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FAQ's by students
--- Answered by Linda Shanks to the best of her
ability. If you have a better answer, please
contact ... Linda
Question's asked by Crestview Fifth Grade Classes, May 19, 2003
- How and why did you get the caboose? When we were talking to
the owners of the Railroad, Norfolk Southern, about acquiring the depot they
offered it to us. At that time the railroads were doing away with using
a caboose at the end of trains and they didn't need it any more and since we
were interested in the depot as a museum, they thought we might be interested
in having a caboose for our "historical park". They are really
hard to find and so we are lucky to have one. It fits in very nicely
with our "railroad" history for the city of Clive.
- What was Clive's opinion of blacks at the time? Was there
segregation? According to Mildred Swanson there were black families
that lived in the area. Mr. Ben Shepherd was a bachelor and the brother
of Mrs. Robert Anderson. He lived where Barr Bicycle Shop is now
located. Mr. & Mrs. Robert Anderson had two children, Leonard and
Maxine. The children attended Clive School. They lived were Ream's
Noodle factory is now and they were treated just like any other residents.
Mildred played with Leonard and Maxine as they were neighbors.
- Did Mrs. Swanson make a good living? Could she eat the food and
use the goods from the store? We have ledgers from the store that
shows what she sold for the years that it was open. The living she made
was adequate to take care of her family. Mildred indicates in her
writings that they had a good life. Yes, they could use any of the items
in the store since they were owned by Mrs. Swanson.
- Why did Clive decide to restore the home? The Historical
Society was formed by a group of people who wanted to make sure that we
remembered our history. When Mildred Swanson passed away, she left the
property to the city to be used as a park. The city came to us and asked
if we would be interested in restoring and managing the store. For us it
was a great opportunity as we were looking for a place to move the depot and
caboose to. So the two situations were joined and we certainly were
thrilled to be able to make the house back into a General Store.
- Are you planning on expanding even more? Well, we are
thinking about it, but we are also surrounded by other businesses that makes
it difficult to get much bigger. We are working with the city to see
what else we could do. Nothing specific at this time.
- What did it cost to restore the building? Certainly more than
it cost to build it in the first place. Mrs. Swanson would be very
surprised but we hope pleased. Approximately $45,000. The addition
had to be removed and replaced, the interior was gutted to remove walls that
had been added, floors had to be replaced that had been destroyed by termites.
When our contractor removed the 13 layers of wall paper in the main rooms he
could see exactly where the shelves had been in the store, so he built the
shelves to match the original ones.
- What was the train used for? The most important use was the
freight trains. These handled getting things that people needed from one
place to another. Cattle went to market, wheat, corn, flour went from
the country to the cities. Passengers went in passenger cars to the
different town along the train route. Mail crossed the country much
faster than it ever could before. Our own store was a POST OFFICE and we
have pictures to prove it. :-)
- The cookies in the store - Did Mrs. Swanson make them or did someone
else? Probably both. Mildred does talk about the cookies on
display in boxes with isinglass lids. Sponge cookies with coconut
topping, Mary-Ann cookies flavored with ginger were some of the ones that Mrs.
Swanson purchased for sale.
- How did her husband die? Typhoid Fever. They lived in
Grimes at the time.
- Did the kids work in the store? Yes
- Why did Mrs. Swanson choose to have a store instead of a hat shop?
Because "it could provide them with every thing they ate, wore and owned" and
the same items could be used by others in the community.
- What did a train ticket cost? You could go from Clive to Des
Moines for 5 cents.
- What was the most expensive thing in the store? Good
question. I will need to research that one by looking in the ledgers
that we have that were written by Mrs. Swanson. Remember though, things
could be special ordered if the store didn't have it in stock.
- Did the train have first class and second class tickets? Yes,
although I doubt if it was called first and second class. Passenger
trains had different cars for those who could afford to travel in better
conditions. Some had very comfortable seats, others were little more the
benches. Passenger trains had cars that were like a restaurant where
food was prepared and served. Cars that had sleeping compartments with
beds and facilities for washing. If you couldn't afford those for
long trips, then you sat up in seats all the way and took your own lunch/food.
There were many trains that went through Clive in the early days and they were
all kinds, doing lots of work that is now done by Semi-trucks.
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