Reminiscing about Decatur's past

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

— When Gallery Cafe owner Stacy Brooks decided to cut a hole in the wall of his cafe to create a doorway into the former Bulldog video so he could use the area for additional seating, what might be found inside the wall was a bit a question of intrigue.

Would there be layers of history to peel away that might reveal the building’s past? Perhaps he’d find native stone or some other antique building material?

According to a group of longtime Decatur residents who meet at the Gallery every morning for breakfast, the two buildings have housed grocery stores, drug stores, variety stores and even served as a skatingrink.

The group of friends meets at what they fondly call the “Liars’ Table.” But despite the name, their memories are very accurate and provide a glimpse into what Decatur was like in the 1940s and 1950s. Most of them grew up in or aroundDecatur and graduated from the Decatur High School. All of them have stories to tell.

Pat Austin pointed out that the stone above the Bulldog Video sign is inscribed with “TE Hoff 1909,” giving a clue to the buildings origins. The Gallery Cafe was a skating rink in the 1940s and 1950s, the friends agree.

Over the years, the buildings also housed Setser’s Variety Store and then Cullers Variety Store, according to Lester Austin. Dr. C.L. Abercrombie said the Bulldog Video building was divided into two shops during the 1940s - the south part was Reason’s Drug Store and the north part was a Grocery Store.

So what did Brooks and contractor Bobby Hubbard find inside the wall? Huge concrete blocks, over 100 years old according to the inscription on the front of the building. The blocks were made at a concrete plant on the southeast side of Decatur, Gene Wilmoth said in a phone interview. Many of Decatur’s buildings are made from the sturdy handmade and handformed blocks, he said.

According to Lester Austin, Clarence Miller owned the concrete plant and also built Mt. Zion Church.

The rest of Main Street would have looked very different as well during the 1950s. The Londigan Hotel was located on the northeast corner of the four-way stop - what would now be the parking lot of the Decatur General Store, Lester Austin said. The hotel was moved rather than torn down, according to Bob Patton. Irvine Owens said he found the first edition of the Decatur Herald under the linoleum of the Londigan hotel when it was moved.

A row of shops lined the east side of the street across from the present day Gallery Cafe and included a Farmer’s Hardware Store, Decatur Drug Sundries and Sunny Shop Variety Store,according to a scrap book found in City Hall.

Patton recalls there was a community well at the intersection of Arkansas Highway 102 and Arkansas Highway 59 until it was filled in and the street was paved over in 1937.

In those days one didn’t have to drive to Bentonville or Fayetteville to find entertainment. In addition to the roller skating rink, Patton and Austin said the Decatur Library was once a bowling alley, and the pawn shop was a pool hall. There were also two movie theaters in town - a drive-in located at the current Decatur StateBank and an indoor theater located near the present day Handy Mart, Wilmoth said. Parking for the drivein was on the south side of the bank parking lot on the rise near the Medi-Clinic and the cars faced a screen to the north where the bank building now stands.

The indoor movies were supposed to last an hour and a half but sometimes took two and a half hours because the movie reels had to be spliced together so many times, Wilmoth said. The delay didn’t matter because it gave movie goers plenty of time to eat popcorn, which just cost a nickel in those days. Movie tickets probably cost a dime or a quarter, he said.

Where the TDS Telephone Company building now stands, there was a large brick home with a winery inside, Patton said. A couple with the last name Burascoowned the home. Inside the house, they had large cement tanks where people would stomp the grapes with rubber boots.

The Burasco’s made and sold wine until Benton County became dry in 1944, he said. They grew the grapes in what is now Ozark Orchard Subdivision between Decatur and Gentry. The land was plotted for a subdivision by E.M. Plank, but was never developed.

Down the street, the viaduct passing over the railroad tracks was once made of wood, according to Patton. At one time the Kansas City Southern railroad took the viaduct apart and put it back together to get a big piece of equipment through, he said.

The Decatur Fire Department started in a small building on the northeast side of Main Street. A blacksmith shop was located inthe back of the building. At first the building housed a pumper on a trailer, operated by three men, hand pumping, on each side, Patton said. When there was a fire, firefighters used the nearest vehicle they could find with a hitch to pull the trailer. Later, a building that housed both the fire department and city hall was built on Arkansas Highway 59 in the now-vacant lot west of Handy Mart.

Wilmoth served as fire chief for five or six years during that period, and had a fire department phone installed under his bed for emergency calls. Wilmoth said he remembers many nights when the phone would ring at 2 a.m.

The first fire truck was an army surplus truck that was originally used by Rollers Grocery to deliver feed, Patton and Lester Austin said. The top of the truck was cut-off and a pumper was installed to make it into a fire truck.

The Decatur State Bank opened on the southeast side of Main Street in August of 1954, according to the August 4, 1954 issue of the Decatur Herald. The bank had safety deposit boxes, the finest vault equipment and air conditioning for the comfort of its patrons, according to the article.

“Capital stock is $40,000 - $20,000 surplus and undivided profits of $10,000. Deposits are protected by Federal Insurance,” it states.

In 1953 or 54, the old Decatur Hotel was torn down and Peterson Produce, Appliance Store and Hatchery were built, where the Simmons Foods office is now located, according to the scrap book in City Hall.

It seems Decatur was a thriving town with plenty of local businesses. The Christmas 1954 issue of the Decatur Herald featured advertisements from 17 Decatur businesses, including the Peterson Produce Company, the Decatur State Bank, Farmers Hardware and Furniture, Decatur Drug Sundries, Billbe’s Esso Service Station, Bredehoft Produce, Brown’s Mercantile, the Decatur Telephone Company, the Decatur Insurance Agency, Copeland Lumbar Company, Stellman’s Auto Service, City Barber Shop, Audrey’s Beauty Shop, Alma’s Helpur-Self Laundry, Pete’s Cafe and the Peterson Gas Company. Edmiston’s IGA and Roller’s Grocery were also regular advertisers.

Community, Pages 3 on 03/03/2010