Bruno Kippels

• Born: January 26, 1856; Immekeppel, Cologne, Germany
• Died: September 5, 1940; Moorhead, Minnesota
• Parents: Johann Wilhelm Kippels and Katharina Eisenkramer

Martha Mary Kuppich

• Born: December 11, 1872; Posen, Prussia
• Died: June 13, 1927; Moorhead, Minnesota
• Parents: John Kuppich and Mary (Kuppich)

Married: October 4, 1905; St. Paul, Minnesota

Bruno Kippels arrived in Baltimore,Maryland July 30, 1880. He left Bremerhaven Germany aboard the Leipzig. He was 24 at the time and listed his occupation as "baker". He was traveling with Heinrich (Henry) Kippels who was 23. This was a cousin. Bruno made his declaration for citizenship on May 2, 1881 in Ramsey County Minnesota and became a naturalized citizen May 15, 1886 in Moorhead, Minnesota.

He married Martha Kuppich October 4, 1905. He was 49, she was 31. They resided at 123 5th Street North, Moorhead, Minnesota. Bruno owned Moorhead Slaughterhouse and the Moorhead Laundry. He was also an inventor. On August 15, 1905, he received a patent (U.S. patent # 797,439) for the Kippels Patent Bicycle Merry-Go-Round. This merry-go-round was purchased by St. Mary's Asylum in Baltimore, Maryland and by White City resort near Walker, Minnesota. He also invented a machine which pressed the coifs of nuns' habits.

KIPPELS, BRUNO
Works Progress Administration Interviews
Interview K-7
Compiled August 4, 1938

Mr. Bruno Kippels, dissatisfied with the laws of this native land renounced his German citizenship and became a citizen of the United States in 1880 when he came to St. Paul, Minnesota. He got a job in Hamm's Brewery for two months, after which he came to Moorhead. His wages there were twenty dollars per month with board and lodging. He worked from three a.m. until six p.m. and barely had time to eat his lunch, but there were plenty of men wanting the job. There were from four to twelve men every day asking for work at the Hamm Brewery.

He says, "In the fall when coming to Moorhead I applied at once for my citizenship papers, and then bought the homestead right of a man who had a hardware store in Glyndon. This was section 20 the S.E. 1/4 about three miles north of the Buffalo River. Henry Rehms and I were partners. We started with one cow, and finally had a herd of 70 cattle. We built a stable 110 feet by 24 feet of ties, and also a chicken house. Mr. Rehm was a mason and got $5.00 a day in Moorhead which helped us get started. We put up hay and raised cattle."

Mr. Kippels then started carpenter work and after a couple of years or so did his own contracting. Besides building he did some house moving.

He then went into business with his nephew Hubert Zervas in the meat market and in connection with that Mr. Kippels built a slaughter house below the hill on 5th St. N. which is still standing and in use. Here he said he used to make as much in one day as he now makes in a month.

After some years, Mr. Kippels bought the Moorhead laundry. Through his whole life Mr. Kippels has been more or less sickly, but he has been a man of strong will, and has managed by careful living to reach his present age of 83 years. He has taken great interest in his church (Catholic) and believes in religious training or instruction as above general education.