Dense population helps
Although the last two decades have seen Emporia grow to the northwest, both in residential and commercial properties, business owners who stayed or opened on the east side of town say the area is far from dead and still offers plenty for east side residents to enjoy.
Among the offerings down East 12th Avenue from Commercial Street to Burlingame Road are a grocery store, coin laundry, three places to grab a meal, a car wash, storage sheds, gas station, liquor store, a barber shop, a senior cener, a bank, dentist, a bar and two auto repair and tire shops.
There’s also ample housing.
Apartments, Greek houses and rental houses cater to Emporia State University students. Older houses where families have lived for 40 years or more stand side by side with newer homes.
Sunflower Meadows, a housing development at Burlingame Road and Riley Avenue was built in recent years, adding to the east side population.
Danny Giefer has owned 12th Avenue Car Wash for 26 years, East Storage for 15 years and the building that houses Peking Express for 13 years. All are in the 700 block of East 12th Avenue.
Giefer and his wife Betty also own two other car washes in Emporia — one on South Commercial Street and one on West Sixth Avenue.
Giefer said the dynamics of the east side of town haven’t changed much.
“There was a change last year in the type of people that were there,” Giefer said. “Other than that I don’t see too much (changes).”
Giefer said his business remains very strong on the east side. His business depends on the weather, but it’s usually steady.
“I don’t have any problems,” he said. “It’s probably the most densely populated area in the city of Emporia.”
Part of that population comes from students at Emporia State University who live in apartments, Greek houses and some rental houses. Giefer said he tends to lose about 15 percent of his business when the college students are gone.
“There’s a lot of traffic down that road,” he said of East 12th Avenue. “It’s like any part of town — you have to be on your toes for the business to survive.”
Giefer and other business owners along East 12th Avenue have seen several businesses come and go.
A longtime Dairy Queen just west of Giefer’s car wash dropped the franchise to become Dari Delights Eats & Treats. It recently moved to West U.S. Highway 50 near Graphic Arts Road.
Movie Gallery adjacent to the Dillons store on East 12th Avenue closed when the company decided to keep as its sole Emporia location in Plaza West on Industrial Road.
Another duplicate business closed earlier when the owners of Emporia’s two Burger King stores decided to keep open just the location at 18th Avenue and Industrial Road.
The moves lessened some direct competition and seemed to help the businesses that remained.
“I think Hardee’s does very well in there,” Giefer said. “They seem like there’s always a lot of people.”
Hardee’s, at 1126 E. 12th Ave., was just a few blocks west of the Burger King that closed. With the departure of Dari Delights, Hardee’s is the only fast-food hamburger restaurant on East 12th Avenue. The other restaurants focus on subs and pasta (Mr. Goodcents at 1004 E. 12th Ave.) and Chinese (Peking Express).
Old Rum’s Liquor, 906 E. 12th Ave., has been owned by Nancy Rumold since 2002. Her son, Bob Rumold manages the store, which has been in its current location for many years before the Rumolds bought it, he said.
When the second Dillons location on the west side of Emporia closed, Rumold said, more business started coming to the east-side Dillons.
Old Rum’s customer base has largely stayed the same, Rumold said.
“Being next to Dillon’s is a big benefit for this liquor store,” he added.
If Dillon’s were to leave, however, Rumold said business would dry up.
“If it goes out, I’d probably pack up and move to the west side,” he said.
Another benefit of the east side is being off the Interstate, said Alicia Rumold, Bob Rumold’s wife.
“You catch the traffic going out of town,” she said.
Express Tire & Auto, 806 E. 12th Ave., is celebrating its 15th year in business. When the full-service auto repair shop and tire store, opened in 1994 it was a satellite store to another one on 15th Avenue, said John Ingold, who owns Express Tire & Auto along with his wife, Karla.
Ingold said he’s seen new apartments go up and new housing in the area. Business has been growing as well.
“We continue to grow every year,” he said.
Ingold said on advantage is that there are only a couple of auto repair places on his side of town.
“There are a lot of people that live on the east side,” Ingold said.
Ingold said he expects his business to continue to thrive on the east side.
“There’s going to be a challenge all around, but I think this year will be a good year,” he added.
...Thenneighborhood shops
Before malls and discount shops and big-box stores made one-stop shopping a way of life, Emporia bustled with businesses, from city limit to city limit.
