Columbus Allie Childers
(As remembered by his Grandson, Larry Stephen Childers)
I’ve been asked to record my memories of my Grandfather, …… Columbus Allie Childers.
It was recently pointed out to me, that of all of his Grand children I might possess the greatest personal knowledge of him, since I grew up in Morgantown, Kentucky and knew him from my first recollection ‘til his death.
Most people called him “C.A.” but members of the family normally called him “Allie”.
Allie was born in Butler County, Kentucky on Oct. 10th, 1891. Son of Thomas Alfred Childers and Laura Belle Johnson Childers. Thomas was a farmer in the northern part of Butler County. Allie grew up there and went to school in and area known at the time as “Long Branch Hollow”. Called ‘Long Branch Holler’ by the residents of the day. In addition to the school, which was one of the newer buildings, there were several homes along the creek, … including the homes of Thomas Alfred and his father Thomas Nathan Childers.
Butler County is divided into North and South sides of the Green River that flows through the county. The populous of the northern part of the county were known as “North Siders”. The Southern part of the county is home to Morgantown (The County Seat) and was considered the more affluent part of the county. While the “North Siders” were considered (and, indeed, were) the poorer citizens of the county.
Allie left home at the age of 15. There just wasn’t much in the ‘Holler’ for a young man, unless he intended to be a farmer. Apparently Allie wasn’t of mind to be a farmer.
He worked what odd jobs he could find including construction and road crews.
In 1913 Allie married his first wife, Eva Viola Martin (Born 1894) (Died 1932)
Eva was a lightly built, a small boned person, subject to often ill health.
Eva was the mother of Allie’s 5 children:
Butrice Myrl
Charles
Rollie Thomas
Mildred Cleo
Helena Therlo
I don’t know the history as to how he came to be in the grocery business, but he did eventually come to have a modest home and a small country grocery on the North side of the county. Only about five miles from the 'Holler'. The old frame house set on stone pillars about 2 feet above the ground, had no plumbing or electric, and utilized an “outhouse” out back for attending to personal business. The house wasn’t insulated and the interior was papered with old news papers (which was common at the time). The floor was a single layer of planks with cracks between them that allowed a nice view of the chickens that spent much of the heat of the day under the house in an effort to stay cool. Heat was with a wooden cook stove in the kitchen and a smaller wood/coal stove in the living room. Air conditioning, at the time was, …. ‘Open the windows and hope for a breeze’.
A brief bit of personal history here. My Father, Charles Childers, and my Mother, Geneva Lee Miller Childers. Had been in Willow Run, Mich. During the second World War, where they worked in an Aircraft Plant building ‘Liberator Bombers’ to be used in the war. After their stint in Michigan They came back to the ‘North Side’ to stay with Allie until they could acquire new jobs in Kentucky. I was born in Allie’s house and was already kicking and screaming when the doctor (Dr. D. G. Miller) arrived at the house.
In addition to the store Allie had built a small ‘Mill’ on the property next to the store. Here he would grind grain for the area residents, into flour and other meals. He would grind the grains for a percentage of the finished grind, and this he would bag and sell in the store to those who had no grain of their own.
He had the first radio on the ‘North Side’. It was a battery-powered affair that required earphones to listen to the radio. People would gather in the store on Saturday night to take turns listening to that old radio.
During what is know as ‘ The Great Depression’, Allie let people have merchandise on ‘Credit’ (he didn’t have the heart to send them away with no food) until he, himself, went bankrupt. My dad, Charles, and my Uncle, Rollie, both chipped in to help their father get back on his feet and get the store running again, … with an understanding with the residents of the area that he could not continue to let them have their food stuffs without paying for them, if they wished to continue to have the store in the area.
He met and married Lura Evelyn Kitchens, Called Evie by family and friends, in 1943. I have no knowledge of where and how they met.
The Move
After the war the population of the “North Side” began to dwindle, as younger folk left the area to find better paying work than the ‘Hill Farming’ they were accustomed to.
With his children having all left the “North Side” Allie found, and rented, space in Morgantown and moved his store to town.
It was a small store by anyone’s standards. When you walked in the front door there was a wall of grocery items on the right wall, two shelving units to the left of that and the sales counter on the left wall. An extension of the sales counter (toward the front wall of the store) housed a glass enclosed candy case. The meat department was across the rear of the store with a refrigerated display case in front of that for the meats that had been cut and prepared for sale. With the additional space for a ‘Cold Drink’ box and a refrigerated dairy box, that was it.
The bread rack sat by the front door, and I can remember when the large sandwich loaf of white bread was $.10 (ten cents) a loaf. What was once called ‘penny candy’ was 3 for a penny in those days. 8 oz. Cokes were $.05 (a nickel) and the large 12 oz. size was $.10 (ten cents). A regular sized candy bar was a nickel and a large size was a dime. (The ‘Good Ole Days’)
Allie had attached a small building to the front of his store, which sat on a small space between the storefront and the sidewalk. Here he had a soft serve ice cream machine where I would work after school and Saturdays, making milk shakes, malts, banana splits and ice cream cones.
