Skip to main content

History of Reppert Auction School

A Vintage Graduating Class Of Reppert Auction School (August 1958, Reppert Farm)


In 2017, the school was purchased by John Kruse, who along with his father Dennis Kruse, and brother’s Matthew and Tim Kruse, moved the school back to Auburn, Indiana, where the auction business school currently operates.

Continuously Training Auctioneers for Almost a Century

 

The Repperts School of Auctioneering was founded in 1921 by Col. Fred Reppert of Decatur, Indiana. Fred Reppert started in the auction business as a young boy and quickly rose to the top of his profession, selling auctions in every state of America, and in every province of Canada and Mexico. He was widely recognized as the greatest auctioneer in the world, setting several world records in the sale of livestock, real estate and personal property.

The school’s tradition as an institution for auction education was carried on by Fred Reppert’s daughter Eleanor and later by his son Rolland Reppert, M.D., who both owned and operated the school, with the assistance of Quentin R. Chaffee, who served as the school’s dean of instruction. Phil Neuenschwander and Ron Chaffee then operated the school from 1980 until 1996, when it was purchased by Dennis Kruse of Auburn, IndianaDennis Kruse, a 1964 graduate of Repperts, a past president of the National Auctioneers AssociationIndiana State Senator, and Trine University Board of Trustees member, now serves as president emeritus of the auction school. In May 2011, Reppert Auction School was purchased by Jack Christy and his daughter Melissa Davis of Christy’s of Indiana. John Kruse, Dennis’s son, purchased the school in September of 2017. He is now president of the school, and his brother Matthew Kruse is the Dean of Instruction. Ron Chaffee serves as the dean emeritus.

The school held three-week classes twice a year from 1921 to 1985, with all the classes being held in Decatur, Indiana, with the exception of one class given in Colorado. In 1985, the school format was changed to two weeks, and was offered three times a year. After the purchase by Dennis Kruse, the number of class terms was expanded to four a year, with additional classes being given for a short time in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Indianapolis, Indiana. The auction school currently offers a ten-day auction training class three times a year in their Indianapolis location.

The Reppert School of Auctioneering has had graduates from every state in the United States, as well as multiple foreign countries, and is the nation’s longest continually operated auction school.