The Ekstrom & Nelson Shoe Store circa 1910. SCHS Photo.
Emil Nelson was born on November 23, 1870 in Erikstad, Sweden. A cobbler by occupation, he immigrated to the United States in 1891 and settled in Manistique. Shortly after his arrival, he opened a shoe shop on Oak Street. Then in 1901, he entered a partnership with Axel Ekstrom, a fellow Swedish immigrant, and together they established the Ekstrom & Nelson Shoe Store on South Cedar Street.
Axel Carl Ekstrom was born in Karlstad, Sweden on December 7, 1866. He immigrated to the United States in 1882, coming directly to Manistique. He first obtained employment as a janitor at the Lakeside School, a job which he held for about one year. He also worked for the lumber company for a time as a lather. Prior to his partnership with Emil Nelson, Ekstrom operated a bicycle shop—bicycling being hugely popular in the late nineteenth century. The two men remained in business together from 1901 until 1916. Then, in 1916, the partnership was dissolved for reasons that have been lost to history. Emil Nelson started his own expanded shoe shop, opening Nelson’s Shoe Store just south of the original store on Cedar Street. Ekstrom remained in the retail shoe business until 1921. Then, in 1923 he established the Lakeside Grocery Store which he managed until his death in April of 1934.