEER MERCHANT HERE, DIES
Civic Leader, 82, Succumbs at His Home
Frank N. Arbaugh, 82, founder of one of Lansing's largest department stores and dean of the city's retail merchants, died at 9 p.m. Saturday night at his home at 439 S. Verlinden ave.
He founded the F. N. Arbaugh company and as its president and general manager directed it as it became one of Lansing's most prominent retail institutions. He was chairman of the board at the time of his death.
His death ended a long and colorful career in which he started work here before the turn of the century as a clerk in a small store and rose to a position of prominence in the business world.
Mr. Arbaugh had been in failing health for several years but was alert to changing conditions and enjoyed daily walks throughout the business section which he saw develop from its infancy.
A native of Johnstown, Pa., Mr. Arbaugh spent his youth on a farm in Westmoreland county, Pa., and then moved to Indiana, Pa., where he was graduated from the Indiana State Normal school in 1893.
After leaving school he found that jobs were scarce because of the historic panic of 1893. He taught school for a short time and when that ended he drove a contractor's team engaged in rehabilitating his home city of Johnstown after most of that town had been swept away by the historic flood.
In 1896 Mr. Arbaugh came to Lansing and obtained a job as clerk at $20 a month in the small dry goods store of J. M. Cameron which occupied one room with a 22 foot frontage on Washington ave. near Kalamazoo st. Eight months later in April, 1897, he purchased half interest in the store, which had a total inventory of approximately $3,000.
Skyline Forerunner
Under the name of Cameron and Arbaugh the business grew and two years later occupied a 66-foot frontage on the avenue. In 1902 another great step in expansion was achieved and the department store became the forerunner of a new skyline that transformed Lansing from a village into a thriving industrial city.
The firm purchased the southeast corner of Kalamazoo st. and Washington ave. where the famous old Octagon house, which many Lansingites remember, had stood for years. In 1904 the Octagon house was moved a half block east on Kalamazoo st. and the following year construction work was started on an imposing five-story structure, which, when completed, towered above all of the one and two story buildings that made up the city's business district.
In 1906 the F. N. Arbaugh company was incorporated and the name of Cameron was dropped from the business. In 1915 a five-story addition was built to the south of the original structure giving the company a frontage of 132 feet along Washington ave.
Always alert to change and economic conditions, Mr. Arbaugh was vitally concerned with the high cost of living that followed World War I. In 1918 he conceived the idea of a self-serve grocery where prices could be kept at the lowest possible figure on foodstuffs. Since then the self-serve grocery idea has spread all over the land, but the Lansing merchant was one of the real pioneers in this field.
Watched City Grow
Probably no other man in the retail business of this community took a greater interest and played a more active part in its civic and industrial growth than did Frank Arbaugh. He was at times associated with such businesses and organizations as the old Auto Wheel company (now part of the Motor Wheel corporation), the Reo Motor Car company, Lansing company, Federal Finance company, Industrial bank, Lansing Stamping company, Hotel Olds Building company, Capital Furniture company, Barker-Fowler Electric company, the Chamber of Commerce, Merchants association, Community Chest fund and many others.
As Lansing grew, Mr. Arbaugh often recalled in recent years how he watched Washington ave. from his corner office on the third floor of the Arbaugh building. From this vantage point he saw the one and two-story frame buildings pass into history. He took pride in watching the skyline change with the coming of such structures as the Masonic temple, Hotel Olds, Prudden building, Bank of Lansing building, Olds Tower building, J. W. Knapp's new store, and others.
From his office window he saw the mud streets of the early part of the century replaced with brick as the horseless carriage and later the modern automobile and truck shoved horse drawn vehicles into the background. He witnessed the coming of the city's first street car and its passing into oblivion when motor coaches became the city's chief transportation.
Mr. Arbaugh grew up with Lansing and his name has been a household word in central Michigan for many years. On October 5, 1946, he was honored by the Lansing Rotary club of which he was a charter member. At that time his fellow citizens paid tribute to his contribution to the community over a period of nerly a half century.
When his son, George, succeeded him as president and general manager, Mr. Arbaugh became chairman of the board. He continued as board chairman and George as a director, when Frank Knapp became president and general manager.
Survivors include his widow, Mattie; a son, George; two daughters, Mrs. Richard B. Foster and Mrs. Guy Shumway of Lansing; five grandsons and two granddaughters, Frank Shumway, Louise Shumway and George H. Arbaugh, Jr., of Lansing, Richard Foster, Jr., at Dartmouth, Walter S. Foster at Cranbrook, Mrs. Harry Asby of Houston, Tex., and Frank Edward Arbaugh in Colorado; five great-grandchildren, and two sisters, Mrs. Sarah McGahan of Youngstown, Pa., and Mrs. Bertha Griffith of Ligonier, Pa.
The body is at the Estes-Leadley funeral home.
(Information supplied by Find A Grave contributor Jacob M. (#47454866)).
Founded ARBAUGH Department Store in Lansing in 1906 ("F.N. Arbaugh Co."). The Arbaugh building is one of the largest in Lansing.
