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Apparently, if you were a little kid in Hobart in 1957, you wore Buster Brown or nothing. Well, maybe you could get something else at Stommel's.
I like the assortment of goods packed into that small space. In the foreground, tissues; then sewing supplies, like cards of buttons and seam binding, and rolls of ribbon. Beyond the Buster Brown display, shelves full of yarn and socks. Saddle shoes and loafers. Ladies' nylons with reinforced heels. Then more children's clothing against the back wall. Up on the wall, kites and curtains.
The notes on the back of the photo don't tell us which dime store:
It might have been Harvey's, which, contrary to what the old-timer(s) remembered in 1979, didn't burn down until 1961:
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Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 27 Dec. 1961.
But then again we have photos of Elinor's from the 1957 Hobart High School yearbook, supposedly in that same location, so I'm confused.
I believe the Schultz Bros. Variety Store was operating on Main Street in 1957; that's another possibility. It is listed at 313 Main in my 1962 Hobart directory, and according to this 1940 column of Hobart-related news, had been operating in Hobart at least since 1939 (exact location unknown):
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Hammond Times, 5 Aug. 1940.
(So why did Almira Kramer and Claude Nelson get married secretly? Anybody know the story?)
2 comments:
The second dime store fire in Lake County in 36 hours? Hmm.
I don't have any first hand information on Almira and Claude Nelson. But the 1950 census shows their first child was born around 1946 so that can't have been the reason. Maybe just a romantic elopement?
I say that's Schultz Bros, not only because it looks like it (fond memories spending hours in that store) but also those poles. If you went to that Dollar Tree today, those poles are still there.
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