A 2"x3" acetate negative, 1977 or 1978 copy of a photograph of the exterior of the Hrock Meat Market, Brainard, Nebraska, taken about 1898. The white two-story, wood-sided building features a canvas awning and two, large front windows separated by double entry doors. Joseph Hrock, wearing pants, white shirt, suspenders, white apron and beard is standing with hands on his hips in the doorway. Two other men and a boy are in the front of the store. Both men are holding large ice tongs, standing next to a block of ice. One man has a mustache and beard, wearing a wide-brimmed hat with the brim turned up in front. The other man is wearing dark pants, suspenders, white shirt and hat. The little boy is wearing bib overalls, shirt and hat.
Thorpe Opera House Foundation/Boston Studio Project
Local Accession Number
0XX01060009
Source
Original format: 2"x3" Acetate negative from the Boston Studio Project collection.
Historical Notes
Joseph Hrock was born in 1865 and came to Weston, Nebraska, in 1888, where he opened a meat market. In 1891, he sold the business and moved to Valparaiso, Nebraska, where he opened another butcher shop. He purchased land near Loma, Nebraska, and another parcel of land west of Brainard. In 1898, he opened a butcher shop in Brainard. Before moving into their new home in Brainard, he shipped the major part of his cattle (which filled seventeen railroad cars) to Omaha. He maintained a slaughter house on his Loma farm, where he processed and cooled the meat and shipped it to his shop in Brainard. In 1902, he built a new meat market in Brainard which he operated until his death in 1909.
