Historic Hood River
J.E. Hanna’s Cheap Cash Store, 1891
1-22-2014
Notes
In 1891 J.E. Hanna opened this store on SW corner of Oak Street and First. Mr. Hanna is the man on the right without a hat. Mrs. Hanna (Margaret) is standing by the gate. Florence Hanna is the little girl on the steps. The second man to the left of Mr. Hanna is Jud Ferguson, the jeweler. We don’t know the names of any of the other men, though the man to the left of Jud Ferguson has a star on his jacket so he is probably the constable.
The print includes a careful accounting of the various owners of this store:
- 1st 1891 JE Hanna
- 2nd 1893? Hanna and Wolford
- 3rd Wolford and Bone
- 4th 1898 Bone and McDonald
- 5th McDonald
We saw this store once before in this image.
charlott
Find it rather strange that there is a door in the upper story and doesn’t lead to a porch or something. I assume that is a clock on the pole.
Ralph
Upstairs delivery entrance.
Faux pocket watch on pole.
Arthur
Upstairs doors are often used to move furniture in and out of an upstairs residence. A few years later they added a nice upstairs porch, so maybe that was the plan from the start.
Pretty sure that’s a scale on the pole.
l.e.
Charlott….I have often wondered why we discontinued the practice of a second story door. Especially when trying to move a queen size mattress into an upstairs bedroom.
There appears to have been a number of Hanna’s in the Wasco Co. area during this time. I have been reading 1894 The Dalles Chronicle issues about the big flood and the name Hanna comes up quite often.
Here is an 1895 clipping of a Mazama climb on Mt Adams. Mr and Mrs. JE Hanna and three children, and Mrs. CM Wolford are mentioned along with other HR names.
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~westklic/camponma.htm
Ralph
"The second man to the left of Mr. Hanna is Jud Ferguson, the jeweler"
It looks like clocks and pocket watches displayed in the windows. Pretty flimsy post for a scale.
Arthur
I checked the scan and there is no hook for a scale. As Ralph points out the window is full of clocks, so I guess Ralph and Charlott are right about this being advertising art for the clock business. I don’t see any indication it was a functioning clock– no hands visible.
Steve
I spy a goat … Oh ! It’s a horse perhaps…
l.e.
I like the goat shadow better. With your eyes Steve, you can probably tell if it is a male or female.
A gentleman named Guy Crow came to Hood River in January of 1895 and worked as a delivery boy for Hanna & Wolford. In 1898 he accompanied Clinton Wolford to White Salmon and worked for him for eight years in his store.
Longshot2
The upstairs door would have been left open to provide air into the rooms or hallway as it is screened. I think it was open when the picture was taken. Several of the upstairs windows are also open and have removeable screens installed. On top of being used to move furniture, I wonder if the door was considered fire egress in its day? Easy to lay a ladder against the building and get people out that way. They were probably eliminated because both kids and adults would accidently walk out through them and take a nasty fall.
Longshot2
What is the word before "furnishings" on the sign?
Is that a doll or a real child on the steps?
l.e.
Arthur’s notes say it is Florence Hanna sitting on the steps.
A 1937 biography of Jud Ferguson:
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~westklic/juferguso.html
spinsur
I believe it’s "Gent’s Furnishings".
Arlen Sheldrake
question, does the word CASH in the store sign mean that they didn’t carry a tab for folk? is this something that became common later? my understanding of family history is that the John H. Sheldrake (grandfather) store in Parkdale went under as the depression hit and many folk couldn’t cover their grocery store tabs……
that shadow looks like a horse with a feed bag……(or a BIG goat)
l.e.
Probably some of you are already aware of this bit of history. Every time a photo of the Hanna store comes up I think about it, but decide not to say anything.
Arthur if you feel this does not belong here, then feel free to delete it. However, I decided that there have been other controversial topics in Hood River’s history so why not this one.
Ruth Hanna was another daughter of Maggie and J.E. Hanna. She was younger than Florence. Born in 1895 in the upstairs portion of this store. At the age of 17, she became pregnant. Unmarried, she went to an abortion doctor in Portland. Later, she herself became widely known and controversial for performing abortions.
Oregon Live did an article about her in 2009.
http://www.oregonlive.com/O/index.ssf/2009/08/early_portland_abortion_provid.html
She wrote an autobiography and there is also a biography titled "The Abortionist: A Woman Against the Law.
Sorry about the long link, but it is the best one I could find that included text and early Hood River photos.
http://books.google.com/books?id=biIowRhQwuYC&pg=PA54-IA3&lpg=PA54-IA3&dq=ruth+hanna+abortionist&source=bl&ots=B5n-y9Iugi&sig=kjo7IN8WgbXuKj5at-Ffo4sTlzU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_nvgUte0FoLmoASDwoKYDQ&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ruth%20hanna%20abortionist&f=false
Ruth’s mother Maggie Gregory and her siblings, had been raised by the Bartmess family. So, there was also a family connection with the Bartmess name
l.e.
Oooops, sorry. I tried to be accurate in my information and still got dates wrong.
Ruth Hanna was born November 22, 1892.
She passed away December 21, 1969.
Arlen Sheldrake
I for one see no controversy…..history is history.
Buzz
After my daughter got into genealogy and reviewed the history of some of our ancestors, I learned to be more tolerant of others. Humans will be human.
Charlott
Well, there were Hanna’s that operated think it was Homestead Inn up on the Cloud Cap Road. I will check into that. That would definitely explain their interest in mountain climbing.
Nancy Trotic
Re the term "cash store," I do know that my great-grandfather, Ira Ulyssess "Lyss" Lafferty, and his partner Clint Wood had a grocery store in Odell (as well as some in other places in the area) that in our family records and newspaper articles was referred to variously as the Odell Cash Store and the "Stone Store." But a large article that came out in a newspaper after the store burned in 1945 mentioned that customers were indeed extended credit.
Charlott
You might wish to go back a few pictures Nancy as there is a photo of Odell and a lot of information about the Stone Store.
Arthur
Amazing how many different topics came out of this one photo!
The animal shadow is in fact a horse. The original isn’t cropped so tight so most of the horse is clearly visible. It seems to be part of a team pulling a wagon, possibly delivering goods to Hanna’s.
Cash stores generally did not extend credit, but it’s possible the term was also borrowed by merchants who wanted the reputation for lower prices. Contemporary with this image was the E.L. Smith store (later George Crowell Store) at 2nd and Oak, which was a full credit store. In an agricultural community like Hood River general stores acted very much like banks, extending credit until harvest time when cash or produce was available to settle accounts.
I wish I had known the Ruth Hanna story when I did my Sense of Place lecture last week. It’s definitely part of the story of the community and its residents.
Nancy Trotic
Charlott, thanks, yes, I posted some comments on that photo of Odell and about my great-grandfather’s store, and I am VERY grateful for the additional information you turned up!!
Arthur, thanks for the further info on cash stores. The Odell store operated during the Depression and, according to the author of the newspaper article, who remembered the store, they did "carry" customers who were going through hard times. I so very much wish I’d asked my grandmother more about it while she was alive.
Kenn
The upstairs door is an indication of a onetime upper porch. This building also once had an addition on the rear that is missing in this photo
MDK
I dug up a copper token in my backyard that says Good for $1.00 in merchandise on one side, and JE HANNA, Hood River ORE. On the other side. Had know idea what it was until I googled it. Interesting stuff.
ArthurB
Glacier advertising indicates there was even an earlier version of the store: in 1890 it was called Hanna and Ziegler.