Published: May 19, 2008 04:21 pm            

Larue Barnes: ‘The Store’

Rowena Head, retired teacher, remembers family grocery in Cleburne

During Antique Alley, I bought a book of local history, “The Store,” compiled by the descendants of M.R. and Grace Head.

Much of it cleverly uses personification to let the building tell its own story.

For 44 years — from 1926 until 1970 — 303 S. Main in Cleburne housed Head’s Grocery. Located across from Market Square, the structure is being restored.

M.R. Head rented the building on July 21, 1926, to open his own store after gaining experience working for other nearby grocers.

Head closed its doors 44 years later, almost to the day, on July 22, 1970. All the family’s children were exposed to the culture, customers and customs of downtown Cleburne from growing up and working there.

Rowena was the youngest child of the Heads and was named by her oldest brother after Lady Rowena from Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe.”

“Dad had opened the store before I was born,” she said. “Until I was 12, Mother and I just went downtown once a week on Saturdays nights. From then on, I worked before and after school, all day on Saturdays and all summer.”

She learned math and organizational skills from her duties, but most of all, she learned about people.

“In those days, the store stayed open until 11 p.m. and sometimes midnight on Saturdays, depending on when the last customer finally picked up his or her order,” she said. “We were exposed to such diversity in people. Cleburne had been called ‘Little Chicago’ by many during the 1920s, as there were people here who stayed in trouble with the law. Our customers were primarily Santa Fe employees, ranchers, farmers and day laborers, but others were also unsavory in character.

“Mother, however, treated every customer as if they were family. As a result, when I walked down the street with her I noticed that the cursing stopped.

“Most of the customers lived in the country and came to town only on Saturdays to do their shopping. They always bought groceries first, then their dry goods and other items. Usually they would treat their families to a movie, and they would leave their grocery purchases at the store until they were ready to head for home.

“Sometimes I thought Saturdays would never end. Of course, I enjoyed getting to go to the dime store and meet some of my friends and get all the news. When we finished visiting, we would go back to the store and wait for time to go home. I enjoyed the store — until I got sleepy — because Saturdays were the time each of us children could choose one nickel’s worth of anything we wanted, candy, gum, pop, ice cream. We always pushed the ice cream way down in the pointed cone and piled it high. Oh, the dilemma of choosing! And all the begging in the world would not gain more than that one nickel’s worth because Dad was afraid of going broke.

“He would tell us about another father who let his children have whatever they wanted, who went under. It was the Great Depression, and three neighboring grocery stores had already gone out of business.”

Much of the book included the writings of Rowena’s late brother, Clyde Head, a local journalist.

Clyde was the oldest of M.R. and Grace’s children, followed by Vivian, Charles, Vernon, Morris, Eugene, whose twin brother died at birth, and Rowena. Eugene and Rowena are the only survivors.

M.R. Head and Grace Kirkham were classmates at Chapel Hill School, south of Keene. After they married, he tried farming but couldn’t make a living at it. When he became a grocery man, he always grew a large garden and was considered somewhat of an authority on proper seeding and planting by local people.

When asked, he always said he planted in the sun and slept by the moon.

The store was heated in winter by a big, iron gas heater about three feet high. In summer, three ceiling fans stirred the hot air. With dust always sifting in from the parched Market Square, summers were miserable.

On “First Mondays” farmers and merchants brought their animals and produce to sell on Market Square.

Rowena recalled many families who came.

“The North family, Frank, Frank Jr. and Babe, were some of the livestock dealers who brought their animals year round. They were listed as horse traders, as were Jess Pate and Cecil Smith. The Tarpleys and Joe Eberheart were cattlemen.

“In springtime, the square filled with folks selling produce, such as the Beasleys of Liberty Chapel, the chief suppliers of fruit and vegetables. Mr. Blackstock of Goatneck brought his champion watermelons, while Mr. Miller of Joshua brought sweet potatoes and tomatoes that were well known.”

She said that during the winter produce sellers were replaced by hay balers.

South of Market Square was a blacksmith shop, a creamery, a wagon yard and a poultry house. Market Square was not a great boon for Head’s Grocery because many ladies didn’t like being in what they considered an unsafe area, where a lot of drinking and gambling took place around the hay wagons and cattle trucks.

