March 27, 2023
By Landry Brewer
A major museum addition is ready for the public.
The new General Store on the sprawling grounds of Elk City’s Museum Complex is open for business.
In the works for a few years, the new $200,000 facility is packed with retail relics of our pioneer past.
In pioneer towns of previous centuries, general store customers could buy everything from groceries and clothes to medicine, lamps, hats, washing boards, and farm and ranch equipment.
“The general store of the late 19th and early 20th centuries became the super store of today,” said Museum Curator Charles Wren.
General stores provided a full-service experience for customers. Shoppers told the clerk what items they wanted from behind the counter, and he would produce them.
“This might even include the clerk having a butcher cut a pound of beef, then wrap it and hand it to the customer,” Wren said.
When asked to describe the general store, Wren compared it to a popular restaurant.
“It’s like the entry of a Cracker Barrel,” he said. “You pass through an area with lots of displayed remnants of previous centuries on your way to the dining area, and a general store was like that first impression.”
According to Wren, though a general store was a pioneer town’s center of commerce, it was also a place for socializing. Customers gathered around the stove or played checkers and told stories.
“And kids enjoyed the candy that was for sale,” Wren said.
The public will enjoy seeing how Elk Citians shopped more than 100 years ago.
More information about the complex’s displays and the several museums there is available at https://www.elkcity.com/city-hall/departments/elk-city-museum-complex/.
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