This week’s photo in the series of Glenwood Photographs taken in 1876 by N.J. Trenham, is the “Residence of D. Bartke and Drug Store.” Located where Palmer Creations (the former Glacial Printing) is today.
According to J.G. Whittemore in 1940, “Daniel Bartke built this building in 1866. (But Bartke’s autobiography stated that the purchased it that year.) He conducted a drug store out of the first
The site of Bartke Hall as it appears in 2015.
story and the upper story was used as a public hall. It was changed to the Glenwood Hotel in 1879. Martin Ward purchased the building in the 1885 and it became known as the Ward Hotel or Glenwood House. Pictured in the front of the building are Mr. and Mrs. Bartke, their daughter and a school teacher – Miss Mary Whitcomb.”
Newspaper ad from 1876
The sign over the door reads, “DRUGSTORE.” It was also used as a billiards hall and a dance hall.
According to the WPA papers, Daniel Bartke came to Glenwood in 1866 and invested a considerable amount of money in Glenwood properties. He bought this 36 x 40 foot two story building to house his drugstore on the lower level and a public hall on the upper floor. At one time it was used as a school room.
It was sold to Robert Stanley in 1879. In 1882 an ad for the Glenwood Hotel claimed it was “recently refitted & improved” and had a large barn attached.
Glenwood Hotel
Mr. Martin Ward bought the building in the 1885 and it was often known as Ward’s Hotel. It was salvaged in February, 1945.
There is some debate as to who built it, as George and Henry Rue owned the land in 1870. By 1876, the land was owned by Daniel Bartke. Unlike today, in the 1860s and 1870s in Glenwood, it was not uncommon for people to build on land they did not yet own. 
Pope County Museum - Museum Musings 
Daniel Bartke was my great-grandfather. He was born (1832) in Prussia, came to America in 1856 and was a Civil War veteran (Company E, 27th Iowa Infantry). Daniel settled in Glenwood, Minnesota in 1866. He later served in a number of public offices including terms as registar of deeds (4 yrs), assessor (5 yrs) and eventually justice of the peace (4 yrs.). He was also a long time officer of the Camfield G.A.R. Post.
He met his future wife, Mary Olson, when her family of newly arrived Norwegian immigrants were passengers on the stage coach he drove between Glenwood and Kensington, Minnesota. They eventually settled on a dairy farm that was located just west of the present day Minnewaska Golf Club.
Daniel and Mary had 4 daughters and one son. Daniel had received a good education in his youth and was a strong advocate for education in Glenwood and in Pope County. Each of his four daughters became school teachers. His son, Frank Bartke, took on responsibilities for running the farm at a young age due to Daniel’s increasingly poor health, related to his Civil War service.
Daniel died in a veteran’s medical facility in Wisconsin in 1892. He is buried in the Glenwood Luthern Cemetery.
Thank you so much! We will add this information to his files!