Old Settlers' Stories
Goles' Store
Menno Shoemaker Gole, M.S. as her preferred to be called, was born in Kitchner, Ontario, Canada, August 26, 1870, the seventh child of eight children of Jacob and Catherine Gole. His mother was born in Switzerland, and his father in Germany. His father immigrated to Canada with his family and his mother's family immigrated to Pennsylvania, and their family moved to Canada later. The last known Goles still live on the old family place. This information came from the kindergarten teacher of Dennis Gole Fry who recognized the name "Gole" and was born six miles from Gole Road in Kitchner, Ontario, Canada. She gave us that information in Glen Rock, New Jersey, in 1953.
The Goles were a Christian family raised as Mennonites, a sect made up mainly of farmers and my father was named after Menno, the Mennonite priest. My father lived his faith, but left the Order at about fourteen years of age when he went to work on the farm of the man who was to be his future father-in-law, in southwestern Minnesota.
There was no Order there, but one of the factors leading to his choice of Ocheyedan, Iowa, as a place to live, was a Mennonite settlement in May City, Iowa. I remember some of the people who used to trade with Dad from there. They were noted for the good food and the quantities they fed their guests. The tables literally "groaned". They used to buy groceries in huge quantities, for instance, not a piece of cheese, the whole wheel.
Those Orders were too strict for the young people and gradually diminished in numbers. Some are still flourishing all over the United States and Canada, too. A cousin visited an Order not too long ago in North Dakota, and as a business, the Amana Colonies still flourish. There are some small groups in California.
As Gole children in Canada became of age, each child was given a farm and several settled in Minnesota; my father, his brother Jacob, a sister Anna and another sister Leah. The older brother inherited the home place in Kitchner. A sister, Lucinda, was given a farm in Alberta, Canada, where my grandfather owned two other farms.
In 1896, Menno and his sister Anna sold their farms and combined bought a store in Ocheyedan, Iowa, as partners. In 1897, Menno bought his sister's share as she and her husband felt the call of the West and moved to a ranch in Wenatchee, Washington. They raised their family there. I have talked to some cousins there at the time Aunt Anna was in the nursing home at the age of 103.
Aunt Anna came to visit us several times in Ocheyedan, and at 90 was still on the ranch taking care of her 70 year old son while he farmed. One of her sons was at Dad's funeral.
In November of 1897, my father brought his bride, Rosa Johanna Pank Gole to Ocheyedan, to reside in the home he built her for a wedding present.
The Ocheyedan Band, made up of salaried players met Menno and Rosa at the train. Mrs. Manville used to tell me that story many times, I suppose that celebration was what they used to call a "chevari".
My brother Austin Edward was born January 13, 1900. My mother was a homemaker for the next few years and my father was busy with his career.
The first Gole's store was the largest brick building on the west side of Main Street. The first years the store had as many as seventeen clerks at one time. It was quite modern for its time. It had overhead carriages going to the cashiers on the mezzanine. Dad carried a full line of men and women's clothing as well as tailoring for men's made to measure suits. He handled a big stock of fabrics, satins, lace, silk, wool and velvets, and household linens. Sheeting and pillow casings were sold by the yard. Table linens were sold by the yard for long linen table cloths and the finest napkins were all hand hemmed. No dowry was complete unless it contained a white linen table cloth at least three yards long and napkins to match.
Dad hired milliners every year from Minneapolis. They lied with us and would take orders and make hats in the mezzanine. The ones I remember were beautiful creations of satin and velvet with ostrich and pheasant feathers. Mother kept many of hers for years and my friends and I used to play "dress-up" in them. She also kept some of the high topped shoes and changeable satin dresses with puffed sleeves to play with. Irene Kallsen was one who used to play with me.
Hat shapes in straw and felt were "decorated" for more casual wear, with ribbons, artificial flowers and bows.
Dad bought stock salt in loose and block by the car-load and it was stored in bins in the back of the store and basement. The freight elevator helped to move that.
The store stayed open Wednesday and Saturday evenings for the convenience of the farmers who worked the fields as long as it was light, then cleaned up and came to town for groceries, clothes, recreation and "catching-up" on the news. Many nights it was midnight and we ate a lunch afterward at the cafe and would get home from midnight to 2:30 in the morning. Wednesdays and Saturdays were indeed big nights in Ocheyedan.
