January 17, 2008
Old Alamo Grocery Store Torn Down

Old Alamo grocery store, undated.

By Dave Maxwell

Built in 1920, the building long known as the Alamo grocery store, even though it had other names, has been torn down by current owner Paul Christian. He said the building needed to be demolished because the foundation had cracked and the walls swayed, making it unsafe. In addition, it was nearly impossible to keep the roof from leaking where the old concrete block met with the newer metal section.

Christian has no plans to build anything else on the property. He has closed off the metal section and he’s not decided what to do with that portion.

In 2001, for the Alamo Centennial celebration, Elaine Shumway wrote a short history of the Alamo grocery store. Excerpts of that article follow here with her permission:

“… In the settling of the west, the country store played a very important part in the community. That’s where the first phones were installed; town meetings were held there; people would gather around the wood stove and whittle and visit. Many times doctors were called to someone’s home, using the store phone. The windows and doors were used as bulletin boards where notices for meetings, funerals, and parties were posted.

Children would run to the store with their pennies clutched tightly in their little hands in anticipation of the candy stick, ice cream and gum that they could buy with a nickel. The store clerks had to have a world of patience as they waited for the child to make their purchase.

Many times, eggs or farm produce were traded for purchase at the store. Most farmers and ranchers raised everything, but would need to buy flour, sugar, and spices as well as fabrics and sewing notions (Not to mention any number of types of beverages).

In 1920, the Wadsworth brothers, Clarence, Leonard and Earl, built a concrete store in the center of Alamo that for years was the main grocery store. The name of their store was C.I. Wadsworth & Brothers. Some of the employees were Theresa (Stewart) Wadsworth, Suzi (Wedge) Wadsworth and also members of their families.

Marion K. Stewart bought the store from the Wadsworth’s in 1928 and ran it for 42 years, calling it the Alamo Mercantile. Over the years, many worked at the Alamo Merc, including M.K’s family. This was the store I remember in 1959 when I moved to Alamo. At that time, the streets were filled with weeping willow and cottonwood trees. The Stewart’s sold ice cream cones and had the old showcases filled with candy and various goods. They had a big old wood stump which served as the cheese block. Whenever anyone wanted some cheese, they would cut a big hunk off the big rounds of cheese. I’ve never found any cheese that tasted that good! It was a typical country store, clerked by friendly town folks.

Nolan (Shumway) and I bought the store in 1970 and renamed it Shumway’s Valley Market. We tried to run it as much like M.K. did as we could. We kept the old cheese block there and stocked the same quality of products, always remembering what he told us - to keep a smile on our face and treat the Valley folks fairly.

When the mine reopened at Tempiute and all of the mining people moved in (c. 1978), we made the decision to remodel and enlarge. For several years we had hauled groceries from Caliente, buying from Associated Foods in Salt Lake City through Allen’s Cash Store. When we could no longer keep it stocked because of the increase in population, Associated Foods agreed to have a truck stop at our store…We had a fresh meat counter, fresh produce, frozen foods, dairy, and THREE aisles.

The people of Alamo really supported us, and we appreciated it so much!…Most of our children started running the cash register at a very early age….We had wonderful employees through the years, and always knew that they would take care of the store in our absence. June Hosier, Ina Holiday, Ev Higbee were some of the first…..As our children, Vern, Christine, Marci, Kyle and Susan grew up, graduated and moved on in their own lives, we made the decision to sell in 1993. Paul and John Christian from Pioche bought the store and operated it until they built the much larger Great Basin Foods in 2001 along U.S. Highway 93 where Alamo Service once was….”

Even though the original store is now gone, the tradition continues at Great Basin Foods. William Shakespeare’s Juliet once said, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”