MORE STORES: Believe it or not, we still have a long list of
those old Bradford stores from the 1930s until the 1970s.
Without further ado –
W.M. Scheiterle Sr. of Eldred writes: “I have been patiently
waiting for someone to address in your RTS column the past history
of Guy Falconer’s Meat Market on Mechanic Street.”
“Although I was originally from the city of Olean, I have many
fond memories of that market. During the late ’30s and early ’40s,
I was employed at Armour & Co. in Olean and was an ‘on-call’
meat cutter, i.e., an employee of Armour’s, but one trained in the
meat-cutting trade who could be ‘loaned out’ to markets needing
that expertise on busy weekends. We were paid by the store where we
were called to work.
“I became more or less a regular at the Falconer’s Market –
leaving Olean about 5 a.m. to being work at the market at 6 a.m. I
and Guy Falconer Jr. became fast friends and usually went ‘out on
the town’ after closing the store.
“I have many fond memories of Bradford, enjoyed a good bit of my
youth there, got to know the town, the people, the many diverse
businesses there and hated to leave in 1941 to enlist in the
service.”
Robert Moore of Palymyra, Va., can list an assortment of names
from downtown Bradford from the 1930s but reports, “My favorite
store was Thompson & Wood Drug Store at Main and Pine
streets.”
“It had highly polished oak floors and all kinds of herbs and
whatever in 5-gallon glass jugs. Grandma would give me a note and a
quarter, and I would go to the counter and give same to lady who
then would give note to the druggist, and he would reach back to a
small glass jar and put some of the contents into what I now know
as a mortar and pestle, grind it up, and put it in a small
envelope.
“I would return home and give envelope to Grandma, who then
drank it with water. It must have been good – she lived to be 94
years of age.”
Among the other stores Robert could list: Monroe & Crouse
Grocery store, Ideal Ford garage, Shea’s Theater, Sara Lee
Restaurant, Grace Boyle gift shop, Market Basket, Bodine
Hardware.
