He served an apprenticeship at the shoemaking trade, and in 1861 he started his own boot and shoe business, which he continued for five years.

He invested in local real estate with his brother Reinhard Liebel, which eventually became very extensive before his death in May 1906.

[2] Michael Jr. was educated in the public and parochial schools of Erie and attended Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, graduating in 1887.

[3] After graduating from college, Liebel was an accountant in the Buffalo office of the Nickel Plate Railroad for five years.

He then returned to Erie, where he was employed in the office of Jackson Koehler, at that time conducting one of the leading breweries of this section of the state, for another five years.

His first term started in September, 1906, when he received the appointment to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Mayor Robert J. Saltsman.

[11] Liebel was a lifelong member of the Catholic Church and belonged to the Elks, Eagles and Moose lodges.