Mabel Schuler was born in Wisconsin in 1886. She came to Wahpeton in 1895 to join her father, Gustav, a widower who was getting established in Dakota Territory. Gustav and his brother Eugene operated a farm-implement business and became prominent pioneer architects, attorneys, and construction entrepreneurs. Their homes still stand side-by-side on Sixth Street in what was once Wahpeton’s silk-stocking district, and the Schuler Brothers Building remains a fixture on Main Street downtown.
One of Mabel’s memories was when U.S. Senators Porter McCumber and William Purcell visited the Schuler home with gifts for her high school graduation in 1904. Mabel taught school and, on January 1, 1912, married attorney C. J. Kachelhoffer, who worked with the Schuler Brothers. He died in 1945, leaving two daughters.
Mabel was a lifelong teacher and local historian, sometimes visiting the newspaper office to correct information or provide a history lesson. Few people in 1979, for example, knew Wahpeton once had a U.S. Naval Training Station at the State School of Science.
During World War II, “Mrs. K” directed the United Service Organization, the USO, in Wahpeton. The Navy trained nearly 4,000 men there over two and a half years. Mabel kept a large collection of letters and postcards from the young sailors she hosted. She later recalled, “The first boys who came were so young. They were high school boys right out of boot camp. Many of them began to call me Mom.”
Adventurous even later in life, Mabel and a friend spent a month traveling in South America in 1951—flying around the continent, climbing the Andes on burros, and attending Carnival in Rio.
In 1979, she also helped defend the green space around the historic Leach Public Library which has since retained its serene and uplifting setting.
On this date in 1985, 98-year-old Mabel was living at the Wahpeton Health Care Center and still had plenty of stories to tell. She died later that year, on July 31.
Dakota Datebook by Lise Erdrich
Sources:
- Navy in Wahpeton? It Once Was. The Wahpeton Daily News, October 17, 1979, Page 1
- Wahpeton Women Travel to South America. Will Spend Month Circling Continent. Richland County Farmer-Globe, January 5, 1951, Page 4
- The Skyride: Fun-Facts-Features, by Eldon Lum. The Richland County Farmer-Globe, March 31, 1966, Page 24
- The Farmer-Globe Woman's Page. The Richland County Farmer-Globe, January 5, 1951, Page 4.
- InForum by Bob Lind, June 7, 2018.
- Right On, Mable, Right On! Gene Pinkney Letter to the Editor. The Wahpeton-Breckenridge Daily News, April 2, 1979, Page 2
- USO Committee Hears Report of Many Activities. Local Leader is Listed in National USO Publication
- Wahpeton Chapter, Eastern Star, Meets. The Richland County Farmer Globe, February 24, 1964, Page 4
