‘The grand cure’ - “Trader” Vic Witthaus known for more than seven decades as Centertown businessman

“Trader” Vic Witthaus, foreground, is pictured in the late 1950s while unloading appliances from a railcar in Centertown. His appliance store was located near the tracks and many of the appliances he sold were received via the railroad. Witthaus was active in the Centertown community and operated his appliance store until 1996. He died three years later at the age of 96, after having been a businessman for 77 years. Courtesy of Lucille Rosenmiller

The childhood of “Trader” Vic Witthaus was marked with unfortunate circumstances such as losing his father at a young age. But his mother, who sought to provide for him the best life possible, worked to instill in him a strong work ethic that in later years resulted in his becoming a respected businessman in Mid-Missouri.
 
Victor J. Witthaus was born on August 17, 1903, in Gasconade County, the grandson of a German immigrant. His father, Adam Edward “William” Witthaus, operated a delivery wagon in the Hermann area. But it was only a few weeks after celebrating his eighth birthday that Vic Witthaus and his mother were faced with an unexpected tragedy.
 
“William Witthaus, the teamster, whose foot was injured seriously on the 19th day of October by a gasoline tank, the sharp edge of which fell up Mr. Witthaus’ foot as he was trying to unload the same at Hartke’s hardware store, died Monday as a result of his injury,” the Advertiser-Courier reported on November 1, 1911.
 
His father was only 38 years old at the time of his death.
 
Two years following his father’s death, Vic Witthaus’s mother married the widower Justin Cramer, a farmer. The family then lived for several years on a farm near Sandy Hook before making the move to Centertown. The young Vic Witthaus, who attended schools in the Sandy Hook and Centertown areas, was only 16 years old when he resolved to become a business owner.
 
“He was just a young man when he concluded to venture into the grocery business,” noted the Missouri Observer on September 2, 1949. “So he begged his mother for enough money to get started. She didn’t dish out much money to him at that time as she had but very little confidence in his ability as a merchant, as his mind at that time ran only in one channel and that was fine saddle horses.”
 
It was in May 1919 that young Witthaus, full of mercantile zeal and ambition, opened his first store in Centertown in partnership with Charles Higgins. In 1920, Witthaus sold his share in the business and the following year purchased the drugstore in Centertown from Pat McKenna.
 
“We continue to sell clean groceries, fine candies, cigars, tobacco, drugs, toilet articles, etc.,” he advertised in the Central Missourian on December 30, 1921. “We extend New Year’s greetings to all our patrons. Yours for business—Victor Witthaus.”
 
Though he may have been consumed with expanding his business, Witthaus soon found time for love and, in December 1922, married Amelia Hinkel at the home of Rev. R.L. Hood in California. The couple remained fully invested in the community they called home, becoming members of the Centertown Baptist Church.
 
Witthaus continued to operate his store for the next several years although the business was moved several times to other locations within Centertown. Located near a major highway of the period and adjacent to the railroad tracks, he and his wife decided to embrace the traffic in the area and began serving lunches.
 
In expansion of his mercantile endeavors, Witthaus later opened a store in Russellville. According to the Russellville sesquicentennial book from 1988, the store was “operated by O.F. and Virginia Stubinger (and) had two different locations on Simpson Street.”
 
Not limiting his interests to the mercantile trade, Witthaus also enjoyed volunteering his time and being part of the local political landscape.
 
“Vic Witthaus, Centertown merchant and former county Republican chairman, was named by the county court today as a member of the Cole County highway commission,” the Jefferson City Post-Tribune printed on January 3, 1938. “No salary is attached to the job,” the newspaper added.
 
Continuing to stretch his legs in the local business arena, Witthaus purchased a service station in Centertown, and in 1942 moved it to another location. In the years that followed, he sold both the station in Centertown and his store in Russellville. With a history of buying and selling properties, he acquired a farm near McGirk in 1948 and embraced his enjoyment of raising prize horses.
 
A new era for the businessman came in 1950, when he bought the J.R. Craig store building across the street from his own store in Centertown, opening an appliance business. He soon earned the nickname “Trader Vic” and often received shipments of new appliances via railroad delivery.
 
The following year, he became partial owner of the Centertown Elevator and Farm Supply Store, selling his interest in the company several weeks later. However, his appliance store quickly became a booming business with people traveling from several surrounding counties to make purchases.
 
“Vic Witthaus has just won a trip for two people to Nassau in the Bahamas,” the California Democrat reported of his success on July 16, 1959. “Witthaus achieved this all-expense paid vacation by outstanding selling of Philco products.”
 
In addition to his business acumen and stellar reputation for making a fair deal at the Witthaus Appliance Store, he continued to raise award-winning horses. However, amid any success, Witthaus suffered a devastating blow when his wife of more than 57 years died in early 1980. Several months later, he married Della Swinney, who herself had been widowed several years earlier.
 
The couple continued to manage the store for the next few years. In 1994, his second wife passed away and Witthaus kept the appliance store open for two more years, finally entering retirement in 1996 after 77 years as a businessman. He was 96 years old when he died in 1999 and was interred in the Centertown Cemetery.
 
“Work is the grand cure for all the maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind – honest work, which you intend getting done,” said Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle in 1866.
          And it was the drive to get work done which came to define Witthaus’s extensive career in mercantile pursuits and in addition to his general longevity. As a nod to his legacy, he has left behind buildings in the Centertown community that to this day continue to house businesses.          
Jeremy P. Ämick is author of the historical compilation “Moments on the Moreau.”