(Editor’s note: In our October issue, the Bugle wrote about the new Herbst restaurant and market. This letter writer offers some further background on the Herbst name.)
The passing of Rodger Herbst, the last of the grocery store Herbsts, is a fitting time to note that Herbst businesses have been located in St. Anthony Park since 1881 — even before the official establishment of the neighborhood in 1887.
In 1881, Joseph Herbst, who immigrated from Germany in 1875, moved his wholesale meat company from downtown St. Paul to behind the old Groff Paper Company at 1049 Raymond Ave.
By 1896 there were also two retail meat markets in St. Anthony Park, one at Como and Carter and the Robert Herbst Meat Market at 946 Raymond Ave. Robert was one of Joseph’s sons.
The last location at 779 Raymond Ave. was operated into the 2000s by Robert’s children, Walter, Gloria and Rodger (whose death was noted in the October. Bugle) and is now Herbst Eatery & Farm Stand (also noted in a story in the October Bugle).
My sources for this information are “Down Memory Lane: Bits and Pieces of Family and Business History in South St. Anthony Park,” published by the St. Anthony Park Old Timers, 1987; and “St. Anthony Park, Portrait of a Community” by David A. Lanegran, 1987.
Kathy Malchow
St. Anthony Village
(former St. Anthony Park and Como Park resident)
