Ionia-Eaton-Barry County MI Archives News.....BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL LIFE IN WOODBURY
(MI) IN THE MIDDLE TWENTIES October 1981
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THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR - Bulletin Of The Sebewa Center Association; Volume 17, October
1981, Number 2. Submitted With Written Permission Of Current Editor, Grayden D. Slowins
October 1981
THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR - Bulletin of The Sebewa Center Association; Volume 17,
October 1981, Number 2. Submitted with written permission of current editor,
Grayden D. Slowins
BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL LIFE IN WOODBURY IN THE MIDDLE TWENTIES By ViVerne
Pierce - According to stories told me as a youngster by my parents and
grandparents, Woodbury at about the time of 1900 to 1910 must have been a
bustling thriving community, due mostly to the fact that two railroads met
there. The business places consisted of an elevator, one or two sawmills, two
cider mills, stockyards, barbershop and poolroom, two or three saloons, one of
which usually burned down every two to three months for "insurance purposes",
Grandpa Wells used to say. As I was born in 1919, I don't remember a lot of
these places but I will endeavor to tell what was there in the twenties---
places actually in business and buildings that were vacant.
First, there was the elevator owned by Smith Bros. & Velte. A lumber yard
and coal yard in conjunction made this a very busy place. But the part I
remember best was the bean room. This was where the ladies in town picked up
their pin money or better known then as bean money. They sat at a long
canvas belt on which white navy beans were run. They had to pick out cull
beans, stones and other trash and were paid by the pound for what they
removed. This room was located on the second floor of the elevator with a
potbellied stove in it. Each lady had her own chair with her own cushion for
comfort. The most uncomfortable part of the job was the restroom accommodation
located downstairs, about 50 yards from the door. It was the traditional three-
holer and always was well supplied with Sears Roebuck catalogs. It wasnt
heated, so in winter when most of the beans were being picked, Mr. Smith did
not have to worry about the ladies not putting in a good days work. The bean
room was the noisiest place in the elevator, what with 15 or 20 women all
talking at once. This was the place where dresses were made and remade, hats
decorated and redecorated, family problems aired and re-aired and, yes, babies
born and reborn---but they got the beans picked.
The stockyards were a most interesting place for a boy. Allen Behler used to
ship cattle from Woodbury, cattle he had purchased from farmers in the
surrounding area. I remember Andy Dirr used to ship from there also and
Ralph, Rube, Jordan shipped a few loads in later years. Most of the hogs
around the area were taken to Jake Millers slaughterhouse where he did custom
butchering or would buy the animals from the farmer and then feed and fatten
them for butchering later. When a person took a hog to Jake Miller he got
everything back but the squeal. His wife, Lillie, would render the lard, make
headcheese, clean and wash the intestines to be stuffed with sausage, smoke
hams and do anything else that could be done to utilize every pound of the
animal.
John Gerlinger had a woodworking shop located in an old schoolhouse (Gerlinger
School) that he had moved to town. He powered the big wood lathe with an old
stationary gasoline engine. He would make whippletrees, eveners, wagon tongues
and ladders for people in and around Woodbury. He made me my first fall bat
and it was my treasured possession for many years even though it was not used
very much. It was so long and so heavy that even Pete Rose would have had
trouble swinging it.
Across the street, I can just remember a vacant building that had housed
Millers livery stable. This was run by Jake and Eli Miller and my Grandma
Katie Pierces folks. They lived overhead and kept the horses and buggies down
below. This building was torn down and Forrest DeCamp built his garage there.
The garage was built of cement blocks and Forrest made every block by hand. He
purchased a form to make the blocks and every night after he had already put in
a days work at his old garage, he would hand mix gravel and cement and press
out cement blocks. It took him quite a while to complete it, but the building
stands where Tom Livermore now has his machine shop.
The other old livery barn was owned by my father and grandfather and from here
they operated a poultry and egg business. It was reported at one time to have
been the largest poultry business in Western Michigan. I remember many times
in the spring when they could not buy enough chickens here in Michigan to
supply their dressed poultry orders in the cities, they were forced to send
trucks into southern Ohio and even Kentucky to bring back poultry. Oftentimes
it was necessary to hire between 50 and 60 men and women at holiday time and
work around the clock to process their orders.
Then there was the old blacksmith shop, which was run by a man named John
Easley. (This was later purchased by my father and he built a gas station and
grocery store on the site in 1938). The shop was located behind our home and,
naturally, I spent a lot of time there. I marveled at how such a small man
could manhandle those big draft horses when sizing and nailing shoes to their
hooves. Another thrill for me was to see red hot steel pulled from the forge
and with a few well placed blows from his hammer with a shower of red hot
sparks, form a wagon wheel or countless other things the farmers of the area
needed.
