Text by Tony and Cole, students at Presque Isle MIddle School
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Ike Wilder, a well-known Presque Isle jeweler, was born in 1905 in San Francisco, California. At twenty-eight, he opened his first business in Presque Isle. In 1947, Wilder lost this business in one of Presque Isle many fires. In 1950, he bought the Holmes Jewelry store and changed the name to Wilder’s. Some of the showcases in the store are more than a hundred years old. Ike Wilder didn’t sell just jewelry, but also electric shavers made by Schick, Remington, and Sunbeam. The Wilder Jewelry Building goes back to 1885 and has survived two devastating fires, one in 1884 and another in 1923. In 1974, Ike passed away and his son Harry took over the business. Harry passed away in 2003. Present owner Kathy Beaulier purchased the business.
Sources:
Graves III, Richard A. Forgotten Times: A Walk Through History. Presque Isle, 2007.