General Store Opens at Elk City Museum Complex

2-466

March 27, 2023

By Landry Brewer

A major museum addition is ready for the public.

The new General Store on the sprawling grounds of Elk City’s Museum Complex is open for business.

In the works for a few years, the new $200,000 facility is packed with retail relics of our pioneer past.

In pioneer towns of previous centuries, general store customers could buy everything from groceries and clothes to medicine, lamps, hats, washing boards, and farm and ranch equipment.

The general store of the late 19th and early 20th centuries became the super store of today,” said Museum Curator Charles Wren.

General stores provided a full-service experience for customers. Shoppers told the clerk what items they wanted from behind the counter, and he would produce them.

This might even include the clerk having a butcher cut a pound of beef, then wrap it and hand it to the customer,” Wren said.

When asked to describe the general store, Wren compared it to a popular restaurant.

It’s like the entry of a Cracker Barrel,” he said. “You pass through an area with lots of displayed remnants of previous centuries on your way to the dining area, and a general store was like that first impression.”

According to Wren, though a general store was a pioneer town’s center of commerce, it was also a place for socializing. Customers gathered around the stove or played checkers and told stories.

And kids enjoyed the candy that was for sale,” Wren said.

The public will enjoy seeing how Elk Citians shopped more than 100 years ago.

More information about the complex’s displays and the several museums there is available at https://www.elkcity.com/city-hall/departments/elk-city-museum-complex/.

Copyright 2023 Paragon Communications. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.

2603100736_1952593

Fires Being Investigated in Roger Mills County

Roger Mills County, OK — Local firefighters responded Monday to three separate grass fires in Roger Mills County, with authorities saying evidence suggests the fires may have been intentionally set. According to Roger Mills County Sheriff Darren

2603051757_1435090

Fatal Crash Reported South of Foss

Foss, OK – A fatal two-vehicle collision occurred early Thursday morning, March 5, on State Highway 44 in Washita County, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. The crash happened at approximately 4:14 a.m. at the intersection of

2603021239_2113873

Celebrating 125 Years of Excellence at SWOSU

Weatherford, OK — On March 6, 2026, the SWOSU community will come together to celebrate an incredible milestone, 125 years of Southwestern Oklahoma State University. For more than a century, SWOSU has been a place where tradition,