concordia-memories.org

[roger.pape]

Is anyone familiar with a Forrestville, Mo. or Forrestville Garage just south of Concordia? A former resident of Concordia contacted me noting that he had an old matchbook cover with the imprint Henry Pape, Forrestville Garage, RD 3, Concordia, MO 64020. [note that indicates that the matchbook was from 1963 or later since that is the first year that ZIP codes were used] The USGS Graphic Naming Information System (GNIS) has no listing for Forrestville in MO. so it is not clear if this was an actual place or not.

Checking the 1930 plat map for the Concordia area on the maps page of this website, one will find an H. Pape farm several miles southeast of Concordia. This was the home of three generations of Henry Papes: Heinrich (1834-1890), Henry John (1867-1958), Henry Louis (1921-1989). The family records can be found in the St. John Church records on the Church Records page of this website. The Pape farm bordered Panther Creek which was a wooded area. I recall a sawmill in that area that produced rough-cut oak lumber in the 1950s. Perhaps people living in that area referred to it as Forrestville or, maybe, Henry Louis simply made up the name for his garage.

The owner of the matchbook cover would like to forward it to a relative of Henry Pape. It's an interesting cover including Henry Louis's services at his garage/workshop including things like saw sharpening. It has an interesting pin-up photo on it typical of auto garage calendars.

If you are related to Henry Louis and interested in the cover send me an email at roger.pape@ieee.org and I will forward it to the owner (he is reluctant to have his name and email address posted online.)

[roger.pape]

Photos of the matchbook posted above are shown below. The top edge of the cover shows the name of the proprietor of the Forrestville Garage, Henry Louis Pape (1921-1989). He was the only Henry Pape in the area with the middle initial of L.
The back of the cover lists services provided by the garage. Although it only mentions chains sales and servicing, it probably did auto servicing because of the name 'garage'. I incorrectly stated that it had a zip code in its address. Since it did not, that cannot be used to identify the date of the matchbook. However, it mentions thirty-five years of service. Since Henry Louis was born in 1921 the most likely date would be in the 1970s. It is possible that the garage was started by his father, Henry John, when Henry L. was a minor.