Shopping in 1963 downtown McCook

In 1963 there were three funeral homes in McCook: Breland Funeral Chapel at 1001 Norris Ave., Carpenter Funeral Home at 305 West C and Herrmann’s Funeral Home at 607 Norris Ave. What you may not remember about both the Breland and Carpenter businesses is that they also provided ambulance service for McCook.

I had forgotten that McCook had a Coast to Coast Hardware store at 208 Norris Ave., but of course they also had D & S Hardware on West C and McCook Seed and Hardware (Vaps) on East B street.

If you wanted to buy furniture you had four choices, all on Norris Avenue: K C Furniture at 111, Swan’s Furniture at 120, Sailors Bros. Furniture at 207 and McCook Furniture at 307. Maybe you just wanted to recover your sofa and would call Ebert’s Upholstering at 409 ½ West 2nd or Roy’s Upholstery at 1108 West B.

Two greenhouses, both buildings gone now, served the population: Best Floral & Greenhouse at 606 Norris Ave., and McCook Floral Greenhouse at 811 East 4th.

Buying groceries or meat was often just a walk across the street in those days as there were 13 locations: Anton’s Grocery at 102 West 1st, D & S Market at 308 East B, Felipe Dolan Grocery at 148 East 10th, Hillcrest Grocery at 206 West L, Hinky Dinky at 216 East B, Koetter’s Grocery at 1225 East b, Moore’s IGA at 209 West 3rd, Reynold’s Superette at 224 West 1st, Safeway Stores at 500 West 5th, Sheldon’s Markets 1 and 2 at 704 East 3rd and 1012 West 3rd, South McCook Grocery at 208 S 6th and U & R Market (John Uhrich and Rueben Roth) at 106 West 3rd.

Two geologists hung their shingles in McCook: Harry Holtom and Robert Rutledge. Their professional services might have been used by the many drilling companies responsible for the 434 oil wells pumping in Red Willow County. Oil field services were provided by Davis Mud, Halliburton, King Mud, McCullough Tool, Plains Mud and Schreiber Water Service, B & D Service, Coleman Bros., Ted Poindexter, and Schlumberger Well Surveying Corp.

Only two electricians are listed in the directory, Walters Electric Service (Jake) and Kramer Electric (Joe). They were practically neighbors, with Jake at 104 East 4th and Joe at 205 East 4th.

Need a tree surgeon? Call Norman Riggs. How about record changer repairing? Serv-A-Set TV could take care of that for you. Want to re-cap your tires? McCook Tire and Supply offers that service. Brooks Studios would not only take your picture but frame it for you also!

Finally in 1963 alcohol to go was only sold in liquor stores and McCook had seven of them: Bottle Shop, 214 East B, Cap & Cork, 123 West B, Empire Drive-In Liquor Store, 503 West B, Rutt’s Liquor & Sporting Goods, 114 West 1st, Spot Liquor Store, 313 West B, Alex Gochis Liquor, 110 Norris, and the Village Inn at 109 West B.

If by chance you ever want a copy of a funeral card, SWNGS library has an extensive collection from the McCook area. Stop in and visit with us on Tuesdays or Thursdays, 1-4 PM weather permitting, for help locating obituaries, funeral cards, historical marriage certificates dating from the late 1800’s on. Located at 110 West C, Suite M-3, there is an elevator for those who need assistance.