Louis V. Jurgensmeyer. In the community of Homer one of the names most significant of large business activities is that of Jurgensmeyer. Mr. Louis V. Jurgensmeyer has spent his life in that town and surrounding community and it would be difficult to say in what one field his accomplishments are best known. He has been a merchant, has done much to develop Homer as a business town, but he is also an extensive farmer and stock breeder, and has some of the finest hogs found in this section of Illinois.
He was born at Homer May 3, 1876, a son of William and Mary Elizabeth (Hengst) Jurgensmeyer. His father was born at Logan and his mother at Lancaster, Ohio, and in 1869 they settled on a farm in Vermilion County, Illinois. His father was also a successful stock raiser and farmer. In 1900 the parents removed to Homer, where they spent their last days retired and where the father died January 13, 1907 and the mother January 27, 1905. There were only two children, the older being Elizabeth, wife of C. A. M. Smith of Danville.
Louis V. Jurgensmeyer had in addition to a common school education the two years course of Bryant & Stratton College at Chicago. He early showed business ability, and is one of the few men who can handle various interests capably and profitable. In 1902 he established a general department store in the Opera House Block at Homer, and conducted a large business in that location for six years. He has also built a garage in Homer, was formerly active in the automobile business and is the owner of several buildings in the town, including his handsome brick residence, the best of the village, which he erected in 1910.
For a number of years Mr. Jurgensmeyer’s time has been well taken up with his farming and stock raising. He makes a specialty of the O. I. C. hogs and has over two hundred head of this registered strain. His farming interests are operated on 525 acres in Vermilion County, and he also owns 160 acres in the Province of Ontario, Canada.
Mr. Jurgensmeyer is a Republican, was formerly a member of the town board and is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and attends the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Miss Dollie May Palmer, a native of Homer, daughter of J. T. Palmer of that town. Mr. and Mrs. Jurgensmeyer have two daughters: Hazel Margaret and Marjorie Ellen.