Residents on the east side of Emporia needed only to walk a few blocks to reach just about any goods or services they needed 50 years ago, during the post-war boom and beyond, until national companies began encroaching on the incomes of “mom and pop” stores and pulled the city limits and the majority of businesses — though far fewer in number — to the northwest side of town.
The 1949 Polk City Directory showed that the 10 block of East Sixth Avenue, between Commercial and Mechanic streets, was alive with shops and business offices.
On the southwest corner, upstairs, the Emporia Municipal Band had its office.
Other businesses in the 10 block, including the north and south sides of the street, were the Ideal Cafe, Rees Drapery & Novelty Shop, Mary Jane Shop children’s clothing, King’s Shoe Hospital, Fred J. Scott Insurance Agency, Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Baird Paint Store, Rudolph B. Downs Shoes, Baird Cleaners, B.F. Goodrich, Dilworth Food Market, Emporia Tobacco & Candy Co., Polly Products meat products, Jones Hatchery, Rice Cleaners, Irish-Seybold Hardware & Auto Supply, and Phillips Feed & Produce.
The Mutual Building, now the Capitol Federal building — listed as 6 E. Sixth Ave. in 1949 — held the Joseph Hoeppli chiropractic office, American National Insurance Co., Barr-Kuhlmann Co., Hugh H. Bruner dental practice, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars “Local 7957.”
The Navy, Army, and Air Force had their recruiting offices in the city building, in the 100 block of East Sixth, as did the U.S. Selective Service System and the State Employment Services, the municipal band and the business men’s chorus practice room.
Across the street from city hall were Newton Brothers’ Buick dealership and the Emporia Public Library.
In the 200 block, between Market and Union streets, were Arney-Schulenberg Motor Co., the Community Center, the office of Harold L. Kendig, Mack’s Conoco Service, Continental Oil Company’s bulk agent, and the Conoco Travel Bureau.
No businesses were listed by Polk from Union to Cottonwood Streets on East Sixth Avenue. In the 500 block, however, stores and homes shared space.
L.M. Cook Tire Co. and Rayl’s Food Market stood between Cottonwood and Sylvan streets.
The First Friends Church anchored the southwest corner at Sylvan and Sixth and Voight Oil Co. was across the street, while Mossman Food Market held down the corner at end of the block.
The M-K-T Railroad passenger depot sat just inside the city limits in the 700 block of East Sixth, while just across the city boundary line, still in the 700 block, were the Smith Lumber Co., Standard Oil Co. bulk station, M-K-T freight depot, Kansas Lumber Co., Seacats Gas Service, Bill’s Place Restaurant and Socony Vacuum Oil Co. bulk plant.
The Texas Co. bulk plant was in the 800 block, along with Cannon Market, Emporia Tourist Courts, and Over Lee Tourist Camp.
Clow’s Home Furniture and Clow’s Cabins were listed at 903 Peyton Street. Bowden Body & Fender Shop, Thomas Truck Terminal, Mack’s Lunch, Jones Service Station, and the Hobby House filled out the remainder of the block.
The Faust Sales Company, which distributed beer, was the lone business noted between Whittier Street and the AT&SF Railway underpass. Metcalf Salvage Yard occupied much of the block between Carter and Clark Street.
Business picked up again at Clark Street, with the Star Grocery, Square Deal Auto Salvage, Emporia Auto Machine Shop and Rich Farm Supply store filling the block to the intersection with Whildin street.
Farmers Supply and Kansas Auto Salvage were between Whildin and Dorset Drive’s end, with S & S Super Service listed as the only business between Dorset and Weaver Street.
Nearby streets had their share of shops and offices, such as the Shirley Ann Bakery, Jones Plumbing & Heating, Carnes Office Supply, Pennington Auto Supply, Ace Auto Glass, Kansas Soya Products
Even with all of those businesses, the numbers in 1949 were down considerably in some blocks of East Sixth from the business listings in 1930.
By 1949, the B-T-L Hupmobile Co. had vanished from the scene, as had Boyd Smith auto tops, Diamond Oil, L.D. Ryan veterinary surgery, Purl H. Clodfelter Real Estate and McClaskey Motor Co.
Rose Hodgson apparently had closed her restaurant, as had the T.W. Francis grocery, the Alfalfa Milling Company, Fowler Brothers Gas and Oil, and Shaw’s Hatchery.
The filling stations that had dotted the streetline in the 1930s had dwindled down to only a few by 1949.
East 12th Avenue was holding a share of commerce in 1949, according to the Polk City Directory though several businesses from the 1930 directory had disappeared by 1949.
