The Old Hardware Store

More from Halstead - just walking down the street when I noticed this hopscotch game. Haven't seen one drawn on a sidewalk in years. And no I didn't hop.

This is a flower shop - and antiques - and stuff. I like the painting on the outside and the drawings on the sidewalk out front. 

they look like chalk but are really paint

Then we found the original hardware store of the town. Serving Kansas since 1885. So neat to go in it. The ceiling was installed in 1906.

 The bins and drawers are original to the late 1800"s when the store was built. Notice the ladder on a rail to reach the top most shelves.

The items for sale are authentic. Either really old or exact reproductions. Knobs, pulls, handles, lamps etc.etc. This storage unit was used to sort nails - each drawer is labeled with the size.

 A pot bellied stove - a couple chairs and a checker game using washers and nuts as pieces. All amongst the bins of hardware. Oh yes, also a spitoon. 

1915 Delco-Light washing machine. Electric with copper tub.

The original flooring from 1896 Lots of people have walked on it. 

 Original wall in the back room. More tools.

 And more cubbies and drawers. I wonder how they find anything. 

They have a web site if you are looking for any old hardware for furniture. Some really beautiful stuff The Old Hardware Store.
It is so fun to wander around little old towns. 
Today we are going into Wichita and maybe to Yoder. Looks like it will be a really nice day. 
This is the second part of our Halstead visit. 

Halstead, Kansas

A beautiful day in Kansas. Bright sun, warm air and NO wind. But it did get cold last night – brrrr – and I forgot to plug the little heater in!

We left the campground in Emporia around 9:00 but only went a few feet to the Flying J next door where we ate breakfast. So actually didn’t get on the road until a little after 10.

After much discussion we decided to stick to our original plans and go to Halstead (spelled it right this time.) A whole 89 miles down the road. A very pretty drive on a nice two lane road with lots of passing sections. We saw cattle ranches, sorghum and soybean fields, and lots of sunflower fields. Not a very good picture but…

We passed the Halstead airport so we knew we were getting pretty close.

The route was pretty straight forward and we’d been to the campground once before about 9 or 10 years ago. And the campground showed up on the GPS, except the GPS said to turn right off the highway – but I’d read the directions in the Passport America book and they said do not follow GPS – turn left. And we remembered it was on the south side of the highway. No problem right? Well…we saw the RV Park sign and slowed down and drove right past the little road heading into the campground. In our defense it was hidden behind some trees. That’s our story and I’m sticking to it. So…the highway was too narrow to make a U-turn on so we had to keep going. In the meantime the GPS was freaking out.  But she did show us another road about a mile ahead of us. We could turn left on it then make another left in a mile and then make another left in another mile onto the campground's road. Of course all these roads were dirt/gravel and in the middle of farm lands. Ah Ha – the campground – but the turn into it was a very sharp right turn over a very narrow culvert. But Bill and Alfie made it with no problem. Hum…..I don’t remember the campground looking like this. These look like permanent dwellers. So we kept going trying to find the office. Finally saw a “club house” and stopped there to ask where to go. I got out of the Alfa and a very nice man pulled his car up to me and asked, “Are you looking for the office?”  I told him yes and he replied “Well follow me – I’ll take you there.” And off we went. Over the creek.

Actually where he found us is about where we ended up parking. And he even brought us back to our space – back over the creek. Nice campground – very big. A lake, geese, good WiFi and friendly people. 50amp electricity. Name of it is Spring Lake RV in Halstead, KS.

We got settled in and decided to drive into the actual town of Halstead – it is a little place of about 2000 people. One of its claims to fame is the 1956 movie “Picnic.” It was filmed there. So we had to stop at the Riverside Park and look around.

Kim Novak and William Holden were in the movie.

The last time we were here we were invited to an Ice Cream Social here in the park. Mostly I remember the mosquitoes and the good homemade ice cream.

Looking towards the main road. The town was settled around 1870 because of the railroad.  There are several big grain elevators in and around the town

The other side of the grain elevator.

Driving down the three lined brick main street to see the house we almost bought when we were here the first time. 

We actually made an offer on it, but they didn't accept it. Then a week later when we were already in Ohio they called us and said Okay. We said nope - too late.  There was some scandal attached to the house. It had belonged to the mayor and he was in all kinds of trouble – embezzlement or some such thing.

And here it is – looking as pretty as ever. So glad it has been kept up. The front of the house was built in the late 1800’s. We loved the big porch.