By the time Rowena was in Cleburne High School, she had many friends. She was chosen Best All-Around Girl her senior year. She was active during school hours and served as editor of the annual. But there was no time for extracurricular activities or free time after class.

Her father believed he should offer more than just goods. His theory was that those who honored him with their business had a right to service as well. He taught his children to know the type of tobacco or snuff certain customers bought because they appreciated being remembered.

He was careful never to cheat a customer. Ironically, one granddaughter wrote that her grandparents closed their store in 1970, partially because they were losing money from pilfering by teenage boys during their lunch hour.

“We called some of the male customers ‘mister’ and some ‘old man.’ Others were simply referred to by their last names, Rowena remembered.

She recalled Mr. and Mrs. Pete Boyd who came to town in a wagon.

“He was a handsome older man with white hair, a neatly trimmed white beard and sparkling brown eyes. He always wore striped overalls and a clean blue work shirt and a cap. Mrs. Boyd was a trim lady always dressed in a starched print dress, which came to her ankles covering the top of her high button shoes. She always wore a sun bonnet.”

She told of the O’Neals who lived near the Head family on Wardville. He worked for the city, operating one of the first street sweepers, keeping it in good working order. She remembered their children: Annie, Henry, Hattie, Emma, Mattie and Freddie.

“Marbie and Bessie Jones, along with their children T-9-cy, Melbie, Edna B. and Joe Mack were regular Saturday customers and were devoted to each other,” she said.

Not all memories were pleasant.

She said, “Pine Board Drug Store, our next door neighbor to the north, really tried to put us out of business for a while. It was clear that they wanted our store and tried to force our dad into selling out to them. One way they tried was by selling a few groceries at below cost and by advertising all day each Saturday with a loud speaker. This made it almost impossible for us to hear the seed customers out front.

“This noise, coupled with the preachers at the Market Square shouting salvation messages, plucking guitars and singing with full power made Saturdays more than trying. Often by suppertime, my brother, Morris, was nauseated and too distraught to eat due to the derogatory remarks he heard over the Pine Board’s loud speaker.

“Some of the old men sitting around on boxes inside the store got on my nerves, too,” Rowena said, “especially if they tried to tell me how to run my business. One hot summer day, Mr. Boss Callahan from the river started to get a soda from the hot end of the box.

“Sodas were kept in a metal cooler box containing ice and water, with the warm drinks always placed into the left-hand side first. That way, drinks on the right-hand side were always the cold ones.

“When Mr. Callahan opened the left-end of the box, one of the Apple Box Crowd yelled, ‘No! No! Them’s hot!’

“I said in a firm voice, ‘I’ll take care of this!’

“When Mr. Callahan paid me for the drink, he asked, ‘Be you Head’s daughter?’

“I told him I was, and added, ‘That’s not hard to see, is it?’ I always favored Dad.

“Mr. Callahan smiled and said, ‘T’ain’t hard to hear, neither.’”

Repeatedly Rowena faced three “ruffians” who wouldn’t let her pass on the sidewalk each day as she traveled from school on her way to the store. First, she avoided them by walking in the street or taking another way around.

They were persistent.

One rainy day there was no avoiding them. As they came toward her, three abreast, grinning broadly, she closed her umbrella and jabbed the middle one in the stomach and whopped the other two on the head.

Problem solved.

She faced a more dangerous encounter when two men entered the store, each taking a bottle from the cooler.

She said, “One handed me a dime, the other a quarter. I told them that the ‘near beer’ drinks were now fifteen cents. The one who gave me the quarter, sneered and said, ‘Well, he ain’t got but a dime. Now what are you going to do about that?’

“I was furious. I took the dime and handed the one who gave me a quarter, a nickel in change and said, ‘Well, he’s your friend. I’m going to let him owe you a nickel.’

“He drew back like he was going to hit me. I automatically lunged forward. Both were so surprised that they left.”

Rowena would take her knowledge and her people skills into the classroom for 38 years. Although she was firm and strict, she always saw the same funny things her students saw and sensed when their hearts were sad.

Her story — and The Store’s — continue next Sunday.



Larue Barnes may be reached at laruebarnes@yahoo.com.

For a copy of “The Store,” leave a message at 817-645-2267.

        

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