Building still making history

Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent 
With Leonard Cash
 
In this week’s installment of “History on Main,” Leonard Cash finishes his 12-week series on the Perkins’ Tavern building, which has an immense history of businesses and proprietors, including A.M. Nichols, C.J. Fendrick and Charles Grieves. 
The building sits on lots 4 through 6 on block 10, but Cash decided to backtrack the past two weeks to focus on lot 4, which once was home to a Sears catalog store. After Sears moved out, Cash said, a lawyer named Sheehan established his law firm there until the building was sold to Black Hills Title. Today, it is an empty building. This week, he goes through local newspaper records about the business on lot 5, starting in the 1960s. At this time, it was called the Grieves building. According to a Feb. 9, 1961, News Letter Journal article, the Weston County Drug Store, which had moved into the Perkins building when it was owned by C.J. Fendrick in the 1940s, purchased the Wollack building on Main Street from Charles Martens, so the drug store was moving out. The building was being remodeled, and the store was moving in around May 1. 
After the drug store moved out of the Perkins building, a billiard parlor moved in, reported the Oct. 31, 1963, paper. The grand opening was held on Saturday, with refreshments served to the community. 
Another business that was later moved onto lot 5 was Roy Scruggs’ appliance store. The Aug. 20, 1964, issue of the paper reported that Scruggs was moving from 401 Stampede Ave. to 11 N. Seneca, which is behind the Cashbox Ceramics store. Scruggs bought the RCA Whirlpool franchise from Petrolane Newcastle Gas Service and named his store the Roy Appliance Center. The grand opening was held around Sept. 3, 1964, but by July 8, 1965, the appliance center had moved to lot 5, where it hosted another grand opening to celebrate a new line of merchandise, including RCA Victor radios, TV and stereo sets and special features on Victors and Whirlpool. Free coffee and donuts were served to the customers. 
Unfortunately, Roy and his wife, Eva, filed a petition of bankruptcy with liabilities of $119,735.27, according to the April 21, 1966, edition of the Journal. Assets were $32,937.66 and the exemption was $4,650. The following issue reported that Donald Boyer was appointed to receive the assets.
An article from July 21, 1966, announced that the Weston County Credit Bureau moved into the upstairs of the Grieves building.
By Oct. 6, 1966, the Weston County Republican Party moved its headquarters into the old appliance building. This office was open Monday through Saturday from 1 to 5:30 p.m. with coffee and cookies.  Information on
candidates and elections was also available.
On March 30, 1967, Leahy’s and Holst opened a new and used furniture store on the Grieves block, and the establishment was open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 
Just a few months later, Newcastle TV and Electronics moved in, and the Dec. 7, 1967, issue advertised an open house for the store that weekend. The store had a complete line of radios, record players and both color and black and white TVs. 
An article from Aug. 12, 1976, announced that Ralph Updike and his wife purchased the Grieves building. This building housed many businesses throughout the year, including Sears, a floral shop, and Peerless Bar on the ground floor, as well as the U.S. Geological Survey office and Coronado Oil office on second. Cash said that several other businesses occupied lot 5, but they didn’t last very long in the building, so the records documenting their stays are sparse. 
According to the Nov. 30, 1978, paper, Kalico Kupboard, owned and operated by Cindy Caillier and Becky Martens celebrated its first anniversary by hosting a grand opening sale of its Krazy Klozet. At the time, the store was located on 127 S. Railway (which was the Delmar hotel), but the article noted that the business would be moving the next spring. Cash said that the Kalico Kupboard moved to lot 5, where it stayed for a number of years. Eventually, Becky (Martens) Decker moved the shop into Decker’s Food Center, and it became the store’s floral shop. 
Around March 11, 1982, the Inyan Kara Grazing Association had its office in the upstairs of the Updike building, with new office hours of 1 to 5 p.m.
Before finishing up, Cash wanted to include the obituaries of Charles Norton, who owned the Peerless Bar (which later became Perkins’ Tavern), and Rasmus Andersen — both of whom met tragic ends in the bar. Norton’s obituary from the Feb. 1, 1979, News Letter Journal, reported that he was beaten to death on Jan. 25, and Cash said it still remains a cold case. Norton was born on Oct. 8, 1918, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He went into the Air Force, where he served until his retirement in 1971. He married Bobbie Brittain in 1961, and they lived in Rapid City for three years before moving to Newcastle. Norton was a member of VFW Post No. 2516, and he was buried at the Black Hills National Cemetery with full military honors. 
Andersen died on Dec. 20, 1947, and is buried at the Greenwood Cemetery, according to the Find a Grave database. He fell down the basement steps at the bar, and that’s how he died, Cash said. 
According to Cash, after the Updikes retired, they sold the business to the owners of Perkins’ Tavern and moved to Arizona. Today, lots 4 and 5 are empty, and the section of the building on lot 6 remains open as a bar. That concludes the history of yet another Main Street building, and next week Cash will begin a new series on the Hestead building, located on lot 7.