This is the side of it. You can tell the whole back part was an add on – and it was beautiful. The front part, the original section, had very small rooms: a parlor, a dining room, and a couple of bedrooms that had been turned into offices. The back part had a great room on the first floor and a huge master suite on the second floor. The best of both eras. AND the drapes in the bedroom matched our bedspread and drapes we had at home. 

And we also looked at this house – it was in the middle of restoration then. They did a great job on it. The pictures don’t do it justice. 

Then we headed back into the down town part of town – all three blocks of it. 

srr the big clock on the corner

We parked and walked up and down the street. Pictures of some of the buildings

there are apartments upstairs. the bar downstairs is closed

 

This is the newspaper office. Publishing since 1881 – we went in but now they don’t print the paper here – they send it out to be printed.

The town barber shop – rotating barber pole and all. 

And a meat market - there was too much reflection to get a good picture of the window but it says " Locally Raised Beef and Pork. We kill em. You grill em."

We noticed there was a True Value Hardware store there. I love to go in them as they always have such neat stuff. So we headed over there.

The building used to be the Halstead Bank building – this was the main entrance. Sidewalk made of tiny mosaic black and white tiles.

Ceiling of the entrance.

The side of the building.

So then we went inside. Check out the ceiling.

And the two old vault doors. Neat place.

That is a display of thread next to the door

this door was inside an office

 Just one of the displays. So colorful

enamelware

And I'm going to stop for now and write more in the morning about Halstead. We found the ORIGINAL hardware store. Amazing. 

Emporia, Kansas tonight

Our view for the last couple of days.

View this morning! The same tree.

 Another tree in the rv park. I know it as an Osage Orange – the “real” name is Maclura pomifera. Also called the Hedge apple, Horse apple, Monkey ball and boisd’arc

It's inedible fruit

Today there is no rain but lots and lots of wind. A little warmer when protected from the wind! Lots of sun. At 7 a.m. we watched a soccer game – Argentina vs HongKong in China – they love Messi there – one fan ran out on the field to get him to sign his shirt. After the game we packed up and left Ottawa at 9:30.

Only got as far as Emporia about 50 miles away. Home of Clint Bowyer - NASCAR driver. 

We stopped to eat breakfast at a Flying J – Huddle House. Decided not to drive any further because of the wind  – it was gusting up to 45. It's “supposed” to let up after midnight. Luckily there is an RV park – Emporia RV – right next to the Flying J. So after breakfast we just pulled in. We’re not in a hurry to go anywhere so why drive in the wind. Bill says the Alfa is like a sailboat and the wind really likes to push it around.

The park has good Internet and big pull-throughs and good line of sight for Direct TV.  But it is between two main highways and next to a truck stop. So far the noise from the wind has drowned out the noise from the traffic. We’ll see how the night goes.

After parking we headed out to WalMart – doesn’t everyone. To get some groceries and I needed shorter knitting needles – the ones I was using kept falling out of my hands. AARRGG. [got my knitting on the new needles and they are so much easier to handle.]

Drove around downtown Emporia a little.  This was the only mural I saw in town. So had to get a picture of it. 

Looks like a pretty nice little Midwest town. Some old interesting buildings. 

built in 1906

 

Pretty tree in the residential area.

What more could you ask for? BBQ and Ice Cream. 

An old theater building

this theater is on the National Register of Historic Places 

And some antiques. They had lots and lots of metal wagon wheels if you're ever looking for one. 

In case you're wondering the town was founded in 1857.

Spending the rest of the day - doing nothing. Trying to figure out which way we'll go tomorrow. 

Rain, rain go away!

It started raining about 11 last night and it is still raining and it is 6  in the afternoon. At least we didn’t get the wind and hail. Just a few claps of thunder early this morning. According to all of our advanced technical equipment the rain “should” stop sometime tonight. So We’ll be able to get back on the road tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed. Just have to decide where we want to end the day. I’m kind of leaning towards Halsted, KS – just north west of Wichita. There is a nice campground – Passport America – there where we’ve stayed before. From there we can visit Wichita and the space museum in Hutchinson. Also see how the house we almost bought in Halsted has stood up over the years. It was built in the late 1800s.

Or maybe we’ll just head straight south looking for warmer weather. So far we’ve been on the road six days and gone less than 600 miles.

I fixed an oven roast with potatoes and carrots for dinner today. It’s the first time in years that I’ve used the oven in the Alfa. Took awhile to figure out where the pilot light was and how to move the oven rack up a level. Dinner turned out really good. And warmed up the inside at the same time. It turned out really good.