C. L. Leonard Drygoods, Notions, and Shoes, Delton, Michigan

My earliest memories are of my father's grocery store. Since we lived in a house attached to, and above the store, the store was "home" and its patrons were like a second family.

Inside, there were counters along each side of the store. To the right, behind the counter, were shelves laden with canned goods; fruits, vegetables and soupls. Toward the middle of the counter stood the cash register, a big brown contraptions, its face covered with numbered keys in the dollars and cents places. The register made a happy clang as the various purchases were rung up.

Just beyond the cash register sat the glass bell and round wooden slab which housed the huge wheel of cheddar cheese. Dad's cheeses were famous in the area for their tasty, tangy flavor. Customers came from far and near to get their fix of cheese. Near the cheese bell, but next to the wall, was the red coffee grinder. For a few years, the grinder was operated by hand, but after the arrival of electricity in Delton, Dad was able to install an electric grinder, just as big and just as red as the old one, but much more efficient.

Placed at the end of each counter were wrapping paper dispensers. Each dispenser held two or three rolls of heavy paper. The widest was on the bottom, with each roll becoming narrower further up. Meat was wrapped in specially treated paper to prevent leakage of juices. After the purchases were wrapped, the packages had to be tied up. Dispensers for the string were suspended from the ceiling, close to the paper rolls. The string was wound on heavy cardboard cones which fitted onto a spike in the dispenser. The string was allowed to fall from the cone down toward the counter, within easy reach of the clerks. There was a trick to snapping the string without harming one's fingers. I was well into my teens before I learned it!

The left side of the store housed the drygoods. There were shelves stacked with bolts of colorful percale fabrics, boxes containing underwear, shirts, overalls and socks for men and hsiery and undies for women. Bias tape and embroidery floss were in special partitioned boxes. There was a large circular case for displaying and storing spools of thread. A small door near the bottom of the case allowed access to the spools as the inner carousel was rotated. Attached to the counter was a device used to measure yard goods. The material was placed in the slot, a button was pushed, and as the fabric was pulled through, the number of yards measured was registered on the dial.

When I was about six years old, Dad purchased a meat cooler. Until that time, to get fresh meat, one had to go across the street to Mr. Murphy's meat market. The cooler was a great addition to the store. Dad stocked fresh meat and lunch meat in the top where it was displayed behind the heavy glass. Underneath were three big doors. Here was stored more meat, milk and cream from the Highland Dairy in Hastings and the one pound blocks of butter from the Delton Creamery.

Cookies! I mustn't forget cookies! On the left, about halfway to the back were the cookies. In those days they were not packaged in the colorful wrappers of today, but arrived at the store in large ten to fifteen pound cartons. The tops of the boxes would be removed and a frame with a glass door would be placed over the carton. A card with the cost per pound fitted in a corner of the door. The cookies, then, seemed to be a taste of heaven—Oreos, clocolate covered marshmallow cookies (pink and white), sugar wafers, vanilla wafers, giner snaps and Fig Newtons. What a selection! What tasty treats!

Then there was the candy case, a large glass display case with the sliding doors at the back. On the upper shelves were the "expensive" bars—a whole nickel apiece. There were Hershey Bars, Milky Ways, Butterfingers and Baby Ruths. On the lower shelf lived the penny candies. Mainly I remember the chocolate stars. If I was good, I MIGHT get one or two of these a week.

In the back of the store were the bulk items. Coffee, tea, sugar, oatmeal and flour did not come prepackaged. When there was a lull in business, clerks would be there at the bins, scooping, weighing and measuring these items, tying the bags closed and labeling them as to size, anywhere from one pound to five or ten pound bags.

Flour came from the mill in cloth sacks. Customers often came in to buy the sacks for fabric. Herb Campbell always bought flour sacks to make his shirts. They were mighty fine shirts too, an art he had learned from his mother who used to sew for lumberjacks in the north woods.

Near the rear of the store in the center aisle in winter stood the big potbellied stove, and setting it up each fall was a major production. Dad had to clean out the chimneys and get help to cart the stove into the store. The stove had to be properly positioned on its fireproof mat and under the chimney before he could place the metal stacks between the stove and the chimney. The chimney ran through my bedroom and was the source of heat in the winter. It also provided entertainment when I was supposed to be napping. I could peer through the grill and keep an eye on the activities of those in the store below. As customers would wander by or stop to warm themselves, I eavesdropped on many a conversation.

Out in the front of the store was a gas pump. This too, was red and circular. At the top was a ten gallon glass cylinder contained within a metal frame and capped with a red on white glass crown. The cylinder was marked off in gallons. On the body of the pump was a long vertical lever. By pushing the lever back and forth, gasoline was pumped into the glass cylinder. Gas was fed into fuel tanks much the same as today. By watching the level of gas in the cylinder, one could determine how much gas was being pumped.

Under the store was a dark and dank spidery cellar. I hated going down there because it was so spooky. The cellar was where the barrels containing the vinegar and mosasses were stored. The barrels were rolled down the stairs that provided access to the cellar from outside. Once in the cellar, they were righted and a pump placed inside the barrel through a bunghole in the top. Customers would bring in their own containers to be filled from the cellar supply.

When I was very young, Dad's desk was out in the corner of the store. It was a very large, oak roll top with a lot pigeon holds and drawers. The desk was so large that underneath, in the kneehole, there was a partition dividing the front from the back. Here was just enough room for a small kid to crawl through and besecure in his or her own hidey-hole. Playing hide and seek was one of my favorite games. One day, when I was supposed to be napping, I snuck downstairs into the store and under the desk. Time came for the nap to be over and Mother couldn't find me. Mom and Dad called and called, but no answer! Everyone, clerks, customers, parents, searched the store and the house. Someone even peeked into the kneehole, though not far enough. It was winter, the floor was cold and drafty and I was tired of this game. I didn't dare come out so I started to make little moans that frightened everyone even more. They feared I'd somehow gotten into the attic room, fallen between the joists and down into the walls. But no, the attic was still locked. Finally Kathryn Horton came into the store. She heard the story and remembered my favorite game and the hidey-hole. She was small enough to crawl all the way under the desk and finally hauled me out. I was abashed at all the attention and sure I'd end up with a blistered bottom. As it turned out, 'twas only my ears that got blistered!

Shopping in those early days was very different from today. There were no carts for customers to push through the aisles as they gathered their groceries. The clerks waited on the customers and as the lists were read off, the clerks got the groceries, usually one item at a time and assembled them on one end of the counter. As the orders were filled, the items were listed on the bill with the price. Then the bill was totalled up. Since there was only one adding machine, every clerk was very adept at addition.

There were a lot of good people who worked for my dad in those early years. Frances Norwood, Ike and Myrtle Leinaar, Elwyn Hayward, Donald and Jean McBain, Clare Richards, Kenneth and Kathryn Horton, and I'm sure many others whom I don't remember. They were more than Dad's employees; they were all good friends.

How fortunate I was to have spent my earliest years in Delton among all the good folks of the village and the surrounding farms.

Barbara and Betty Leonard with Grandmother Harriet Leonard, in the 1930s

Betty Leonard Burchell was the oldest daughter of Charles Leon and Eloyse Leonard, and the oldest granddaughter of William and Harriet Leonard. She was born in December of 1925 and lived at the store until the family moved into their new home on Orchard Street in 1933. William owned the Brickyard in Delton along with sons Leon and George. After it closed, Leon bought the store in Delton. Read more about William, the Brickyard and Leon...