HOME | DD

Description
Bonita Kansas, April 2017.

My earliest memories of Russell's store were from the late 1960's. Perhaps before my Grandparents moved to the Bonita farm.

It was a general store at the time. Most of their business involved grain and animal feed, but they also sold a limited amount of hardware, groceries, cigarettes and they had a gas pump out front with leaded gasoline.

I remember one time my grandfather bought ice cream there for my brother and me. They stopped selling groceries soon after that, but even then, most times when we would stop by I would take a peek into the old glass top freezers just in case.

I recall that there wasn't much commerce going on at the store. Mostly it was a place for farmers to get out of the elements for awhile and visit.

George Russell owned the store and I when I became aware of such things he was semi retired. His house and his farm were right next to the store. I believe one of his sons had taken over the farming. I don't know what his finances were like but apparently they didn't do too bad.

When the Energy Crisis started in 1973, the could no longer get gasoline, so they had to shut the pump down and eventually removed it.

They continued to sell grain and animal feed and a few odds and ends of hardware. From my point of view, they mostly sold soda pop. Eventually that function was taken over by a vending machine.

Next to the, now antique, cash register, there was a display of Lucky Strike cigarettes. Even though some people made him offers for them, there weren't for sale, just for nostalgia.

Also, in back of the register, there was (and still is) a sliding weight scale that was hooked up to a track/wagon scale on the side of building. A farmer who knew how much his truck or wagon weighed could park it on the scale and find out how much of a load they were hauling.

When George passed away, the store was taken over by his son Bill. Since Bill had a job as a rural letter carrier, the store was only open on weekends. When he retired from the Post Office, the store would be open most every day, although he didn't always keep regular hours.

My great grandparents (the Clinkscales) lived on the other side of the road, across the railroad tracks. My father can remember when the store was named Kulman Brothers . He remembers that the store was run by someone call "Dutch", but he doesn't remember that Dutch had a brother involved in the business. I found an old picture on the Internet of the store from 1905. Information on the JoCo History website indicates that the store was probably built in the 1890s.

At some point, George Russell bought the store and the farm that bordered the property. We can't recall what the store was called, but it was a Pay Way Feed store , which is a now defunct chain of feed stores. We also don't recall when changed to a "Master Mix" store.

George Russell had four children, three boys and a girl. Bill, the one that became a rural letter carrier and later ran the store, lived in a house in back of the store to the east. The daughter lived in the larger original Russell house all her life. She had cerebral palsy and required a wheelchair to get around. Despite that, and with the help of a motorized wheelchair and a specially outfitted van, she was able to drive and spent most of her life as a high school teacher.

And one final story. This kind of makes me feel old, but many of you might not remember all the small regional phone companies and how big a deal making a "long distance" phone call could be. It would, in part, depend on the day of the week and the time of the day, but a phone call from within one regional phone company's area to another neighboring region could cost more than a call that went across the country. Bonita sat right at the border of two regional phone companies. I don't recall what the official company names were, but one covered the Olathe area and the other covered Spring Hill. My grandparents were in the Spring Hill companies territory, but since they lived much closer to Olathe, most all their phone calls were considered long distance.

The Russells had the same problem, but since they were right on the border, they had a solution. The house line was connected to Spring Hill and the phone in the store was connected to Olathe. This way they saved a lot of money just by walking 50 feet to use a different phone. This went on for decades, but eventually around 1990, the phone companies got wise to this and decided that they didn't like it. They insisted that they chose either Olathe or Spring Hill for both lines. It wasn't a hard choice. The Russells dropped the Spring Hill service. By this time these small regional companies were on their way out, so it really didn't have much impact.

Description
Bonita Kansas, April 2017.

My earliest memories of Russell's store were from the late 1960's. Perhaps before my Grandparents moved to the Bonita farm.

It was a general store at the time. Most of their business involved grain and animal feed, but they also sold a limited amount of hardware, groceries, cigarettes and they had a gas pump out front with leaded gasoline.

I remember one time my grandfather bought ice cream there for my brother and me. They stopped selling groceries soon after that, but even then, most times when we would stop by I would take a peek into the old glass top freezers just in case.

I recall that there wasn't much commerce going on at the store. Mostly it was a place for farmers to get out of the elements for awhile and visit.

George Russell owned the store and I when I became aware of such things he was semi retired. His house and his farm were right next to the store. I believe one of his sons had taken over the farming. I don't know what his finances were like but apparently they didn't do too bad.

When the Energy Crisis started in 1973, the could no longer get gasoline, so they had to shut the pump down and eventually removed it.

They continued to sell grain and animal feed and a few odds and ends of hardware. From my point of view, they mostly sold soda pop. Eventually that function was taken over by a vending machine.

Next to the, now antique, cash register, there was a display of Lucky Strike cigarettes. Even though some people made him offers for them, there weren't for sale, just for nostalgia.

Also, in back of the register, there was (and still is) a sliding weight scale that was hooked up to a track/wagon scale on the side of building. A farmer who knew how much his truck or wagon weighed could park it on the scale and find out how much of a load they were hauling.

When George passed away, the store was taken over by his son Bill. Since Bill had a job as a rural letter carrier, the store was only open on weekends. When he retired from the Post Office, the store would be open most every day, although he didn't always keep regular hours.

My great grandparents (the Clinkscales) lived on the other side of the road, across the railroad tracks. My father can remember when the store was named Kulman Brothers . He remembers that the store was run by someone call "Dutch", but he doesn't remember that Dutch had a brother involved in the business. I found an old picture on the Internet of the store from 1905. Information on the JoCo History website indicates that the store was probably built in the 1890s.

At some point, George Russell bought the store and the farm that bordered the property. We can't recall what the store was called, but it was a Pay Way Feed store , which is a now defunct chain of feed stores. We also don't recall when changed to a "Master Mix" store.

George Russell had four children, three boys and a girl. Bill, the one that became a rural letter carrier and later ran the store, lived in a house in back of the store to the east. The daughter lived in the larger original Russell house all her life. She had cerebral palsy and required a wheelchair to get around. Despite that, and with the help of a motorized wheelchair and a specially outfitted van, she was able to drive and spent most of her life as a high school teacher.

And one final story. This kind of makes me feel old, but many of you might not remember all the small regional phone companies and how big a deal making a "long distance" phone call could be. It would, in part, depend on the day of the week and the time of the day, but a phone call from within one regional phone company's area to another neighboring region could cost more than a call that went across the country. Bonita sat right at the border of two regional phone companies. I don't recall what the official company names were, but one covered the Olathe area and the other covered Spring Hill. My grandparents were in the Spring Hill companies territory, but since they lived much closer to Olathe, most all their phone calls were considered long distance.

The Russells had the same problem, but since they were right on the border, they had a solution. The house line was connected to Spring Hill and the phone in the store was connected to Olathe. This way they saved a lot of money just by walking 50 feet to use a different phone. This went on for decades, but eventually around 1990, the phone companies got wise to this and decided that they didn't like it. They insisted that they chose either Olathe or Spring Hill for both lines. It wasn't a hard choice. The Russells dropped the Spring Hill service. By this time these small regional companies were on their way out, so it really didn't have much impact.