The August and Louise (Hutt) Luken family moved to Hamlet around 1904. August Luken owned a saloon at the southeast corner of Davis and Starke Streets. Their home, shown in this photo, was just to the south of the saloon and is still there. From left to right: August, Nettie, Fred (standing), Louise, Paul (sitting), an unknown lady and Anna, who later married Raymond Hardesty. August had moved to America with his parents, Johann and Catherine, from Oldenburg, Germany when he was two years old. The family settled on a farm in Railroad Township. When he was old enough, August moved to Chicago, where he was a conductor on a horse-drawn streetcar. Later he moved back to English Lake and opened a saloon in Knox and then Hamlet, until Prohibition became the law of the land in 1920.

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August Luken's saloon in English Lake, Indiana is shown in the third photo, dated about 1892. His saloon, one of three, was situated on the east side of the railroad tracks. This view is looking northeast, with the Kankakee River partially visible in the background. A wood sign advertises Lager from the Peru Brewery. August Luken is shown standing with his arms crossed. His children from left to right are: Nettie, Fred and Anna. His wife, Louise, is not shown. English Lake was one of the first communities in Starke County, being located where the railroad, which was built in 1857, crossed the Kankakee River. This little town was a key shipping point for the Grand Kankakee Marsh, one of the largest hunting and fishing paradises in the world in those days. Thousands of game birds and pelts were shipped to Chicago every week.

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TWIN BROTHER DEAD
MEDARYVILLE, Ind., Dec. 29 -- Gus Luken, 75, a twin brother of Mrs. Lottie Hine of Medaryville, died yesterday at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Nettie Burch in Walkerton after an illness of two months.

Published in the Logansport Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, IN), on Saturday evening, December 29, 1934, pg. 5.