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FRANKLIN —
It’s been more than a few years since the W.H. Braden Livery Stable closed down, and the Bee Hive Cafe isn’t buzzing any more.
However, photographs of them and various artifacts from area businesses are now on view in “The Way We Worked in Southeast Kansas - Retail,” the exhibit for June at the Miners’ Hall Museum, Franklin.
It is the second in a series of monthly exhibits leading up to “The Way We Worked,” a Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibit that will be on view May 11-June 23, 2013, at the museum.
The exhibit has been organized by the Pittsburg Area Young Professionals.
“We received an e-mail in April about this, and I answered that our organization would be happy to be part of this,” Brett Dalton said.
He added that other members have been involved, including Devin Gorman of the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce and B.J. Harris, director of the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“Devin and I started making calls to local stores,” Dalton said. “Patrick O’Bryan at Littles provided a lot of items for the exhibit, including a telegram that was sent when the building was secured for the store. Devin called Special Collections at Axe Library, Pittsburg State University, and they helped a lot.”
He said that the goal was to show what retail was like in Crawford County and southeast Kansas.
“This is a blast from the past for the shopping industry,” Dalton said. “I think the local stores got as excited about this as we were.”
Pictures show the Bee Hive Cafe and Otto’s Cafeteria in Pittsburg, the W.H. Braden Livery Stable and Fogarty News, Woolworth and the Roitz Oil Company, and Foodtown, a popular chain of supermarkets in the 1950s and 1960s.
An 1880s cash register is on display, loaned by Dapper Antiques. Other artifacts include a Picco Ice Cream sign and an empty orange and white Picco carton, along with a box of handsoap from Ramsay’s, a downtown department store that flourished for more than 75 years before closing its doors.
There are numerous photos from Littles, which continues to outfit many Pittsburg area women.
An old newspaper clipping from 1937 tells of the Sel-Rite store opening in Arma.
Dalton noted that many of the photos show clerks and shoppers attired in nice dresses or suits with ties.
“It’s nice to get a look at our history,” he said. “There’s a class and a dignity to some of this that’s really refreshing.”
It’s been more than a few years since the W.H. Braden Livery Stable closed down, and the Bee Hive Cafe isn’t buzzing any more.
However, photographs of them and various artifacts from area businesses are now on view in “The Way We Worked in Southeast Kansas - Retail,” the exhibit for June at the Miners’ Hall Museum, Franklin.
It is the second in a series of monthly exhibits leading up to “The Way We Worked,” a Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibit that will be on view May 11-June 23, 2013, at the museum.
The exhibit has been organized by the Pittsburg Area Young Professionals.
“We received an e-mail in April about this, and I answered that our organization would be happy to be part of this,” Brett Dalton said.
He added that other members have been involved, including Devin Gorman of the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce and B.J. Harris, director of the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“Devin and I started making calls to local stores,” Dalton said. “Patrick O’Bryan at Littles provided a lot of items for the exhibit, including a telegram that was sent when the building was secured for the store. Devin called Special Collections at Axe Library, Pittsburg State University, and they helped a lot.”
He said that the goal was to show what retail was like in Crawford County and southeast Kansas.
“This is a blast from the past for the shopping industry,” Dalton said. “I think the local stores got as excited about this as we were.”
Pictures show the Bee Hive Cafe and Otto’s Cafeteria in Pittsburg, the W.H. Braden Livery Stable and Fogarty News, Woolworth and the Roitz Oil Company, and Foodtown, a popular chain of supermarkets in the 1950s and 1960s.
An 1880s cash register is on display, loaned by Dapper Antiques. Other artifacts include a Picco Ice Cream sign and an empty orange and white Picco carton, along with a box of handsoap from Ramsay’s, a downtown department store that flourished for more than 75 years before closing its doors.
There are numerous photos from Littles, which continues to outfit many Pittsburg area women.
An old newspaper clipping from 1937 tells of the Sel-Rite store opening in Arma.
Dalton noted that many of the photos show clerks and shoppers attired in nice dresses or suits with ties.
“It’s nice to get a look at our history,” he said. “There’s a class and a dignity to some of this that’s really refreshing.”
Right now club members are working on a “Prize Is Right” game to go along with the exhibit.
“We’ll show an item and people will have to guess what it would have cost,” Dalton said. “We’re working on getting some items for this.”
As a hint, prices way back when tended to be lower than they are today. A newspaper ad in the exhibit boasts that Chas. Bosinio, an Arma store, is selling school sport shoes for $2.45 and boys oxfords for $1.95.
The museum, located in the Franklin Community Center and Heritage Museum, is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
