Burr Oak general store

When I was about twelve my father's mother left the hospital kitchen and moved back to Burr Oak, having purchased one of the two general stores there. It came with a bit of property which was mostly grass with a stream running through it and rose bushes and other flowers along the north and west sides of the yard. There was also a little bridge over the stream. Somewhere I have a photo of Sandy trotting across this bridge. The west side had taller trees and the lawn was always shady with the store building on the east and the trees on the west. Midday we could play on the grass on the north side of the store. On the east side of the store was the highway and the main entrance by way of an open porch complete with benches for idlers in good weather. On the south side of the store was a gravel back road leading out to farms and the outside stairs up to the apartment over the store. The apartment had normal eight- or ten-foot ceilings, but the store's ceiling was two stories high, at least sixteen feet, maybe twenty. There was a sliding ladder on wheels that ran along the north wall where the hardware was. They kept the bins of nuts and nails and washers and stuff like that up high on that wall. It was my job to inventory those things every year between Christmas and New Year's Day, along with my family counting everything in the store. About two-thirds of the way to the back of the store there was a wood stove with chairs around it where some of the men would hang out and gossip in the winter when there was little to do on their farms. I remember the fuss when Gramma got in some little shopping carts that people could use instead of the baskets. She was hoping it would help people buy more stuff--and it did--once they got used to the idea. Every afternoon when we were there Gramma would ask us what we wanted for supper and we would just go get whatever it was right from the store and take it upstairs to cook. In 1971 when my parents moved to Lake Havasu City, AZ, Gramma sold the store and went with them.