2019 Winter Newsletter

A glimpse of small town life as it approached the Christmas season. In Paola during the 50s the merchants around the square joined together to kick off the Holladay shopping season. The Friday after Thanksgiving the stores would stay open till 10 pm. Merchants would decorate their show windows with colorful gift items. There were huge crowds swarming around the square. Every store window was decorated showing the many gift items that were available. Most merchants had some type of contest like guessing the dollar value of merchandise in the window or the number of beans in a jar. You had to go inside the store to make your guess and put it in a box. The store isles were crammed with new and colorful gift items. The festivities continued into the next Saturday with a Christmas parade with the High School Band. There were floats and an appearance of Santa Claus who with his helpers would hand out small bags of candy that was topped off with an orange. In 1955 the Western Spirt newspaper held a contest matching the numbered photos of all the business people in town. A person would have create a list of numbers and match the picture to a number and turning the list over to the paper office. The top prize was $10.00, second was $7.50, third was $5.00 and forth was $2.50. Us old folks can look at the faces and remember most of them just like it was yesterday. Roger Shipman

These are the names as they were printed in the Spirits next issue

1 Jack Showalter Paola Lumber & Coal Co. 2 Harold I.. Bowman Harold’s Market 3 George A. Whitaker Phillips 66 4 Ed Plummer Plummer Service Station 5 Velma Hicks Viva Shop 6 Merle W. Martin Martin’s Sealtest Dairy 7 Alta McCluskey McCluskey’s Grocery 8 Rex Sutherland Sutherland’s Supermarket 9 Harold Theno Pure Gold Dairy

10 George Knecht

19 H. D. Roark

Knecht Equipment Co.

Roark’s Shoe Repair

11 L. C. Ellis

20 Marie O’Kane Reliable Cleaners 21 Dr. Carey E. Ore Optometrist 22 Dean Slyder

Paola Butter Co. 12 Mrs. Nora Walters

Walters Equipment Co.

13 L. G. Hamlin

Miller & Rhea Motors

Miami County Co-Op.

14 0. R. Crellin Crellin Jewelry 15 Dale Grimes

23 Tony Tallio

Tony’s Plumbing & Heating

24 Robert A. Protzman Gamble Store 25 Merton Fort Fort Bros. Service 26 J. W. (Bill) Peuser Bill Peuser Chevrolet 27 Paul Grabill Breckenridge’s

Crimes Feed & Produce

16 W. II. Kaiser

Kaiser Furniture Co.

17 Lester Hauldren The Western Spirit 18 Karl A. Brueck

Equit. Life Assurance Soc.