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MerchandisingInStarkCounty

Sour Grapes and Saddle Sores

George Hirst

Merchandising in Stark County
May 12, 2005

In t he reporting on villages and hamlets there were merchants present in almost every place and there was always a grocery store. Leeson wrote that in1877 there were three merchants (clothing and grocery) and one hardware store in Wyoming. Elting Arganbright Sr owned a store that sold clothing and groceries. . Nell Fletcher said that her grandfather came from Ohio at the age of 14. The store was established in 1865 by Augustus Hammond. It was called the Corner Store. Pete Fletcher’s Jewelry and Clothing store filled that space for awhile. The building is presently occupied by The Windmill and Antiques Mall. Lorie Hartz is the owner.

Elting Arganbright Sr became a partner in the Wyoming Store with A G Hammond. It gets interesting here, because, as I reported last week, A G Hammond owned land around Puckerbrush. There was a store in Modena that Ray Staelens said Arganbright owned. Dean and Ruth McCurdy said that it was owned in the 1930s by Bill and Betsy Newton. My question is did Hammond also build and own the store in Modena?

Nell Fletcher said that Elting Sr. bought the store in Wyoming from Hammond. He must have also purchased the Modena Store. His son Elting Jr ran the Wyoming store followed by his son Don. Don built and operated

The Wyoming Super Store. It was sold to Wayne Brammer who then sold it to Ron Anderson in 1990.

There were also Hardware stores. I believe that a family by the name of Peard established the Wyoming Hardware Store and Implement warehouse. There were other hardware stores in some of the villages in the county. Hardware stores and Blacksmith shops were essential as were the people who bought and sold horses.

Glen McMullan bought the Wyoming Hardware store from the Peards. Dean McCurdy said that there was a Peard family member in the business with McMillan. McMillan took Horace McDaniel and Bud McCue in as partners. He sold it to Horace in 1953. McDaniel and McCue ran the store until it was closed in 1997.

It would require considerable study to find names of old stores, their owners and dates of organization; I suspect it would take more time and effort than I have. I am sure that if some of us remember those old stores and owners that it would make interesting reading. In a few weeks I am going to share with you some present day industries and their histories..

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Created by KKris. Last Modification: Sunday 03 of August, 2008 14:06:50 EDT by KKris.