| General Store Wagon Trains Concord Passenger Wagons Cigar Store Indian
General store
In the west, the most popular place in a community was the general store. There, one could buy any essentials a frontier family might need whether it was a plug of tobacco, gunpowder, coal oil or shovel for the man of the house; a yard of calico, sugar or salt for the lady; and a piece of candy for the children. Here they could rest their weary legs, swap stories and the hear the latest gossip around the potbelly stove and the cracker barrel
Many a general store owner was a small banker extending credit until the crops came in, allowing patrons to trade eggs, honey or whiskey for items that they needed; a doctor who kept up with the latest home remedies such as castor oil and Epsom salts; a teacher with the McGuffey's Reader, the Bible and a book of Shakespeare on the shelf; but most of all a civic leader for it was usually his place where politics were discussed
The general store was plagued with problems with shipments of dry goods arriving a year after being ordered. But no one seemed to notice that the styles were two years old or out of date. They were still pretty to look at and to hold even though no one could afford them
General stores were notorious for high prices in order to cover their overhead. With the coming of the transcontinental railroads in the late 1800's the main competition to the general store became the mail order house and the arrival of it's catalogue. The two most prominent firms being Montgomery Wards and Sears, Roebuck and Company. Wagon Trains Concord Passenger Wagons Cigar Store Indians were all signs of the times of general stores often adorning the scenery out front |