Sunday was a day of rest, much needed.
The banks closed at 3:00 every afternoon and there were no exceptions or money drops for safety. After the big nights there would be quite a bit of cash in the till to be deposited the next day. It made dad nervous to carry that amount of money home, so he would sometimes bury the money in the salt bins (it would not burn in case of fire). The problem was when it was buried, sometimes when he was very tired, he'd forget where he had buried it. The man in the store had to dig until it was found.
This success was at the time the railroads were bringing in supplies by the car-load and the dray service met every train and made deliveries after each one to the store. Albert and John Maske were well known on Main Street. I remember "Queen and Lady" and I believe there was "Prince" at one time. Once in awhile I think the horses would get a little bored and decided we all needed a little excitement and would not heed Albert and would get out of hand and run for a few blocks without him. He would use some unprintable language but he loved and took good care of his horses.
Dad was raised a farmer and loved it and it never left him. He loved to see things grow. It was in his blood. He saw Ocheyedan as a place to raise apples. He planted many trees around Rush Lake. His friends used to kid him because no one took care of them and they probably are long gone but dad said if any bore the birds could eat the apples. Dad would be loved by the "Good Earth" people and the environmentalists. He bought property in the new addition south of town and planted apple trees there, as well as at home. The trees are probably all gone now. He sprayed the trees and our friends would ask for apples because ours didn't have worms. He had a hand-operated spray on a barrel and used to make his own sprays in the days before insecticides. I remember Paris Green and cigar butts soaked in the water to spray. He never did anything half way. He would plant 1,000 cabbage plants at a time and as many cucumbers. He sold some cabbage to the wholesale houses but we cut and packed, in huge crocks in the basement, cabbage after it "cracked" after a summer rain and we ate lots of sauerkraut. He would tell friends to go pick cucumber--all they wanted, and they would pick barrels for pickles.
Some farmers did not, and on our walks home late Wednesday and Saturday nights we'd walk past the hitching posts near the water tower and some horses would be blanketed and others stamping and blowing to keep warm. Those below zero night were not comfortable and it bothered my dad to see the horses abused.
In the fall dad would go to Shelby, Ohio, and buy apple orchards, hire pickers and pick, wrap, and pack apples in lovely wooden boxes (no more wooden boxes) and ship carloads of apples back for the store in Ocheyedan for sale. He was so proud of those beautiful apples, all kinds. He shipped snow apples, a premium in the East, and planted some on our place in Ocheyedan; Jonathans, Yellow and Red Delicious, Pippins, MaCintoch, Roman Beauty, Grimes Golden, Okabenas and probably others.
As dad's business prospered, troubles mounted. The store was robbed three times. A truck backed up to the back door (we found the tracks) and loaded all the silks, satins, ready-to-wear and shoes. I believe one woman's blouse was recovered by the police in Sioux City. That was the total recovery. There was no insurance.
At one time my brother slept at the store hoping to catch the burglars. I'm glad he never encountered them.
Finally dad installed the first alarm in Ocheyedan, after the banks I suppose, and Ocheyedan hired a night watchman.
At one time dad shipped in from Louisiana, huge bullfrogs, about a foot long. He was going to raise frog legs, commercially. He had them on display in a front window at the store for a short time and then moved them to the pool on the north side of our house. The "croaks" might have been music to the ears, but it was my window and maybe that's why I'm a light sleeper. It was summer, and in a short time they all disappeared. Someone saw some at Rush Lake, but I've an idea an Iowa winter would finish them off.
Dad also raised chinchilla rabbits for fur and meat but finally opened the hutches and turned them loose so maybe we have a strain of chinchilla cottontails in northwest Iowa.
In addition to the store, dad also raised squabs commercially, and used to ship to the large hotels in Chicago. The hotels would call one day. Dad would have the dressed squabs iced on the train the next morning and into Chicago by that afternoon for dinner that night. That was the famous "Squab under Glass" on the menus. Ocheyedan was on a main line of the Rock Island; I believe that's what made that possible.
The great depression caused many changes for dad's business and the small towns everywhere. Automobiles gave people greater mobility and made them less dependent on railroads. During the depression dad kept the store open every day even though he said it cost him money. He said the farmers were his friends and they'd weather it together. The farmers suffered and dad did too. He felt the least he could do was to try to keep going for them.
