ADS: We grabbed some old microfilm of The Era at random to see what wonderful things we could find.

In 1919, we came across a gem for Hoover’s electric vacuum cleaners, sold at Bradford Electric Co. at 90 Main Street.

“Don’t tear up your rugs this fall! Don’t pay to have them cleaned! Time has tested and approved the Hoover Electric Suction Sweeper. Enough BEATING to dislodge embedded grit. Enough SWEEPING to brush loose all clinging threads, lint, hairs. Enough SUCTION to remove the dislodged, brushed loose dirt. That is the Hoover. It BEATS as it SWEEPS as it CLEANS! Ask a Hoover owner why. DEMONSTRATIONS FREE!”

We started taking a look at what else was on Main Street during that time frame. We couldn’t fill in every address, but we found quite a few.

Starting at 16 Main, in the Parker Block, was Sloan & Bradley, a furniture store. Next at 20 Main was Cohn Brothers, “selling dress goods, silks, trimmings, cloaks, jackets, furs, draperies, underwear, ostrich boas and chenille draperies,” to name a few. At 22 Main was the Fair Department store, with this amusing boast: “If owls wore clothes, what a fluttering of wings there would be about our establishment — the owl, you know, is credited with a large amount of wisdom. Now you can be as wise as an owl as you can show your wisdom by visits to The Fair.”

At 30 Main St. was Ike Simons, the sole agent for Dunlap and Knox hats. At 58 Main St., John Weiss was in operation as a tailor. At 60 Main was J.B. Fox Builders Hardware, with paints, appliances, roofing and troughs.

More to come in a future column.