Note: The home and family curio shop business for over 100 years, Verkamp's re-opened as a National Park Service visitor center on November 26, 2008. The National Park Service now owns the building and it hosts a bookstore and exhibits about the pioneer history of Grand Canyon Village. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/grand_canyon_nps/sets/72157626396218422/">www.flickr.com/photos/grand_canyon_nps/sets/7215762639621...</a>

A Century Of Family Service

John Verkamp settled in the Flagstaff urea in the 1890s. He worked for the Babbitt Brothers Mercantile store in Flagstaff and by the mid-1890s was making frequent trips to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to sell merchandise to visitors.

In 1898, John Verkamp decided to establish a business for himself and moved onto the South Rim. By 1906 he had completed the Verkamp's building located a mere 60 feet from the South Rim. While living on the second story of the building, he offered a wide range of merchandise on the first floor, specializing in artwork and special crafts from the Native Americans of the area.

In 1936 John Verkamp moved his family to the canyon permanently. The entire family worked in the store and became an integral part of the community on the South Rim. After John's death in 1944, his wife and three daughters ran the store until his son Jack returned from military service in 1946. Jack and his sister Peggy managed the store until their retirement in the late 1980s. Jack and his first wife, Mary O'Leary, had five children. After Mary's death, Jack married Betty Cannon and they had two daughters. All seven of these children were raised in the upstairs living quarters, attended Grand Canyon public schools, and spent their summers working in the store.

Jack's son Mike, along with his wife Evelyn, joined in the management of the store in the early 1970s when Mike returned from military service in Vietnam. When Mike retired in 1995, the family board of directors hired Dan Ashley as the first non-family manager.