Gole's Store bought and sold eggs by the car load. The farmers would sell to dad and he would send them to Chicago. It was a busy day when the eggs were loaded and taken to the railroad station by dray and loaded on the freight cars.
The eggs were candled in a room in the back of the store, set up with benches and lights. Dad hired high school boys to do the candling and help in the store, but everyone took a hand at it if they were not busy. I've seen men take three eggs in each hand and candle them in seconds.
The vinegar barrels were in the same location and people brought in their containers when they bought vinegar.
At times dad would put out a "general ring" on the telephone to all with his price on eggs. That's when he introduced "Brass Chips". The farmers were paid in cash for their eggs or for a few cents more per dozen they could be paid in "Chips" which could be used to buy merchandise at the store. Antique dealers now pay $1.00 each for those chips. The store also bought chickens from the farmers. They were weighed at so much per pound and a truck picked them up. The men who handled the chickens soon learned who "watered" their chickens well just before they brought them in for sale so they would weigh more.
The first store I know about was on the west of Main Street. I believe dad rented from Wardrip. Next he moved across the street next to the present bank and I'm not sure how many years he was there when he and mother bought the first store from Wardrip, who was one of the first settlers in Ocheyedan. The second store was always crowded by the amount of stock. I remember there that he imported china from Japan and China, by the barrels. Much of it was Kutani pottery which at that time was very inexpensive, but today brings very good prices and is quite collectable.
One of the big marketing programs at that time was a piano given away. I think purchases got chances and there was a big drawing for the winner. More purchases got more chances.
I can't remember the year the original store building was purchased. It was a big move and then we established departments. Ready-to-Wear, Dry Goods, Men's Wear and Groceries. A 5 & 10 cent store was in the basement and the china and pottery department also.
My dad's hobby was fishing so we had a fishing department with tackle, rods and reels. Dad loved to fish and everyone wanted to fish with him. They caught fish and he seemed to know the places. The salesmen who came to the store would try to arrange their calls so they could go fishing with dad.
In the summer the fishing department flourished and fishing was good. In the winter time dad made tackle and rods on his wood lathe in the basement of the store, in his spare time. For many years after dad died, when I would go home, people would ask me if there were any of dad's tackle around. They wanted one particular red "Jack" that seemed to work as bait for the big mouthed Black Bass.
Dad imported lemon wood and iron wood for the rods from South America. It was very strong but flexible. They were made in sections with fittings to put them together.
In 1920-21 my brother joined my father and in 1930 it became A. E. Gole and Company. Dad was the "and company" and dad planned to retire but Austin wanted to branch out on his own so in 1937, he moved to Lake Park, and started a variety store until he moved to Princeton, Minnesota.
The store was again Gole's Store which it remained until he died, April 29, 1939.
I'm not sure if dad or Mr. McGowan were in business the longest. It will be interesting to read the recollections of others.
When my husband and I moved to Los Altos, California from New York with our two sons, John Clayton IV and Dennis Gole in 1955, we had an interesting experience. Our lawn mower needed sharpening and being new in town, Clayton asked our realtor where to go. Our realtor was from North Dakota, but had worked with Don Watters from Ocheyedan, Iowa, before they both moved to California. He told Clayton to go to a man downtown and he would do it while Clayton waited. As he was working they chatted and he asked Clayton where he was from. Clayton told him New York, but originally from Iowa. The man said he had lived in Ocheyedan, and bought his wedding suit from my dad! He was one of the paid band members who had serenaded my dad and mother on their wedding night before he moved to Hartley!
I took my mother down to meet this gentleman and his wife when mother came to visit us but they had not met unless casually, but they had a good time talking about Ocheyedan. They figured out that mother was busy with her home and baby when they were in Ocheyedan. They mentioned names I hadn't heard for years: Katie Lintner, Ed and Howard Randall, Charles Watters, Gardners, Woodworths, Kouts and others.
Incidentally, a nephew of Charles Watters and his wife are good friends of ours here, and we go to the same church and their son Don is our dentist. Charles' nephew Kenneth was born near Spencer. He's a few years older than we are but we have many good memories about Lake Okoboji, the Roof Garden, the Casino and Arnold's Park. We were both at the Battle of the Bands at the Casino. Neither of us can remember the year. Age does tell. -- Written by Maxine Gole Fry
-Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner