It was 50 years ago when the Shaffer & Co. Variety
Store, a Westminster institution close to the hearts of many children in town,
closed.
After our recent columns in
The
Eagle regarding the Westminster Post Office building at the corner of Main
Street and Longwell Avenue, a number of readers have been in touch with
questions.
Several asked about the two buildings that once stood to the
east of the post office in what is now a parking lot.
Shaffer & Co. Variety Store
Eagle Archives By Kevin Dayhoff,
September 25, 2011
It was fifty years ago when the Shaffer & Co. Variety
Store, a Westminster institution close to the hearts of many children in town,
closed.
After the recent two-part series ran in the Eagle Archives
on the Westminster Post Office building, at the corner of Main Street and
Longwell Avenue, a number of readers were in touch with many questions.
Several asked about the two building that once stood to the
east of the post office in what is now a parking lot.
A January 13, 1966 newspaper clipping provided by local
historian George Welty, tells part of the story. “… the Stonesifer building
(was) being demolished last week to make way for Post Office enlargement...”
A second picture was identified: “These two buildings
located on East Main Street next to the Post Office were completely demolished
last week… The store … located in the corner building will long be remembered
as Schaffer’s store. Jessie Myers having done business there for many years.”
Post Office took shape through rain, sleet, bankruptcy,
deaths
Eagle Archives
Kevin Dayhoff, September 3, 2011 | 6:44 p.m.
Last week we discussed the incarnations of the Westminster
Post Office — but there are more stories to tell. In 1934, folks began to
wonder if the "new" post office at the corner of Longwell Avenue and
East Main Street would ever be finished.
Of course, the present post office is on Woodward Road, but
here's the story of that classic 1934 office (now home to Kohn Publishing) in
the downtown area:
"The old story that 'good things come to those who
wait' is true, for travel where you will, a finer and more beautiful post
office building will not be found…," according to an old newspaper
clipping from Aug. 24, 1934.
+++++++
The two buildings in this photograph, the Stonesifer
building and the Shaffer & Co. Variety Store, were torn down in the first
week of January 1966 to make way for the expansion of the parking lot for the
1934 post office building at the corner of East Main Street and Longwell
Avenue. Harry W. and Arline Myers Shaffer founded the business in 1911 as a
general merchandise store. Arline’s brother Jesse later joined the business
after WWI. When Mr. Shaffer died in 1941, his widow Arline and their daughter continued
in the business along with Jesse Myers – who was later helped by his son,
Howard Myers. The store closed in January 1961. Original photo by Kevin E.
Dayhoff published by the Democratic Advocate Jan. 13, 1966.