Over on the northeast corner of Kalamazoo and Walnut Streets stood an old two
storied wood frame building that housed Forrest DeCamps first garage. Earlier
it had been a grocery store owned by the Van Houten family. On the northwest
corner was Orley Middaughs pool room and barbershop. Needless to say, my
folks didnt let me hang around there as a child---except to have my hair cut---
but I do remember the magnificent back bar and mirrors, made of fine grained
oak and varnished with glasslike finish, and of Orley spinning me around in the
barber chair a few times when he had finished my haircut.
On the southwest corner of the same two streets stood the old hotel, a very
impressive 2 ½ story cement block building with slate shingles. It was never
used for a hotel in my lifetime but one section was used once a month when the
Ladies Aid Society put on their family style dinners. Boy! What a meal they
served! Then after dinner they had a quilting bee. Harlan Sweitzer (father of
Mrs. Lester Lake) used to rent some of the building to itinerant Mexican
families that came up from Texas and Mexico to work in the beet fields. The
Mexican children couldnt speak much English and I couldnt speak any Spanish,
but somehow, we made our thoughts known and spent many happy hours playing
together. It was in this hotel building that Cobby and I perfected our
basketball prowess. We nailed a peach hamper to the wall in the dining room
and though the ceiling wasnt too high, we would shoot baskets hour on end. In
its heyday it was a very busy place, what with all the drummers (salesmen)
using it as a central location and branching out to other small towns to sell
their wares and then getting on the Pere Marquette or the C. K. & S. and move
to another location.
Mr. Sweitzer also owned the old implement store, a two story wood frame
building just south of the hotel. It was vacant when I was a young boy and
naturally I thoroughly explored it. Irol Wells and Kenneth Geisel would hide
in the upstairs part of the building. When I began looking for them, they
would lean out the upstairs windows and shoot their BB guns onto the sidewalk
so that the BBs would ricochet up onto my legs. It stung worse than a bee
sting. They were quick to hide from me again because my temper made up for my
lack of size.
On the corner was Horns store, which had formerly been occupied by Dr.
Loughlin (Gaylord Loughlins father). It was the usual small town general
store with groceries, drygoods, hardware, etc. But the think I remember best
was the horseshoe pitching courts at the side of the store. Cobby and I had
the opportunity to practice days on end and when the men in town could
congregate at the store for an evening of competition, Cobby and I would
invariably beat them all, until my father told me that it was enough that I
pitch in the daytime, since most of the men did not care to be beaten by a
couple of kids all the time.
The last place of business I will describe was the W. R. Wells General Store
and as he was my grandfather, it naturally was the most impressive. Even in
these modern days it would have been considered a large business place. It was
actually the same as four stores with a common roof, with living quarters
upstairs over the two end buildings. The section to the east housed the
hardware store, the two middle sections the Post Office, groceries and drygoods
and the west section the farm implements and supplies. I remember the crackers
that came by the barrel and the coffee that was ground in the big two-wheel
coffee grinder and a huge round potbellied stove right in the middle of the
store. The two middle sections were so large we kids would ride our bicycles
and tricycles around in it on winter days. My cousin, Kenneth Geisel, would
ride around behind the candy counter, slide open the door, then my uncle, Irol
Wells, would come next and grab a handful of candy and then I would follow and
slide the door shut. We would meet over behind the drygoods counter to share
the spoils. We thought we were getting away with something but I now think
that Grandpa knew what was going on.
He also operated a grocery wagon out of the store. It was loaded every morning
before making its rounds through the country, calling on people door-to-door.
Many people yet today remember my uncle, George Geisel giving them, as kids, a
stick of gum or a piece of licorice candy after filling an order for their
parents. This grocery wagon was stored in another old wood barn-type building
next to the store. My Grandpa never had to paint this building, since it was
so covered by circus posters, tobacco advertisements and the like that there
was no wood showing. How we kids used to look at those circus posters of
lions, tigers, elephants, trapeze artists and daredevils and could hardly wait
until Grandpa would pack us off to see the show.
His store was opened every morning at 7 and Grandpa seldom went home before 10
or 11 in the evening, depending on when the last of the town men had finished
their nightly ritual talks that encompassed politics, taxes, farming, girls and
other subjects.
I have wondered over the years whether I had an advantage over children raised
in the city, being raised in a small town where all daily actions were
concentrated in a smaller area and lives went at a slower pace, giving me a
chance to really see my small part of the world. I think so, and Im glad and
proud to have been born and raised in Woodbury. Its my hometown.
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