West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 119 by Charlie Miller

____June 11, 1925 – E. J. Britton has bought the meat market from the Martin Brothers. This is the same one that he had opened some time ago. (Edward Jennings Britton was born November 4, 1870, in Albion, NY. He came to Ohio at an early age and settled in Norwich Township, Franklin County. He came to West Jefferson between 1910 and 1920 and opened a grocery & meat market. The grocery store became a Red & White store and, at one time, was the 2^nd oldest Red & White store in the country. He owned a plot of land on the corner of Depot and Burnham Streets, where he had a garden and raised vegetables to sell in his store. Ed was a character. I delivered papers to him in the 1940’s. On Saturday, I’d collect. I’d find him in the rear of the store, he and some old cronies gathered around a pot-bellied stove. I say, “I’m collecting.” he’d reach in his pocket and hand me a wad of bills with a rubber band around it and a $100 dollar bill on the outside and say, “Is this enough?” the old cronies loved it. I knew the inside was full of $1 dollar bills!”

____July 9, 1925 – There are four cases of Small Pox that have been found in “Jeff.”

____August 17, 1925 – The Kiser-Hoe Cannery will open soon. According to W. A. Beedle, Superintendent of the cannery, this year’s crop will exceed all others, including the record crop of 1912.

(The cannery sat on Jackson Street. In the summer, at canning time, probably 75% of West Jefferson worked there. It did put out an odor, but we all endured it. During the war years 1941-1945, they would let the high school seniors out to work because of the labor shortage. There was a railroad siding that ran down where the village street department is now. Some years, they would bring in workers from Mexico who would work at the cannery and live in the cars on the siding. The Cannery, at one time, was owned by Stokley Vancamp. There is a picture of cannery workers in 1940 in “West Jefferson Remembers”)

____August 31, 1925 – Mrs. Mary Fellows, widow of T. B. Fellows, dies in Columbus. Mr. Fellows ran a hardware store in West Jefferson for a number of years. (Theodore Byron Fellows was born November 17, 1843, and died November 2, 1915. He is buried at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Thomas served 4 months in Co. D, 133^rd O. V. I., fighting in the Battle of the Bermuda Triangle. Mary Fellows had received a widow’s pension starting in December of 1915.)

____September 3, 1925 - $55,000.00 Fire Destroys Elevator Plant---The most disastrous fire in West Jefferson’s annuals caused a $55,000.00 fire to the West Jefferson Elevator Co. Several hundreds of dollars in damage was done to several near-by houses, and $250.00 to the A.T.&T. Wires and less to the West Jefferson Power & Light Co. wires. The origination is unknown. It was discovered at 9:45 that heavy damage was sustained by nearby houses owned by Hinkle Paterson, Joseph King, Zem Lewis, and Charles Baker due to the sparks from the fire. Stored in the elevator were 5,000 bu. Oats, 1,200 bu. Wheat, 500 bu. Corn and 300 bu. barley. Wilbur McCoy, employed by the Sam Feder Hardware Store, was burned about the face and left arm while attempting to extinguish a blaze that threatened his residence. O. P. VanSchoik was overcome by heat and smoke. (Remains of this building can still be seen at the intersection of W. Main St. and S.Frey Avenue.)