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My Story
E. L. Menk Jewelers origins date back to my childhood someplace between when my grandfather gave me his old dollar pocket watch and when I broke open a pretty rock with my dad’s hammer, followed by an emergency visit to the doctor on a Sunday afternoon to have a splinter of that rock removed from my eye.
In the fall of 1968 I entered the St. Paul Technical watch making course. After graduating from the course I entered into a two year apprenticeship at Morgan’s jewelry in Winona. I proceeded to win the Harold Donkersgoed Award for achieving the top score in the Minnesota licensing exam. During this time I met and married Susan.
Several years and moves later we found ourselves in Brainerd and I was working for Bud’s Jewelry. After five years in Brainerd, opportunity came knocking and I purchased Ron’s Jewelry on our 9th wedding anniversary. (She still wonders if that was a good anniversary gift or not.) I called the store The Watchmakers Jewelry but as the watch industry was changing rapidly I soon renamed the store E. L. Menk Jewelers.
After one more move in 1984, we found a home in the Parker building on the corner of 7th and Laurel. Our building was built in 1909 and is on the National Historic Registry. The part of the building that is home to E. L. Menk Jewelers was originally built for Citizen’s State bank and then became home to the Johnson’s drugstore and the Gallery.
The store has evolved into a full service jeweler with the ability to sell jewelry and diamonds and offer the finest in jewelry repair and custom manufacturing of fine jewelry.
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Exquisite Jewelry Collection
THE PARKER BUILDING - CORNER OF 7TH AND LAUREL STREETS - BRAINERD, MINNESOTA
In 1909 the Parker building was designed by C. A. Bassford and built by the firm of Parker-Dunn with the corner being built for the Citizen’s State Bank. This space was designed as a building inside of a building with a brick wall surrounding the bank. The bank had been the Northern Pacific bank before changing its name to Citizen’s and was burned out in about 1908. Mr. Dunn (president) and C. N. Parker (vice-president) of the bank formed the company that built the new head quarters. There are copies of the original building plans but they do not match the building as it was built so there must have been numerous change orders after the prints were drawn
The second floor was built for professional offices including the Ryan Law firm and doctors and dentists. The third floor was built for the Elks with an open ballroom with a projector booth for silent films. After the Elks built their own building the Moose moved in until they built their own building. In the basement under the bank there was an outside stair well for the Stallman Barber Shop which at that time not only did barbering but offered baths for workers.
In 1920 Con O’Brien bought the building, apparently for 45,000.00. In 1924 the bank across the street to the south failed. One local story is that Con O’Brien had a son that was the black sheep of the family who showed up at his dad’s office in the middle of the day and told his dad that he was fired from the Citizens bank. Con then canceled the banks lease and the bank moved across the street in 1927.
In the early 1980’s Jon Rappaport bought the building and land on a contract for deed. The upper two floors have been unoccupied since the winter of 1983 because the boiler system failed. Mr. Rappaport turned back the building in early 1988. At that time Ed and Susan Menk bought the building. Since then the main floor has been occupied by various businesses.
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218-829-7266