Paullina Buildings

Paullina— Old Market Antiques &  Bock Suite
113 N Main St, Paullina,  IA

THE LITTLE STORE
1 1 8  N.  MAIN West 25 Feet of Lots 4&5 of Block 2
Of the original Town of Paullina
On Dec 23, 1858, the United States of America gave this property and other real estate to the State of Iowa to satisfy the grant made to the State of Iowa by an Act of Congress approved on May 10,1856.  On July 5, 1871 a land deed was recorded with the State of Iowa to the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad Co.  On Dec. 24, 1881 it was deeded without cost ($1.00 for transfer fee ) to the Toledo and Northwestern Railroad who on the same day deeded it to their land agent, the Western Town Lot Company.  This land was part of the new town of Paullina as recorded by the county recorder’s office on Dec. 31,1881.  Paullina was born.

Fourteen months later, on Feb. 23, 1883 the land was purchased by William Harker and wife and J.L. Greene and wife for $652.56. In March of 1883 parts of this parcel of land was being purchased by neighboring land owners. On Jan. 13, 1893 some of the back of the lot was purchased by Chris Meltvedt & Theodore Weichner to make their property on East Broadway longer.  May 25, 1894 the west 50 feet was purchased by Louis Wollenberg.   On July 8, 1914 Louis Wollenberg sold 12 feet of Lot # 5  62 foot long and 4 foot of lot #4 50 foot long to H.R. Dealy and wife.  They also had ½ interest in the brick wall on the north side of Mr. Wollenberg’s building.  The grantee agreed in the event that a building was erected on this land it would be built to properly discharge all water from the roof of the building.

Not much is known about the property or who built the current brick building. There is mention that Wm McCracken  had a business at this location and Wm. Johannsen sold shoes here also.   On Jan. 10, 1923 the property was purchased by  Mrs.Laura M. McCauley.

Young’s Grocery & Market
1921  -  1948

Francis Young was discharged from the army in 1919.  He carried mail for a short time and then decided to sell groceries. In 1921, he bought the first truck. A Ford which became the first grocery store on wheels in the Paullina area and in O’Brien County.  He designed a box, built with three doors on each side, to be placed on the Ford chassis.  Shelves lined the inside and the doors, so that when the doors were opened, there was a complete display of groceries.  The center space was left for cases of eggs.  The box was painted red and with doors closed a sign on each side read, ”Wait for the Red Wagon”.  With this truck he called on farmers five days a week.going a different route each day, selling groceries and taking their eggs in exchange.  The success of this venture necessitated the opening a place of business in Paullina.

Francis rented a building on the north side of the town gym. It was about 20’ x 20’ and had formerly housed a café called “The Greasy Spoon”.  He put up a few shelves and a counter consisting of two barrels and two planks.  A muffin tin served as his cash register.  He hired a girl to keep store while he continued his country routes.

As business improved and Francis needed more room he rented  Mrs. A.W. McCauley’s building  which was located between the old post office and Livingston’s  store at 118 N. Main.  In 1923 Francis bought the building from Mrs. McCauley.  His sister, Inez, joined him as a partner by investing her money with him, he borrowed  the remainder.  Thus was born “Young’s Cash Grocery”.  By the end of 1923 the store was well established.

In a few years, the Ford truck was too small, so Young’s Grocery purchased its second vehicle, a Dodge truck.  This had a similar box design and was also painted red.  A sign on each side read, “Wait for the Red Wagon”; one on the back read, “Trade at Young’s Cash Grocery –Your Neighbor Does”.  This truck was in use until the depression, when eggs were six to eight cents per dozen and offering this service to the farmers was no longer profitable.

When Francis’ sister, Inez, remarried in 1930, he bought out her share and became sole owner.  In 1931, a complete line of fresh meat was added and the store became “Young’s Grocery and Market” and so it remained until the business was sold in 1948 to Lynford and Helen Pauling.  Francis S. Young and his wife Margaret continued to own the building until Jan. 2 1951 when they sold it to Jacob and Mabel Van Zwol.  Pauling’s Grocery and Market continued in this location until 1956 when they moved across the street to the Bock Building at 113 N. Main.

The Van Zwol’s owned the building until 1964. There were several cafes in this location, one was the Bockelman Café.  On April 28, 1964, 26 months after Jacob Van Zwol died, Mabel sold the property to Robert and Phoebe Evans.  This became the home of The Paullina Bakery.

The bakery was a favorite place of the young and old alike.  The very young enjoyed gazing into the glass front of the showcase at the many trays of different pastries and picking out that very special one to go into a little white bag to take home to eat.  The high school students would run to the bakery at noon to get donuts for lunch. They would walk back to school slower so they could enjoy their bag of “goodies”.  The older people enjoyed getting fresh donuts that they did not have to make at home.  Some people would stop at the bakery after 2:00 in the morning to visit with Bob or Elvie, as their day was already  beginning.

Phoebe Evans died April 4, 1971, and on June 2, 1971 Elvie purchased the business and the building from his father.  He continued the bakery business until June 21, 1977, when he sold the building to Clarence and Joann Gaudian.  The Gaudians did some remodeling of the building and Meylor Chiropractic rented the building until they moved to East Broadway, where the Paullina Chiropractic office is today.