When Allie moved to town from the ‘North Side” he sold the old ‘Home place’, house, store, mill and all. This money helped him purchase a house in Morgantown and stock his store. This house had electric and some plumbing. There was running water in the kitchen sink and a small electric water heater. There was still the proverbial “Out House” in the back corner of the back yard.
Allie and Evie lived in this house with Allie’s mother, Laura Belle and Evie’s Mother, (I only knew her as ‘Mrs. Kitchens’). As the two elder ladies became more infirm with age, Allie added a bathroom in the house, complete with tub, shower and all of the other amenities, plus a larger water heater. The house was still heated with one ‘Warm Morning’ coal-burning stove, which sat in the dinning room, … pretty much central within the house. The old outhouse was removed and filled in.
As Allie got older, close to retirement, he and his son Charles decided he needed a new home. One less drafty, better insulated, less upkeep. Allie owned a building lot in Morgantown, next to what was then the LDS Chapel. Charles struck him a deal. Charles would build, at his expense, a new house for Allie and Evie (both of the mothers had died by this time) and they would be able to live in it for the rest of their lives, without paying anything for the house, provided Allie deed the property to Charles and he could assume rights of ownership upon both their deaths. …Agreed.
Allie closed the ice cream shop shortly before he closed the store and retired. He took the ice cream machine home and put it in the garage of the new house, where we would go from time to time to make ice cream to take home and put in the freezer.
Other Business ventures
Tired of following construction work, Charles opened a small store in Morgantown. He bought a well-used 1-½ ton truck and started trucking livestock feed, paint, hardware and Misc. farm supplies. He called this business ‘Childers Farm Store’. As time passed and this business grew he saw a need for more space and more inventory, also a wider variety of inventory.
Charles consulted with his brother, Rollie, and with Allie, and they all decided to pool their resources in a common business venture. Uncle Rollie moved his family to Kentucky, and the three of them opened a new and larger store, which was “C.A. Childers & Sons Farm store”, while closing Charles’ older small store.
This partnership viewed Allie’s grocery supply connections as a good resource with which to supply a restaurant, which they opened. Allie’s previous dealings with the farm community on the North Side led him to realize a need that was not being filled in the area. A ‘Cream Station’. The partnership opened a commercial Cream Station where they separated the heavy cream from raw milk, for which; there was a ready market in the business of making butter.
During this time Raymond Rice and Betty came to Morgantown and Ray worked in Allie’s store as a butcher, and helped in the restaurant.
Times were still difficult in the early ‘50’s and profits were not quite what they would like them to be. They closed the Cream Station considering that its meager profit was not worth the time invested. Ray wasn’t able to make enough to afford to stay and he went back west.
Rollie decided he would be able to make a better future for him and his family if he were to return to the west. Allie and Charles bought his share of the business and he was off to Arizona.
As Allie neared retirement age he was ready to start divesting himself of financial responsibilities. They had the Farm Store, Grocery and Restaurant appraised, and reached a settlement. Charles kept the Farm Store and Allie kept the Grocery and the Restaurant.
Allie subsequently sold the restaurant and continued to operate the grocery until he retired.
The House
That first house that Allie bought when he moved to town had a nice front porch. But it seems Allie had a thing about having a porch on the backside of the house. So he built one in an inside corner between two wings of the house. But when he decided to add a bathroom, this seemed like the logical place, so he enclosed the porch and built the bath.
This is good, …… but now he had no porch! So,…. He built a large porch across the back of the house. But when he decided they needed another bedroom, this seemed like the logical place. He enclosed the porch and turned it into a nice bedroom. Ah, …. A lot of room. But he had no porch! %#@!
The new bedroom didn’t come completely to the side corner of the house, so he used that space to build a porch. Now, …. We’re finished.
Not Quite.
Allie took and interest in starting his garden sets from seed, but he needed a small Green House. You guessed it,…. He closed in the porch with double layer of plastic on a wood frame to create his green house. %^@!#$,………….. NO PORCH!
I guess it’s a good thing that this is about the time Charles built him a new house, or he would still be building porches on that old house.
The Workshop
Beside that old house (the one with all of the porches) there was a two-part building. The front part was the coalhouse where Allie kept his winter supply of coal to heat the house. The back part was a Wood Working Shop. Complete with wood lathe, drill press, table saw and sundry other tools that would furnish a wood shop.
You never knew what to expect to come out of that shop. Windmills, small decorator wheel barrows, misc. small furnishings, ….. An unending list. Allie taught me how to use the wood lathe. And I turned out many small, some odd, items. But I had fun.
Temperament
I spent quite a lot of time with my Grand Father (Papaw, …I called him). He was a person that I suspect anyone could like. He was a quiet type of person. I never heard him raise his voice, or swear. His favorite by-line when perturbed was “Ah shucks”.
For all of the years I knew him, he didn’t own a car. He walked to and from the store every day. It was only about 4 blocks, but he walked it, Sun, Rain or Snow.
He developed heart problems later in life and I was with him in the Hartford, KY. Hospital when the final heat attack took him.
A good man. I wish you could have known him.
(These are the things I remember most. There may be other things that come to mind later)
