Bernard Kroger

Bernard Heinrich "Henry" Kroger (January 24, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American businessman who created the Kroger chain of supermarkets. Kroger was a pioneering grocery innovator who introduced self-service shopping to the public in 1895. He allowed customers to enter his stores, shop with prices clearly marked on every item, and take the merchandise home themselves instead of waiting for a delivery.

Kroger pioneered in-store bakeries and in-store fresh meat butchery. Kroger grocery stores were the first in the country to sell freshly baked goods, meat, and groceries under the same roof.

Kroger was known for his philanthropy and donated to parks, hospitals, and medical research.

Early life

Kroger was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the fifth of ten children of German immigrants Johan Heinrich and Mary Gertrude (née Schlebbe) Kroger.[1] Kroger's mother was born in Elve, Westphalia.[2] His father John Henry came from Lüsche in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (today a part of Bakum)[3] and was born in nearby Addrup.[4] Kroger's family lived above the dry goods store his parents owned. Due to the 1873 economic downturn, they had to close the failing store.[5]

Kroger quit school and went to work at age thirteen to help support his family.[6] He quit his first job in a drug store because his Christian mother objected to him working on Sundays. He then worked as a farmhand near Pleasant Plain, Ohio, for six dollars a month (equivalent to dollars a month in ).[2] Kroger said of the farm work, "I shall never forget that first night I spent away from home. ... Although I was but fourteen and weighed only one hundred pounds, my job on the farm was that of any man". Kroger hated his employer. He eventually contracted malaria, quit the job, and walked the 37 miles back to Cincinnati.[7][2]

Personal life and family

At the age of 25, Kroger married Mary Emily Jansen, the daughter of German immigrants. He and Mary had seven children, four girls and three boys. Both Kroger's oldest son and Mary died in 1899 of diphtheria.[2]

Grocery career

Kroger then began working as a door-to-door salesman for the Great Northern and Pacific Tea Co., eventually ending up at the Imperial Tea Co. The grocery was not doing well, and the two owners made Kroger a manager. Kroger turned the failing grocery around, earning the store a $3,100 profit. By 1885, the company had four stores and this expanded to 30 in 1900.[6] When the owners later refused to make Kroger a partner, he invested his life savings of $372 with a friend, Irish immigrant B.A. Branagan, who had borrowed $350 (in total ).[2] Together they opened a grocery store at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati. The unexpected overnight flood of 1884[8] ruined the store and the partners opened another.[9][10][11]

Banking entrepreneur

In 1900, Kroger invested in the creation of Provident Savings Bank and the Provident Trust Company.[34] He was elected president of the bank in 1904.[35]

In typical fashion, Kroger set about to grow the assets of the bank. In 1910, Provident acquired the assets of the Queen City Savings Bank and Trust Company, increasing Provident's deposits by 30% to a total of $6,440,000 (equivalent to $ million in ).[36] In 1911, Provident acquired the assets of the Cincinnati Trust Company, depriving former director George B. Cox control over that bank's financial clout.[37]

He sold his holdings in the bank in 1928, shortly before the Wall Street Crash of 1929. During a bank crisis in 1933, he converted $15 million (equivalent to $ million in ) of his savings into cash and displayed it at the bank to demonstrate the financial soundness of the bank, averting the crisis locally. Kroger was chairman of the board of the bank at the time of his death.

Transportation entrepreneur

Seeking to profit from inter-urban transportation, Kroger purchased the unused franchises of the Cincinnati, Milford & Goshen, a proposed Cincinnati inter-urban commuter rail line. By 1903, Kroger was the president of the renamed Cincinnati, Milford and Loveland Traction Company, known as "The Milford Line". Kroger built the 17-mile inter-urban electric commuter railroad and roadway between Cincinnati's Erie Avenue near Red Bank Road and the west side of Milford.[39][40]

Service started March 28, 1904. Riders referred to the rail line as the "Kroger Line" or the "Blue Line", because of the car's royal blue paint scheme. The cars were praised by local newspapers for the comfortable electric heating and "gentlemanly conductors". The line offered riders separate smoking compartments.[41] Later that year, the railroad was granted permission to extend its line to Madisonville, a Cincinnati suburb.[42] Kroger then extended the line from the center of Cincinnati to Blanchester, Ohio. Reorganization came in 1918 with a renaming of the company to the Cincinnati, Milford & Blanchester Traction Company.

Ohio gubernatorial candidate

On June 29, 1912, four days before the Ohio Republican Party nominating convention, a group of 25 Cincinnati businessmen presented a petition signed by 1,100 area businessmen to the Hamilton County (Ohio) Republican committee, asking them to support Kroger's nomination as the Republican candidate in the upcoming Ohio gubernatorial election. News articles said the county committee promoted Kroger as a candidate because he "was a clean man... it was time for a business man to conduct the business affairs of the state".[44] The Hamilton County Republican committee agreed and started a grassroots campaign to nominate Kroger as the party's gubernatorial candidate. Hamilton County Election Chairman Al Morrill petitioned Ohio Senator Theodore E. Burton to support Kroger's nomination, saying, "Hamilton County will vote for Kroger first, last and all the time".[45]

Kroger said if nominated, he would accept and make the bid for governor because "the conditions in the state of Ohio are ripe for a business administration of its affairs".[46]

Kroger lost the nomination at the convention. There were four candidates including Kroger. Voting on four ballots showed no clear majority winner. Then former Ohio lieutenant governor Warren G. Harding nominated

Charitable efforts

Kroger was also involved in many charitable ventures, including the opening of parks, donations to zoos, and medical research. His charitable interests included the Charles Fleischmann Endowment Fund, the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts, the Cincinnati Bureau of Governmental Research, the Community Chest, and the Council of Social Agencies.[8] Cincinnati Post columnist Al Segal said Kroger said to him, "You meet a great many people who need help. If I can be of service, let me know".[49]

Death and burial

Having suffered ill health for several years,[8] Kroger died of a heart attack on July 21, 1938, at his summer home at Wianno Historic District, Cape Cod, Massachusetts,[57] at the age of 78.[58]

His personal estate was valued at $8,854,914 (equivalent to $ million in ).[59] He was buried in Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery.[11]

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