Customers could find just about anything they needed at Whitcraft’s store in Bath Township.
Large or small, thin or wide, it was bound to be in stock: crackers in 50-pound barrels, sticks of dynamite, 200-pound wheels of cheese, wall clocks, blends of coffee, sacks of chickenfeed.
The general store at Cleveland-Massillon and Ira roads was the hub of Hammond’s Corners for generations. Farmers brought livestock and produce to sell or trade. Clerks greeted shoppers and assembled orders.
For decades, Whitcraft’s billed itself as “the second largest general store in Ohio,” although it didn’t mention the No. 1 store by name. Businesses in Fostoria, Mesopotamia, Strasburg and Negley all laid claim to being Ohio’s largest.
Royal and Ward Hammond were the first merchants at the Bath crossroads in the 1820s. Reison Randolph opened a store there in the late 1840s.
Joseph Whitcraft, “a pleasant, courteous gentleman and one of the county’s best citizens,” bought the store in 1877 and ran it for 11 years with his son Sigel. When his father died in 1888, Sigel took over the business.
“For 57 years, ‘Sig’ sold groceries, notions, farm, implements to the surrounding country — sold everything from a toothpick to a threshing machine,” former Bath Township resident Marion Wilcox recalled in 1945. “An Irish diplomat, a born salesman, he went all out in his effort to please and the slogan that the customer is always right must certainly have originated in this store.”
The burly, cigar-chomping proprietor had a great rapport with customers and was one of the best-known fellows in town. He conducted business with a handshake; his word was his bond.
“Pay me when you can,” he told customers.
Whitcraft’s store had it all: paint, tobacco, candy, cement, wallpaper, lard, rugs, tools, tea, tinware, china, rice, harnesses, stoves, pretzels, trousers, fences, overalls, jewelry, shirts, rice, underwear.
“A stocky little man, quick of motion, he scrambled around like a squirrel, and the old ladies like even today to recall how he used to hitch and unhitch their horses for them, how in winter he used to tuck the blankets around the feet of his fair customers to insure a comfortable trip home,” Wilcox noted.
Stories are legendary about the genial proprietor who also doubled as postmaster.
One widow could only afford to pay for goods with butter that she had churned. Whitcraft approved the transaction knowing that he would only bury the butter out back when the widow left. It was rancid — just like the other times the woman had paid in butter.
A traveling minister once tried to test Whitcraft’s claim for having everything that a customer could want. The minister jokingly asked Whitcraft if he had a pulpit for sale. The proprietor thought for a moment and went to a back corner where a pulpit had been salvaged from a church that had been razed.
Men gathered at the store to socialize, play checkers and discuss politics. After store hours, poker games were not uncommon.
Disaster struck before dawn Jan. 10, 1912, when an overheated stove caused a fire to erupt in the basement. Whitcraft rushed to the basement but the flames drove him back. He and clerks grabbed a few things from the store, including the ledger, until the heat grew too intense.
“Whitcraft was badly burned in attempting to rescue his stock from the barn,” the Beacon Journal reported. “He succeeded after great effort, and when the horses were removed, fell to the ground unconscious. He was removed to a nearby doctor’s office where medical attention was rendered.”
Villagers formed a bucket brigade, but the store and warehouse were engulfed. Loss was estimated at $65,000 (about $1.6 million today) with the business insured for only $10,000 (about $250,000 today).
Recuperating from his burns, Whitcraft vowed to rebuild. Seven months later, a grand reopening celebration was held Aug. 10, 1912, at the new store, which included a soda fountain on the first floor and a dance hall on the top level. Gala events included contests, games, speeches, music, a baseball game and community dance.
“Welcome you will be,” Whitcraft advertised.
The general store kept up with the times, installing gas pumps as automobiles grew in popularity. Eventually those cars would divert shoppers from Hammond’s Corners to faraway businesses.
In March 1927, Whitcraft’s store celebrated its 50th anniversary.
“It has changed from the ‘general store’ of yesteryear, and is truly an example of the department stores of larger cities,” the Beacon Journal noted. “The stock is complete, surprising anyone not acquainted with the store or its proprietor.”
After 57 years in business, Sigel Whitcraft died in August 1934 at age 71. Son-in-law Ralph Andrew closed the store three years later, citing “regulation by legislation.”
“Business was all right,” Andrew told a reporter. “We did more than $30,000 in 1936, but laws which required permits cut down profits until it was not worthwhile to keep on operating. We had to buy permits to sell milk, soft drinks, dynamite, oleo margarine and cigarettes.”
Since 1954, the building has been home to the Garth Andrew Co., which specializes today in interior design, furnishings and gifts. President Jeff Andrew is a great-grandson of Sigel Whitcraft — and is known to do a fine impression of his ancestor.
The old store is featured in a new exhibit at the Bath Museum on North Cleveland-Massillon Road. Displays include photos, artifacts and a mannequin dressed like Sigel, generously padded in the midsection.
The Bath Township Historical Society invites you to take a look.
Welcome you will be.
Copy editor Mark J. Price is the author of the book Lost Akron from The History Press. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.