The city of Boise during the last thirteen years has had no more enterprising business man and public spirited citizen than Mr. Harry K. Fritchman, who established the first firm of merchandise brokers here, has been identified with a number of the local corporations and business undertakings of the community, and has served a term in the office of mayor.
Reared on a farm, Mr. Fritchman began his business career as a clerk in a grocery house of a small Missouri town, and by his energy and efficiency as a salesman and all-around business man rapidly advanced himself to a place of independence in the commercial world. Born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, February 10, 1865, he was the eighth in a family of eleven children whose parents were John and Susan (Linn) Fritchman. The father, who was a native of Pennsylvania, brought his family out to Andrew county in northwest Missouri in 1865 and there settled on a farm, where he spent the remainder of his life and died at the age of seventy-six. The mother passed away in Andrew county in 1910 at the age of eighty years.
Harry K. got his early education in the country schools of Andrew county, and his years from twenty to twenty-three were spent in farming. On leaving home he became a clerk in the grocery store of Pearce & Roberts at Savannah; the county seat of Andrew county, and during a year of hard work in attending to the wants of the customers he laid the foundation of a solid experience in merchandising. From there he went to St. Joseph, Missouri, and became engaged in the packing and shipping of goods in the wholesale grocery house of Nave & McCord. At the end of a year he had been promoted to the responsibility of a road position to sell the goods of this house, and for his first trip was sent to visit the retail merchants all along the way from Cheyenne to Boise. As a commercial traveler he remained on the road for nearly twenty years, until the first of January, 1909. Five years of this time he represented A. Schilling & Company of San Francisco, and was also a representative of four other firms during his career on the road.
Mr. Fritchman was the first commercial traveler to make his headquarters at Boise, which city has been his home since January, 1900. He was also the pioneer in the establishment of a merchandise brokerage business here. Mr. Fritchman organized and conducted this business himself for some three and one-half years, then sold out to Riley Atkinson and the firm is now known as the Fritchman Atkinson Company, his partner being a son-in-law of Governor Hawley. Their brokerage firm, whose headquarters are at 506-508 South Ninth street, represents the Western Sugar Refining Company of San Francisco, the Quaker Oats Company of Chicago, the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company of Seattle, the Douglas & Company of Cedar Rapids, Cream of Wheat Company of Minneapolis, Inland Crystal Salt Company of Salt Lake City, Postum Cereal Company of Battle Creek, Pacific Coast Borax Company of Oakland, California Vegetable Union and California Fruit Growers Exchange of Los Angeles, Fels & Company of Philadelphia, and the J. K. Armsby Company of San Francisco. During his residence in Boise Mr. Fritchman has at different times been connected with various other corporations and enterprises of this city and elsewhere.
As a citizen of Boise Mr. Fritchman has been very popular, and his name has been associated with many public movements and social and civic organizations. He was chief executive of the city during 1911, but has never taken much part in practical politics. He is a Taft Republican. He is a member and for two years was a director of the Boise Commercial Club. In the United Commercial Travelers he has been a very influential member, filling all the subordinate offices in the council and grand council, and at the last national convention of the supreme council was a delegate representing the states of Montana, Idaho and Utah. He is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias Lodge in Boise, and is also an Elk.
Mr. Fritchman was married at Caledonia, Ohio, January 1, 1891, to Miss Leota A. Sickel. Mrs. Fritchman is a native of Ohio and a daughter of David and Charlotte Sickel. Two children have been born to their marriage. Norris M., born in November, 1892, is now a student of the University of Colorado; Frank S., born in Boise February 5, 1903, died in November, 1904. The family residence is at 1207 Hays street. Mr. Fritchman is very fond of all the outdoor sports, and is a type of the successful business man who has never failed to maintain a broad and liberal interest in the many affairs outside the narrow lines of his own activities. As a boy he had only his own energy and ability to promote his advancement, and he is now one of the representative men in the capital city of Idaho.
Source: History of Idaho; A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People and Its Principal Interests; By Hiram T. French, M. S.; Volume II; Illustrated; The Lewis Publishing Company; Chicago and New York; 1914; Pages 713 & 714.