Goulds Diamonds & Jewelry

The Gould family is Minnesota’s oldest family of jewelers. Gould’s was first established in Glencoe, Minn. in 1878 by Nathan Gould. The original jewelry store was owned by Nathan’s daughter Emma, and her husband, M.I. Gregory, who sold their business to Nathan upon their move to Chicago. Gould’s Jewelry was on its way!  In 1886, Caroline and Nathan Gould sold the jewelry store to their son William and his wife Kate Wadel Gould. Will added pianos and other musical instruments, phonographs, records, crystal, fine china and sewing machines to the available merchandise. As a promotional gimmick, he sent a greyhound running through the city streets sporting a sweater knit by Kate featuring the words “New Home.” In addition to operating a jewelry store, Will also went into banking, real estate, road grading, and the outdoor advertising business. He owned the first “horseless carriage” in McLeod County, a 1902 red Roadster

After a devastating fire destroyed the jewelry store in 1911, along with a family-owned movie theater – The Crystal – Will rebuilt the entire block as the first all-concrete building in the county. His eldest son, Jay, recreated the store as a showplace with magnificent mahogany cases, colorful Oriental rugs, rich lavender velvet drapes, a crystal room of sparkling mirrors and lovebirds in golden cages. People came from miles to see “The Place Where Grandpa Used to Trade

In 1923, Jay moved to Montevideo and went on the road with his family of nine talented children and a fleet of white buses to perform as the “Jay Gould Million-Dollar Circus.” George C. Gould, Will’s second son, then returned from Minneapolis to work with his beloved dad, and, in 1930, Will’s youngest son, watchmaker William Nathan Gould, joined them. After Will’s death in 1931, the brothers worked together in the store until World War II in 1942, when Bill joined the Navy. George continued to manage the business, hired a temporary watchmaker, and brother Howard E. Gould moved his General Electric appliance business to the back of the store.  Bill returned after the war in 1946 and eventually sold the store to his eldest son, William Blake Gould. Bill continued to repair watches daily at his workbench until his death at 95 in May 2005.  In 1987, Frank Wadel Gould, the son of William Nathan Gould, purchased an existing jewelry store from Arthur Downing in Anoka, Minnesota. Thus began Gould’s Diamonds & Jewelry’s time in Anoka, an era that continues to this day.