From Harness Maker’s Home to History Center

Harness maker Marcus Yocklich immigrated from Austria in 1889 and moved to Leland in 1893 to begin a harness making business. Soon after, in 1894, Marcus became a naturalized citizen.

By 1897 Yocklich was prosperous enough to buy land and build an impressive, two-story brick building at what is now the corner of Main and North Streets. On the first floor he opened a harness and carriage accessories shop. The top floor was the home of Marcus and his bride Mary Brignon, which is now home of the Leland Historical Society and the developing Leland Area History Center.

Knowing little about the Yockliches when LHS was first invited by Resource Bank to share the building, we turned to Ancestry.com to see if the Yockliches turned up in someone’s family tree. Sure enough, we connected with Mary’s great-nephew Bill Brignon … living in Sheridan!

Bill shared photos and much family history with LHS, including the pictures of Marcus and Mary at right. Today we know the Yockliches adopted their only child, a daughter, Hazel. And we know that all three met untimely deaths in two separate, tragic car-train accidents.

A surviving artifact from the harness shop is a promotional wall clock. After being restored, it hangs in the Bill Brignon home. More about the Yockliches is available in a pamphlet distributed at Resource Bank. In the months ahead, watch for upcoming programs by the Leland Historical Society and information about the development of the Leland Area History
Center, where the Yocklich story and more area history will be told!