July 1, 1983 Gene and Janet Dirksen purchased the building from Clarence and Joann Gaudian.  Gene’s Electronics was located at this location for several months until Gene moved the business to his home.  At that time the Paullina Bakery moved back into the building and shortly after the building was again owned by the Gaudians.

May 4, 1993 the building was purchased by Steve and Shelly Samuelson.  Plans were to remodel the building for an office for Steve’s business, but before this was done Steve was offered a business opportunity in Spirit Lake and the family moved to Spirit Lake.  On June 16, 1995, the building was sold to Mark VanderPloeg.  For a short time a vacuum cleaner shop was located in the building, then the city used it for storage.

Paullina—Old Market Antiques &  Bock  Suite

Steven L. and Marlys J. Hartong purchased the building from the VanderPloegs on July 26, 2007. Renovation of the building started shortly after.

Several walls were taken out, two layers of carpet, a layer of linoleum, and a layer of tile were removed to get back to the original wood floor.  Plywood that had been put in worn areas was replaced with wood flooring. The front area of floor was still the original small black and white octagon tile. A lowered ceiling was removed to reveal the original tin ceiling.

The ceiling was in very good shape and only needed several pieces replaced. The tin was scraped, primed and painted. The walls were repaired, textured and painted.  The small bathroom was replaced with a handicap assessable bathroom. The  modern fluorescent light fixtures were removed and replaced with vintage, hanging school house type light fixtures that were salvaged from the unused upper level of the First National Bank building.  Ceiling fans were also installed. New plumbing and wiring was done.  The furnace and air  conditioner were in working order. An original, ornate radiator stands along the wall and provides a spot to warm ones self or gloves.

The Hartongs wished to restore the building back to the original look as much as possible.  While they were removing the front of the building to replace the front windows they exposed the original leaded, rippled glass windows.   These windows were removed in two pieces and saved.  They will be framed and hung back in the front window. This style of window was originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1920’s.  The saw toothed beveled edge inside of the glass panels were designed to refract the sunlight to the back of the room for extra light during the daytime hours.

In April, 2008 after eight months renovating, the building was opened as the Quasquicentennial headquarters store front and information center.  The Hartongs donated the use of the building for this purpose from April of 2008 until November of 2009.  The building is was then used as an annex of Old Market Antiques.

The building received extensive water damage from the Fire of December 2009 Which destroyed the corner of N Main and E. Broadway. At this time some cleaning has been done but it is not known if the building is stable enough for more renovation.

Paullina—ND Millwerk
104 S. Rutledge Street, Paullina, IA

History of 104 S. Rutledge Street, Paullina IA
In the early 1900’s you may have heard the ting and clang of metal against metal as repairs were being made or blacksmithing done by owner John Hastings.  Ewoldt Motor Co. was started in the fall of 1919, by Wm. R. “Bill” Ewoldt and Andrew “Andy” McCauley, when they purchased the business from John Hastings.   Ewoldt Motor Co. first operated as a Ford dealership, selling Ford cars and Fordson tractors.  These cars were received partially assembled.  The cars were pulled by winch up a ramp, located on the northwest side of the building, to the second floor.  There the cars were assembled and returned to the ground to be sold or displayed.

Ewoldt Motor Co. cancelled their Ford contract in 1927 and for a short time sold Star and Studebaker cars.  In 1927 Ewoldt Motor Co. received the Chevrolet franchise to sell Chevrolet cars and trucks.

Some early employees were Austin “Dad” Eyer, Carrol Eyer, Stanley Norland, Carl Seagren, Wm. Reimers, Archie McGilray, Clyde “Bee” Maytum, Jack Funston, Wm. Burton, Willard “Spike” Jorgensen, and Gerald Awer.
During the 1920’s, 30’s, and until World War II normal business hours were 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM, seven days per week. Wednesday and Saturday nights might run as late as 10:00 or 11:00 PM.

During the period of the 1930’s, through the early 1950’s, new cars were received by railroad.  The cars were shipped in special railroad cars made just for shipment of cars.

There were four cars per load.  Two cars were loaded on hoists and raised high enough that two more cars could be below them on the floor of the railroad car.  The change to shipment of cars by truck transport was welcomed by most all people who had the experience of unloading rail shipped cars.

Bill Ewoldt was joined in the business after World War II by his sons, Roy and Lee.  In 1952, thy became partners in the firm.  This partnership continued until May, 1959, when Wm. R. Ewoldt died.

Roy and Lee continued as partners and in 1960, they moved the physical part of the business to Primghar.  They continued to serve the Paullina and Primghar area until 1983 at which time the partnership was terminated after 64 years of continual operation as Ewoldt Motor Co.

Sometime after that the property was converted to a 2-bay car wash, owned by Paul Erdmann until 2006 when Denny and Nelda Werkmeister purchased it to expand their vintage millwork business.  Although new windows were put in, and the original staircase was removed, there remain chairs upon which the Ewoldts sipped coffee with friends and customers.  Upstairs you can still see parts numbers on the rafters where items were apparently hung, and the shelving unit used for auto glass now houses windows and cabinet doors of the same era.