The Four Eliel Brothers
Values Codes I – E – L
Brothers Leonard Eliel (1847-1931), Lambert Eliel (1849-1905), and Adolph Eliel (1854-1927) and were born in Germany.
Along the Way . . .
The family emigrated to Indiana before the birth of the fourth brother, Frank Eliel (1863-1936).
The three brothers were raised in Indiana and relocated to Corinne, Utah in the 1870’s to run a mobile dry-goods and clothing business along the Union Pacific rail line.
In 1874, Leonard won election to the Corinne city council and Lambert, two years younger, was voted Corinne treasurer in 1875.
Eliel Brothers, Dry Goods, Clothing, Boots and Shoes
Montana
The railroad extended its service to Dillon, Montana in 1880 and the three brothers made it their home.
Frank Eliel joined them in 1882.
Over the next three decades, they became the only four Jewish brothers in the country to win elective office, altogether winning sixteen terms.
Adolph became Dillon treasurer in 1885; Lambert won a Dillon city council term in 1888; in 1896, Leonard won the first of seven intermittent council elections (the last ending in
1921) and served on the local school board for twenty-five years.
Frank won five consecutive terms in the Montana House starting in 1908; he was later appointed to the state education board.
All four are remembered as pioneers and founders of Dillon.
The family business evolved into a large department store in Dillon that operated until 1965 when Lambert Eliel Jr. closed the store and moved to Arizona.
Source
- Mark Rutzik, Breaking New Ground: The Untold Story of Early America’s Jewish Electoral Pioneers – 1788 to 1920, 2025.
Mark Rutzick is the curator of this Eliel Brothers exhibit.