John G. Eager is classed with the most enterprising business men of Racine. He is a partner of Bert E. Dunn in the ownership and conduct of the Elite Laundry and in this connection they have developed a business of extensive proportions. Their life history in its unfolding shows steady and consecutive development and cannot fail to prove of interest as it indicates the opportunities that lie before the American youth. Mr. Eager was born in Matamoras, Pennsylvania, September 5, 1876, and is a son of Charles L. and Roxana (Price) Eager, who in the year 1891 removed westward to Chicago, where the wife and mother passed away October 10, 1905. The father, who is a retired railway engineer, is now living in Racine.
John G. Eager, when a lad of fifteen years, began driving a delivery wagon for a laundry and was afterward employed in various laundries of Chicago, where he gained a comprehensive knowledge of the business, winning that broad experience which has constituted the foundation of his present success. In 1899 he came to Racine, entering the W. L. Hagman Laundry as an employee. He was afterward employed by the Model Laundry on Sixth street and subsequently became manager of a clothing business, but embarked in business on his OWE account on the 3rd of May, 1909, when he became one of the proprietors of the Elite Laundry. He has since bent all his energy toward the development of the business, with the result that the trade has rapidly increased. The firm has never deviated from the high standards which it set up at the beginning. They have won their patronage through the excellence of their work and the honesty of their methods and today theirs is one of the profitable industrial concerns of Racine.
On the 30th of September, 1912, Mr. Eager was married to Miss Jean Lindsay, of Chicago, and they have a son, Frank, three years of age. Fraternally Mr. Eager is connected with the Knights of Pythias, in which he is a past chancellor; with Racine Lodge, No. 437, L. O. O. M., in which he is dictator ; with the Royal Arcanum, in which he is grand orator, and with the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan, in which he is serving as imperial deputy for Wisconsin. He is also president of the Association of Live Secretaries of the last named order and adjutant of the Wisconsin Brigade of the Uniform Rank of Knights of Pythias. He is likewise a Mason, an Elk and an Eagle and he has membership in the Commercial Club and the Racine Junction Advancement Association. He is president of the Wisconsin Laundry men’s Association and is now serving his second term. These interests and connections as well as his business have brought him a wide acquaintance and he is popular wherever he is known. Firm purpose is one of his marked characteristics and he never falters in the performance of a task to which he has set himself. His business methods are such as invite investigation and his course receives the endorsement of all.