Jacob Galle

Jacob Galle, a Grove City and Harrisburg saloon keeper, was born in a log cabin in 1866 on Johnson Road. His son, Otto Everett Galle, born in 1895 at Harrisburg, grew up to be a popular grocer and butcher in Grove City. As a youngster, he attended Little Pennsylvania School (Darbydale) and completed the eighth grade at Harrisburg’s Green Hill School. Otto was first exposed to his butcher trade at the age of 12 working for an uncle, Louie Remo. When Galle was 20, he purchased the meat business operated by Henry Witterman and advertised his business in the Grove City Times newspaper. When customers didn’t have cash, he would barter for eggs, butter and lard. In an interview in 1981, Otto said he often butchered beef and hogs after midnight because flies were not as troublesome and the meat was temporarily stored in a well. Meat was packed in salt, hung in a smoke house to dry before being sold. Picture is the Jacob Galle Saloon in Grove City around 1910.