West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 67 by Charlie Miller
____November 12, 1931 – John M. Gillivan, 65, local hardware dealer, passes away. He had conducted a store in West Jefferson starting in 1886, then in 1890, sold out and, with his brother George, took over their father’s hardware store. In 1903, after his brother George died, he ran the business on his own. He is survived by two sons, Ralph F. “Paddy” and Allen C. Gillivan, and one daughter, Mrs. Lucille Ewart. (Gillivan Hardware was established in West Jefferson in 1866 by James Gillivan. James was born in Ireland in 1835; he immigrated in 1855 and was married on October 25, 1857, in Hamilton, Ohio, to Mary Manifold, also born in Ireland. He was listed as a Tinner. James was appointed Post Master at Gillivan, Ohio, on March 17, 1887, and served until 1890. Gillivan was never laid out and was a crossroads at U. S. Route 42 and the Blair Road. In 1915, it contained a hardware store, a Blacksmith, and six houses.)
Gillivan Hardware sat between what is now Dr. Garwood’s office and the Old Red & White store on Main Street. George Gillivan was Mayor of West Jefferson from 1902 until he died in office in 1903. After John died, his son Paddy took over the business. The business lasted about 100 years when Paddy retired. The building was torn down, and a new one was built for William S. Culp, Attorney; in 1966, Mr. Culp died the following year, and Attorney Ron Parsons moved into the building.
____November 26, 1931 – Miss Glayds Stickle is moving the White Kitchen Restaurant from the Stutson Building to the Mantle House Hotel, its former location. Miss Stickle will operate the White Kitchen and hotel, catering to the tourist trade, and give the same good service to the local trade. (The White Kitchen was a busy place in the 1930’s. U. S. Route 40 was the main east-west route through the country and was always busy back then. It lasted until around the 1970’s. In the 1940’ when there was an Ohio State home football game, our one policeman would stand at the intersection of Main and Walnut, turn off the one traffic light, and direct traffic)
____August 1, 1932 – Last Sunday, the Bill Cody Wild West Show caravan of nearly 100 trucks and automobiles passed through West Jefferson. A stop was made at the Strosnider Filling Station, where 241 gallons of gas and 41 quarts of oil were purchased for their machines—a pretty good-sized order.
____September 1, 1932 – Cement work on the 10-mile stretch of the National Road between Summerford and West Jefferson was finished on Wednesday afternoon. This stretch of highway replaces a narrow crowning highway and joins a good road at either end, as the Springfield end was finished last year. Another job on the National will no doubt be started in the next two years to Columbus, a distance of about 9 miles, which would make the National Road paved from Hebron to Indianapolis.