 McKiddyville Store Cleveland County, Oklahoma 
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McKiddyville Store Cleveland County, Oklahoma
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Lawrence W. McKiddy son of James &Nancy "Elizabeth"(Bennett) McKiddy grandson of William &Elizabeth(Harp) McKiddy g-grandson of Henry G. &Mary(LNU) McKiddy b: 17 Jan 1907 |
"The Norman (Okla) Transcript" Sunday, January 16, 1977 "Good times at McKiddyville store fondly remembered" By John J. Corbin Of the Transcript Staff |
a relic of Oklahoma's rural past. What first catches the eye are two gasoline pumps, old rusty shells that no longer relinquish their leaded fuel. Indeed, no one has stopped here for gas in years. Behind the pumps looms a one-story building, nestled in tall grass. Its wood siding is blanched and peeling and the two screen doors, when they're not wired shut, are flapping in the wind. It's merely a skeleton of the grocery store it sued to be. The windows are boarded, but there's nothing inside worth a peep. If the walls could talk, they might repeat the sounds of youngsters nagging Mom and Dad to buy penny bubble gum or of farmers chewing the fat while sipping a cola. Those were friendlier times for the old McKiddyville store, as folks today fondly remember. McKiddyville -- the name was derived from the man who built the store back in 1937, former Cleveland County Commissioner Lawrence W. McKiddy -- was really a community centery. Besides stopping by to shop and chat, people from around the Slaughterville-Lexington area would gather there for quilting bees, to shell peas and hold meetings. Revival meetings were conducted under a brush arbor located nearby. McKiddy and his first wife, Alice, welcomed guests to their home, which was behind the store. "It was a four-room house I had brought in from Seminole with a moving rig," McKiddy said. Neighbors and McKiddy's four brothers helped him build the store and he operated it from 1937 to 1946. The late Frank Simmons was owner and manager from 1947 to 1968. The property is on 3-1/2 acres, a tract which McKiddy purchased from his father, J.A. McKiddy, at the price of $10 an acre. "I wasn't able to pay for it right away," said McKiddy, who now lives in Lexington. Grocery prices then were cheaper than today: eggs 10 cents a dozen; bread, a nickel a loaf; ground coffee, two pounds for a quarter; soft drinks, 5 cents a bottle, and two quarts of oil for 25 cents. Gas -- delivered from a hand- cranked pump before electic-powered pumps were installed -- was 15 cents per gallon for regular and 3 cents more for ethyl. "I didn't sell too much ethyl," the sandy-haired septuagenarian recalled. "They didn't have the money to pay it." Farmers were poor and credit was a way of life. Though McKiddy accepted credit, he claimed to have lost only $1,000 from customers who defaulted. In reaction to a fellow who refused to pay, McKiddy jumped over the counter and warned, "you pay me now." "He's the only one I had to get rough with." But a couple who slipped past the grocery clerk's bookkeeping paid an unusual visit to McKiddy's Lexington residence two years ago and handed him $20. "The husband said," mused McKiddy, 'I owed you $20 and I didn't have the money to pay you then.'" His ever-expanding operation took on more and more merchandise. There were few scarcities, with the exception of war-time rationing of pepper, tobacco, sugar and other select products. McKiddy sold the store in 1946. A year later, he became a county commissioner, a post he held for 22 years. Frank Simmons, who died last February (1976), manager the operation for 21 years. His wife, Ethel, preceded him in death in 1975. One day in 1968, Simmons' son, Bob, related, Frank "walked out" of the store and never returned. "He just didn't want to do it any more, so he decided it was time to retire." Bob and his wife, Kay, remember goings-on there long before the store closed. So do Ruth Calvert and her children. She and the Simmons presently operate a nursing home in Norman. As for who worked the store, "we all did as long as it was open," the younger Simmons said. He told how the store became a community center, since the nearest mart was seven miles away in Slaughterville. Credit was accepted by Frank Simmins and his helpers, too. "When people paid their grocery bills at the end of the month, we gave them a free sack of candy for the kids," Bob remarked. Electricity was installed in 1949, greatly modernizing grocery services. But the store's country flavor was never lost. "We used to have a porch in front with an awning. You could sit out there on a hot day," Mrs. Simmons said. Simmons and his father waited on customers at all hours of the day and night. "The people," he noted, "were all farmers. They'd work until dark, then come to the store around 10 o'clock for supplies." Security was lax, mainly because there were few strangers around these parts. To one customer, Simmons recollected, he gave the keys to the store "so he could help himslef." Notwithstanding, the store was never burglarized, according to Simmins. Whether people were, in fact, more honest in those days is debatable. But at least they were never cheated at the McKiddyville store. |
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