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More on the grocery stores of yesteryear
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Published: August 9, 2009
Last week's column concerned Ralph Sloan, a Statesville businessman, who wrote columns on local history in the late 1960s and '70s.
In particular, I mentioned how Mr. Sloan would start at a landmark, such as Mitchell College, and retrace, in his mind, the homes and businesses that lined West Broad Street to the Square, giving the names of the homeowners, something about their families and recording the names of the businesses along the street, the names of their proprietors and a description of their business.
I quoted a column Mr. Sloan wrote for the R&L of Jan. 4, 1968, in which he told of a dozen small grocery stores that used to do business in downtown Statesville.
This week I would like to go further into this subject, quoting from the same article.
Perhaps you remember the TV show, "Little House on the Prairie," starring Michael Landon. You may recall "Pa" driving a wagon to Oleson's Store in Walnut Grove to buy supplies.
This mental image comes pretty close to what Statesville looked like a century or so ago.
We are used to modern supermarkets, where we roam the aisles with shopping carts, making our own selections from a wide variety of brands and sizes, pre-cut, weighed and packaged.
Here's how Ralph Sloan remembered the Kimball and Dayvault Grocery Store of his youth:
"The first grocery store I clerked in was dark and ill-lighted by hanging oil lamps. Fly screens were not compulsory. Fly traps were at the rear doors, and fly paper placed at strategic spots inside. The space was limited. The entrance was in one corner of the front with a window taking up the rest. The window was used for the display of some of the scanty stock of the day. At times there were pyramids of canned salmon or other canned goods of the time. A large wooden box, with a trunk-like lid, was displayed open, showing the contents of soda crackers.
"A hoop of cheese might be there. Canvas cover cured hams, just newly produced by the meat packers, might be hanging on a wire from the ceiling. Cured country ham and side meat would also be shown. At one side of the display there would be empty 25-pound candy buckets containing dried beans, peas and dried fruit. A cat was kept on the premises to combat rats. The cat usually picked one of the buckets to sleep in....
"The fixtures in the store consisted of a few show cases, counters and wall shelves. The stock of canned goods was displayed in the shelves. The variety was limited,as most householders raised and canned their own home-raised fruit and vegetables.
"Granulated and brown sugar came in 250-pound barrels. The hoop on the top was loosened enough to take the head out. This was used as a lid, to protect the contents until sold. People called for it in various amounts. It was scooped into a paper sack, the top folded down and then tied with twine to keep from spilling. Molasses came in 50-gallon barrels. If a customer wanted any, he usually brought his regular container.
"There was a barrel of pickles sitting nearby, with the lid on the top....
"Many pounds of fat back and sow belly was kept and cut in the amount called for at four cents per pound. Country cured side meat was available at 10 cents per pound. Whole country hams were only 20 cents per pound. The canvas ham sold for 25 cents per pound.
"Eggs were a nickel per dozen. Chickens sold for 25 cents each. Fryers were available only in the late spring and were called spring fryers. The reason was that the hen naturally went through the egg producing and sitting in the early spring....
"In the old time grocery store cakes and bread were not kept in stock all the time. There were a few ginger snaps and cookies available. Loaf bread was shipped here once a week from a bakery in Washington. The loaves were packed in a paper-lined wicker basket for shipping. The loaf came unwrapped, and sold for five cents. The shipping basket had to be returned to the bakery each week.
"Bottled drinks, a big item in today's shopping basket, was scarce and handled only occasionally. Refrigeration was not used in the old-type grocery. In fact, few families enjoyed the extravagance of ice. Those that did owned an ice pit cut in the ground, usually in the buggy shed. The ice was cut in the winter and stored in the pit and covered with sawdust. The ice was generally unfit for human consumption and could only be used for cooling or making ice cream. Where available, some had spring houses in which to keep things from spoiling. Our family put perishables in the well bucket and lowered it into the well.
"Coffee and tea came in bulk containers. There were a few brands of coffee in the package or can. 'Arbuckle' was a popular cheap brand in paper wrapping. A brand called 'The New Orleans Special' came in pound tin cans at 35 cents per pound. Bulk roasted coffee could be had for 15 cents per pound. Much coffee came in the green bean stage, selling for 10 cents per pound.
"My mother used the green bean, which she roasted in a biscuit pan placed in the oven of the wood cooking stove. It was often my chore to stir the coffee to get it roasted evenly. When done, the grains were mixed with stiffly beaten egg whites to give it a glaze and make the grounds settle in the coffee pot. Often egg shells were used to clarify the coffee. Iced tea came packed in large glass jars and sold by the ounce....
"Two important things I overlooked in the store stock of the old days was candy and tobacco. Tailor-made cigarettes were not on the market in the small towns. Everyone rolled his own. McElwee's 'Ante-Bellum' and 'Indian Girl' were big sellers for home made cigarettes and pipe use. Packaged cigarette papers were given with the purchase of a bag of the makings. Another popular brand of granulated tobacco was 'Bull Durham,' manufactured at Durham, by the Duke interests. Most of the chewing tobacco was manufactured locally and sold for 10 cents per plug and up. If a customer wished half a plug, we obliged him by cutting the plug in half on a tobacco cutter.
"Cigars handled were the 'Old Virginia Cheroots' at five cents for a package of three. Local manufacturers furnished cigars selling at two for a nickel and five cents each. Cigars manufactured elsewhere were on the counter at a higher price.
"Candies of the day were mostly of the hard type. Of course, there were gum drops in many flavors. Stick candy was boxed in two-pound packages. The package was always opened and sold by the pound or stick. Most of the stick candy flavors were peppermint, cinnamon, lemon and hoarhound. Another candy popular then was called bon-bons. It was of a medium hard texture and came in assorted flavors and colors....
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As I mentioned last week, copies of Mr. Sloan's columns, more than 50 of them, are in a binder in the James Iredell Room of the Iredell County Public Library.
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