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This was the location of the main store
and offices until February, 1951.
The object of the
corporation and the general nature of its business was to conduct a
mercantile business on the cooperative plan, and it was to include
the buying and selling of merchandise, implements, grain and
livestock.
Mr. Charles Miller
was appointed manager in March 1923, and retained the managership
until his death in 1946.
Plans were drawn for a feed manufacturing plant in
1949, located at 102 South Third street in Red Oak. Construction of
this building was completed later in the same year. It is here
that the commercial feeds are mixed and sold retail and wholesale by
the Farmers Mercantile Company.
In December, 1949, 7.7 acres of land was purchased at
the north west corner of the intersection of Highways No. 34 and No.
48. Plans were drawn and completed for the construction of a
brick building, which covers 57,700 square feet. Construction was
started in May, 1950 and in February, 1951 the moving of the Farmers
Mercantile Company was completed. All the business, with the
exception of the feed manufacturing plant, is located in the new
building.
The present officers are: President, George J. Bass;
Vice-President, Evan J. Evans; Secretary-Treasurer, Russell Falk.
The directors are Orville Hoffman, Virgil Freed, Gustave Nelson, and
Glen Confer, with Milton Baldwin, general manager.
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Red Oak's Past Industry
Joseph Fisher had a vision of
what the meat packing industry might be in this area. In 1870
he had a packing plant which processed hogs. All of this was
before the days of mechanical refrigeration and it was difficult to
keep ice enough through the hot summer months to make the business
profitable.
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Buggies were the fashion in those days
so George B. Brown established an iron foundry and machine
shop and manufactured all kinds of buggies. They also did lots
of blacksmithing and sharpening of plow shares and discs. This
company was located just west of the Johnson Hotel.
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The Red Oak Canning Co. was organized
in 1902 by Ira M. Needles. It was located in the old Fisher
packing plant near the river on West Coolbaugh. Peas and corn
were the main products. Many managers served the company, but
Mike Munson was with the company from it's start and served as
production superintendent for 12 years. In 1933 the equipment
was sold to the Otoe Company of Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
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A brewery was built in 1870 in Red Oak
just south of the viaduct on Highway 48 by Charles Steinbrecher at a
cost of $4, 700.00. It had a capacity to manufacture from 2,000 to
3,000 bushels of barley per year into beer.
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The River Roller Mills was the property
of Clark and Co. It was situated two miles north of Red Oak on the
Nishnabotna river. This was the oldest milling plant in the county.
As early as 1857 a grist mill was built at the point, and a post
office named Oro was established there. With the advent of the
railroad, the post office was moved to Red Oak, but the mill
remained because of the fine water power. The capacity of the
mill was eighty barrels daily. Their products were sold under the
well known brand names of "Gold Band," "Home Rule," "Silver Leaf"
and "Red Star".
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The City Roller Mills, which
later became known as the Replogle Mill, was established in 1889 and
made rapid progress, but on June 15, 1892 the mill was burned to the
ground. By November of the same year, it was rebuilt and ready
for business. The ground meal was placed into a sifter with
ten sleeves, each with six compartments. From this machine
thirty-nine different products were produced. The very
choicest brand was "High Patent," which sold at $1.00 per sack in
1894. Other brands almost as good were "White Loaf,"
"Champion," "Jersey Cream" and "Beauty" at 95 cents a sack and
"Blue Ribbon" and Economy" at 85 cents a sack. This mill ran night
and day and had a capacity of 350 sacks every 24 hours. The
present industry occupying this site is the Dannen Mills.
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The Red Oak Pottery was established by Webster Eaton and in 1874 leased it to W. H. Close. Its
manufacturing capacity was 9,000 gallons per month. Plenty of
good clay was found about one mile south of the works. Mr.
Close had the honor of being the inventor of a method of running his
pottery kiln whit corn cobs. This was probably the only place
in the world where this was done. During the season of 1880,
1,500,000 bricks were made and used in Red Oak, and they, too, like
the pottery, were burned with corn cobs. Lard jars, milk crocks and
flour pots were among the many items manufactured.
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An old stone quarry was located five
miles north of Red Oak on the Ben Clark ranch. It was operated
by Norman Nunn. Seven or eight men were employed at the quarry and
they had to live there because transportation into town was too
difficult. Eight teams each made two trips daily into town with
rock. Rock from this quarry was used in the Catholic school, as well
as the crossing rock for the streets.
When Tom Nunn was too
small to pull the brake on the wagon he used to drive a team loaded
with rock for his father. His older sister went along to apply
the brake.
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In 1886 Dan Gunn began the
manufacture of gloves and by 1894 this industry was a recognized
feature of the town. The factory employed from 10 to 25 people and
the product was sold all over the country direct to retail dealers
by five traveling salesman. Mr. Gunn made a specialty of
genuine buckskin gloves. His factory was one of the few that
used real deer skin.
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The Red Oak Brick and Tile Works was
one of the pioneer tile factories of southwest Iowa. It was
established in 1883 by R. E. Cook. It was located one
mile east of the old C. B. & Q. depot. They manufactured common
brick, drain tile and paving brick. Later F. A. Wetherhead
became a co-owner.
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Keystone Roller Mills erected by Messers. Stover and Lane in 1875 were one of the best mills in the
county. It was located on the Nishnabotna about one mile south
of Red Oak Junction. The building was 30x30 feet and four stories
high. There were two runs of burrs. All of the machinery was said to
be new and the best. Later in 1898 it is said Mr. Keen ran the mill
and lived in the house on the hill above it.
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New Church at Elliott
Perhaps the greatest day that ever came
to the Methodist people of Elliott, Iowa was Sunday. Jan. 12, 1911
in the dedication of their $12,000 church.
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