The Egner Bakery at 15 E. 12th Ave., and the Daily Bakery that had placed it, were both gone.
McGuire & Mock had operated a filling station in the 100 block and Andy Toelle’s grocery store and Wilbert Glick’s electrician shop were in the 300 block. Everett Thompkins had a barbershop at 406 East 12th Ave. and East Side Grocery operated at 511 E. 12th Ave.
A block east, Howard Cannon’s grocery store was open, near a filling station owned by Victor Auwarter.
Apiarist Charles Chandler kept his beekeeping operation in the 900 block and J. Edward Bradshaw ran a dairy in the 1000 block, near the avenue’s intersection with Whittier Street.
James F. Higbee had a truck garden that spanned several decades in the 1400 block of East 12th Avenue, just east of Burlingame Road.
Many of those businesses were gone by 1949, but basic needs like groceries could still be filled within a short walk from home.
The 12th Avenue Grocery had opened near the corner of 12th and Highland Street, and three blocks farther east, was Cannon Market No. 2. A number of smaller grocery stores were scattered off the main streets and served primarily only their neighborhoods.
Within a few years, those small stores began to feel the pinch of chain stores and their volume pricing.
Two such stores were owned and operated by Kyle Stotts and his son, Lyle.
The stores opened in the early to mid-1940s, with one on East 10th Avenue between Cottonwood and Exchange streets and the other on East Eighth Avenue between the same north-south streets.
Dennis Stotts, son of Lyle, remembered his family’s businesses from his childhood, and the customer service they provided.
“He’d deliver groceries,” Stotts said of his late father. “Everybody had charge tickets.”
Sometimes the charge tickets went unpaid, most often when customers from a nearby trailer court moved away during the night. In the mid-1950s, chain stores began pricing the neighborhood stores out of business.
“When Kroger’s came to town, that did it,” Stotts said. “Because Dad could buy stuff cheaper from Kroger than he could buy from his wholesaler.”
Kroger’s opened a large store at what is now Navrat’s Office Products at 728 Mechanic St. When the company eventually moved, A&P — then in the 500 block of Commercial Street — took over the store.
“Kroger’s the one that just kind of wiped out everybody,” Stotts said.
By 1980, though numbers were down, some basic businesses remained on the east side, and new ones had opened up that reflected changes in the culture of the town.
The 10 block of East Sixth remained crowded with businesses, though bars and taverns were beginning to encroach on the small shops.
Pleasure Waterbeds and Leather Goods, Darla’s One-Stop Realty, The Music Man, H&R Block and McAntee, Lawrence, Wilcox insurance were circled by The Brew House, The Brew House Too, Fire Side Disco, Foxie Ladies and Ye Olde Heidelberg Inn, a tavern that did a brisk lunch trade and featured an oversized hamburger-bacon-cheese burger with bleu cheese dressing that old-timers in Emporia still remember fondly.
Across Mechanic Street, the city had ousted the military recruiters and tour service at the city building.
Chicken’s Pride Restaurant, King Liquor, Hicks Electric, Hair Affair, Toelle Liquor Store and Bob Crawford had replaced the 1949 businesses in the 300 to 500 blocks of East Sixth.
Farther east, the street continued its signs of changing times.
Hollar’s Electronics and Minilab TV Stereo Service both had opened near East Street; on the north side of the street, people who didn’t have washing machines could take their dirty clothes to Stewart Laundry Service.
Mark II Lumber & Materials previously had taken over a former grocery store around Sixth Avenue and Peyton Street, and only one other service station was listed by Polk on Sixth between Commercial and Lakeview Sixty-Six.
There was evidence of Emporians’ having more spendable income for discretionary items: The Dog House opened in the 800 block of Sixth.
East of Peyton, six truck lines operated in the 900 block, along with the nearby Guy’s Foods Inc. potato chip business.
Today’s East Sixth Avenue beyond Mechanic Street has a trimmed-down business district, though a limited number of stores — a car wash, a small grocery, Mexican restaurant, liquor store, tobacco shop and a gas station — that provide easy and quick access.
East 12th Avenue has similar offerings beyond the downtown area, with a convenience store and ample gas pumps, a coin laundry, bar, tire and auto repair business, a Chinese restaurant, car wash, liquor store and other small businesses.
Its grocery store is a full-sized Dillons, a Kansas-grown chain that now operates under the umbrella of Kroger.