Also Founded the Capital Area United Way foundation in Lansing.
The State Journal
Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan, Sunday, March 6, 1955
F. N. ARBAUGH, PIONEER MERCHANT HERE, DIES
Civic Leader, 82, Succumbs at His Home
Frank N. Arbaugh, 82, founder of one of Lansing's largest department stores and dean of the city's retail merchants, died at 9 p.m. Saturday night at his home at 439 S. Verlinden ave.
He founded the F. N. Arbaugh company and as its president and general manager directed it as it became one of Lansing's most prominent retail institutions. He was chairman of the board at the time of his death.
His death ended a long and colorful career in which he started work here before the turn of the century as a clerk in a small store and rose to a position of prominence in the business world.
Mr. Arbaugh had been in failing health for several years but was alert to changing conditions and enjoyed daily walks throughout the business section which he saw develop from its infancy.
A native of Johnstown, Pa., Mr. Arbaugh spent his youth on a farm in Westmoreland county, Pa., and then moved to Indiana, Pa., where he was graduated from the Indiana State Normal school in 1893.
After leaving school he found that jobs were scarce because of the historic panic of 1893. He taught school for a short time and when that ended he drove a contractor's team engaged in rehabilitating his home city of Johnstown after most of that town had been swept away by the historic flood.
In 1896 Mr. Arbaugh came to Lansing and obtained a job as clerk at $20 a month in the small dry goods store of J. M. Cameron which occupied one room with a 22 foot frontage on Washington ave. near Kalamazoo st. Eight months later in April, 1897, he purchased half interest in the store, which had a total inventory of approximately $3,000.
Skyline Forerunner
Under the name of Cameron and Arbaugh the business grew and two years later occupied a 66-foot frontage on the avenue. In 1902 another great step in expansion was achieved and the department store became the forerunner of a new skyline that transformed Lansing from a village into a thriving industrial city.
The firm purchased the southeast corner of Kalamazoo st. and Washington ave. where the famous old Octagon house, which many Lansingites remember, had stood for years. In 1904 the Octagon house was moved a half block east on Kalamazoo st. and the following year construction work was started on an imposing five-story structure, which, when completed, towered above all of the one and two story buildings that made up the city's business district.
In 1906 the F. N. Arbaugh company was incorporated and the name of Cameron was dropped from the business. In 1915 a five-story addition was built to the south of the original structure giving the company a frontage of 132 feet along Washington ave.
Always alert to change and economic conditions, Mr. Arbaugh was vitally concerned with the high cost of living that followed World War I. In 1918 he conceived the idea of a self-serve grocery where prices could be kept at the lowest possible figure on foodstuffs. Since then the self-serve grocery idea has spread all over the land, but the Lansing merchant was one of the real pioneers in this field.
Watched City Grow
Probably no other man in the retail business of this community took a greater interest and played a more active part in its civic and industrial growth than did Frank Arbaugh. He was at times associated with such businesses and organizations as the old Auto Wheel company (now part of the Motor Wheel corporation), the Reo Motor Car company, Lansing company, Federal Finance company, Industrial bank, Lansing Stamping company, Hotel Olds Building company, Capital Furniture company, Barker-Fowler Electric company, the Chamber of Commerce, Merchants association, Community Chest fund and many others.
As Lansing grew, Mr. Arbaugh often recalled in recent years how he watched Washington ave. from his corner office on the third floor of the Arbaugh building. From this vantage point he saw the one and two-story frame buildings pass into history. He took pride in watching the skyline change with the coming of such structures as the Masonic temple, Hotel Olds, Prudden building, Bank of Lansing building, Olds Tower building, J. W. Knapp's new store, and others.
From his office window he saw the mud streets of the early part of the century replaced with brick as the horseless carriage and later the modern automobile and truck shoved horse drawn vehicles into the background. He witnessed the coming of the city's first street car and its passing into oblivion when motor coaches became the city's chief transportation.
Mr. Arbaugh grew up with Lansing and his name has been a household word in central Michigan for many years. On October 5, 1946, he was honored by the Lansing Rotary club of which he was a charter member. At that time his fellow citizens paid tribute to his contribution to the community over a period of nerly a half century.
When his son, George, succeeded him as president and general manager, Mr. Arbaugh became chairman of the board. He continued as board chairman and George as a director, when Frank Knapp became president and general manager.
Survivors include his widow, Mattie; a son, George; two daughters, Mrs. Richard B. Foster and Mrs. Guy Shumway of Lansing; five grandsons and two granddaughters, Frank Shumway, Louise Shumway and George H. Arbaugh, Jr., of Lansing, Richard Foster, Jr., at Dartmouth, Walter S. Foster at Cranbrook, Mrs. Harry Asby of Houston, Tex., and Frank Edward Arbaugh in Colorado; five great-grandchildren, and two sisters, Mrs. Sarah McGahan of Youngstown, Pa., and Mrs. Bertha Griffith of Ligonier, Pa.
The body is at the Estes-Leadley funeral home.
(Information supplied by Find A Grave contributor Jacob M. (#47454866)).
