Pike Township Family Stories
SHAFER FAMILY
Nichols, Iowa Centennial Book 1884-1984, pages 275-276
By Mervin ShaferWilliam Shafer and Sarah Creps were married in 1876. They became residents of Nichols about 1914. Two of their daughters and one son were prominent in the business community for many years.
William Shafer was badly crippled with arthritis and, for many years, could walk only with the assistance of crutches. In spite of his handicap, he operated the city scales for many years. The scales were located in front of the Town Hall. He died in 1948 at the age of 94.
His wife, Sarah Shafer, died in 1938 at the age of 86. She was active in the Ladies Aid Society of the Christian church. Their weekly quilting sessions were held in her home.
Their oldest daughter, Anna Shafer, was married to Ward Reynolds, and they were in the restaurant business in Nichols for many years. Their first restaurant, dating from 1914, was located in the Rummells Hotel building, located on the present site [1984] of the town park. For many years Anna managed the office of Dr. Virgil O. Muench. She was active in the Rebekah Lodge and the Christian church, being a teacher of the primary class in Sunday school. She died in1966 at the age of 87.
Her sister, Elsie Shafer, married William Poole, who was in the implement business in partnership with his brother, Fred Poole. Jim Poole, the son of William and Elsie, operated the Poole Transfer, first in Nichols and later in Muscatine, developing it into one of the area’s largest trucking firms. He started the business with a used Ford truck, selling ice and hauling livestock. While he was on the road with his truck, his mother took care of the ice business. Though small of stature, she thought nothing of cutting and weighing blocks of ice and loading them into customers’ cars. When up in her eighties, she was still mowing her lawn with a push mower. William Poole died in 1959, and Elsie Poole died in 1977, at the age of 94.
My father, Enos Shafer, did not enjoy a long life, such as was the good fortune of his two sisters and his parents. Succumbing to pneumonia, he died in 19297 at the age of 41. He was married to my mother, Emma Pruess, in 1907. Following his employment in the machine shops in Moline, they moved to Nichols in 1909. Their first business venture was a butcher shop. A few years later they opened a restaurant in the west half of the Loeb building.
The east half of the building housed a movie theater operated by Charley Pike. That was about the beginning of my memory span. Every Saturday afternoon found me in the front row at the movies, watching a wild, wild western for the exorbitant admission price of ten cents. The restaurant was quite a hangout for traveling salesmen. Most of them traveled by train. Since Nichols was a bus intersection of the Rock Island main line north and south from Minneapolis to St. Louis and the Muscatine to Montezuma branch, many of the salesmen stayed overnight in Nichols. They ate their meals in my parents’ restaurant and roomed at the Rummells Hotel. For lack of anything else to do to kill time, they gave me quite a bit of attention during the evening hours. They taught me how to add by throwing a pair of dice and having me add the two numbers coming up. I remember my mother had some qualms as to how playing with dice might influence me in the future.
The long hours and seven-day weeks of the restaurant business eventually convinced my parents that they should gradually convert to groceries and meats.
One of my recollections of those early years was the fire that destroyed the Catholic church, which was located where the present church now stands. I was across the street from the store getting a haircut. Since haircuts were 25 cents, I didn’t get one very often and had grown a good crop of this occasion. The barber had the hair pretty well mowed off one side of my head but had not started on the other side. At that moment, the fire whistle blew. Since the barber was a volunteer fireman, he took off, leaving me stranded. For several hours I was back at the store and on the street in the embarrassing predicament of having half a haircut. The barber eventually returned and completed the job, even though he had several burns on his hands and face.
One of the leading brands on the grocery shelves was Arbuckle Coffee. Fatty Arbuckle, a famous Hollywood comedian, got into a lot of trouble committing crimes against young girls. People nationwide became so incensed as they followed the newspaper headlines, that it became necessary to discontinue selling Arbuckle Coffee.
In 1927, my folks purchased the next building east, and after many weeks of hard work, they proudly moved to the much larger location. But soon after getting nicely settled, my dad succumbed to pneumonia, dying in November 1927.
We sold the store to Ira Pike. After spending the next few years in school, I was able to get the store back in 1936, and operated it as a grocery and general merchandise business for the next eighteen years.
In 1937 it was my very good fortune to marry Velma Bierman of Muscatine, who became an active partner in the business. After having the store open one Sunday in June, I locked at noon, was married at Velma’s home in the afternoon, and then hurried back to Nichols to get the store opened again for the Sunday evening rush. In our eighteen years in business we had the store closed only two days. On a Sunday and Monday we went to the State Fair in Des Moines. When closing on Saturday night, we put a big sign in front window that read – “Closed Sunday and Monday – Jewish Holidays!”
Just as Henry Kirchner (Floyd’s father) and my dad were business competitors, the next generation found Floyd Kirchner and me as competitors. There were some spirited sales on Saturdays. Our old sale bills from 1941 listed such prices as:
Ginger Snaps 7 c lb. Kellogg Corn Flakes 8 c Sandwich Cookies 9 c lb. Bliss Coffee 17 c lb.
One of our promotions in 1940 was Peanut Day, advertising that everyone could have all the peanuts they could eat free with three conditions:
1. Peanuts had to be eaten in our store.
As the day progressed, several witnesses became concerned that some of the boys would make themselves sick, and we would be responsible. But we knew those kids were so tough that eating peanuts for several hours wouldn’t phase them.
2. All the shells had to be thrown on our floor.
3. Each one would have to pay his own doctor bill.
On Wednesday and Saturday nights, a group of ladies would occupy folding chairs in a circle around our stove. They would visit for several hours while their husbands were playing cards at Bernie Oostendorp’s Tavern. Before they left on Peanut Day, we supplied several of the ladies with brooms, and drafted them to assist in sweeping up the shells.
Eventually my back began giving me fits – perhaps it was arthritis inherited from Grandpa Shafer. It became necessary to get away from heavy lifting, so we sold the store to George Grable and Alice Grable in 1954. Who knows – if the back would have held out, Velma and I might still be in Nichols, selling everything from bread and beans to nuts and bolts.
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Page created December 18, 2010 by Lynn McCleary