Also Founded the Capital Area United Way foundation in Lansing.
The State Journal
Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan, Sunday, March 6, 1955
F. N. ARBAUGH, PIONEER MERCHANT HERE, DIES
Civic Leader, 82, Succumbs at His Home
Frank N. Arbaugh, 82, founder of one of Lansing's largest department stores and dean of the city's retail merchants, died at 9 p.m. Saturday night at his home at 439 S. Verlinden ave.
He founded the F. N. Arbaugh company and as its president and general manager directed it as it became one of Lansing's most prominent retail institutions. He was chairman of the board at the time of his death.
His death ended a long and colorful career in which he started work here before the turn of the century as a clerk in a small store and rose to a position of prominence in the business world.
Mr. Arbaugh had been in failing health for several years but was alert to changing conditions and enjoyed daily walks throughout the business section which he saw develop from its infancy.
A native of Johnstown, Pa., Mr. Arbaugh spent his youth on a farm in Westmoreland county, Pa., and then moved to Indiana, Pa., where he was graduated from the Indiana State Normal school in 1893.
After leaving school he found that jobs were scarce because of the historic panic of 1893. He taught school for a short time and when that ended he drove a contractor's team engaged in rehabilitating his home city of Johnstown after most of that town had been swept away by the historic flood.
In 1896 Mr. Arbaugh came to Lansing and obtained a job as clerk at $20 a month in the small dry goods store of J. M. Cameron which occupied one room with a 22 foot frontage on Washington ave. near Kalamazoo st. Eight months later in April, 1897, he purchased half interest in the store, which had a total inventory of approximately $3,000.
Skyline Forerunner
Under the name of Cameron and Arbaugh the business grew and two years later occupied a 66-foot frontage on the avenue. In 1902 another great step in expansion was achieved and the department store became the forerunner of a new skyline that transformed Lansing from a village into a thriving industrial city.
The firm purchased the southeast corner of Kalamazoo st. and Washington ave. where the famous old Octagon house, which many Lansingites remember, had stood for years. In 1904 the Octagon house was moved a half block east on Kalamazoo st. and the following year construction work was started on an imposing five-story structure, which, when completed, towered above all of the one and two story buildings that made up the city's business district.
In 1906 the F. N. Arbaugh company was incorporated and the name of Cameron was dropped from the business. In 1915 a five-story addition was built to the south of the original structure giving the company a frontage of 132 feet along Washington ave.
Always alert to change and economic conditions, Mr. Arbaugh was vitally concerned with the high cost of living that followed World War I. In 1918 he conceived the idea of a self-serve grocery where prices could be kept at the lowest possible figure on foodstuffs. Since then the self-serve grocery idea has spread all over the land, but the Lansing merchant was one of the real pioneers in this field.
Watched City Grow
Probably no other man in the retail business of this community took a greater interest and played a more active part in its civic and industrial growth than did Frank Arbaugh. He was at times associated with such businesses and organizations as the old Auto Wheel company (now part of the Motor Wheel corporation), the Reo Motor Car company, Lansing company, Federal Finance company, Industrial bank, Lansing Stamping company, Hotel Olds Building company, Capital Furniture company, Barker-Fowler Electric company, the Chamber of Commerce, Merchants association, Community Chest fund and many others.
As Lansing grew, Mr. Arbaugh often recalled in recent years how he watched Washington ave. from his corner office on the third floor of the Arbaugh building. From this vantage point he saw the one and two-story frame buildings pass into history. He took pride in watching the skyline change with the coming of such structures as the Masonic temple, Hotel Olds, Prudden building, Bank of Lansing building, Olds Tower building, J. W. Knapp's new store, and others.
From his office window he saw the mud streets of the early part of the century replaced with brick as the horseless carriage and later the modern automobile and truck shoved horse drawn vehicles into the background. He witnessed the coming of the city's first street car and its passing into oblivion when motor coaches became the city's chief transportation.
Mr. Arbaugh grew up with Lansing and his name has been a household word in central Michigan for many years. On October 5, 1946, he was honored by the Lansing Rotary club of which he was a charter member. At that time his fellow citizens paid tribute to his contribution to the community over a period of nerly a half century.
When his son, George, succeeded him as president and general manager, Mr. Arbaugh became chairman of the board. He continued as board chairman and George as a director, when Frank Knapp became president and general manager.
Survivors include his widow, Mattie; a son, George; two daughters, Mrs. Richard B. Foster and Mrs. Guy Shumway of Lansing; five grandsons and two granddaughters, Frank Shumway, Louise Shumway and George H. Arbaugh, Jr., of Lansing, Richard Foster, Jr., at Dartmouth, Walter S. Foster at Cranbrook, Mrs. Harry Asby of Houston, Tex., and Frank Edward Arbaugh in Colorado; five great-grandchildren, and two sisters, Mrs. Sarah McGahan of Youngstown, Pa., and Mrs. Bertha Griffith of Ligonier, Pa.
The body is at the Estes-Leadley funeral home.
(Information supplied by Find A Grave contributor Jacob M. (#47454866)).
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