The Dewey Carr building showcased all sorts of history from the City of Allendale during the recent Allendale Open House Saturday. The building was restored by Brad and Mark Carr and has now been turned into a museum. On display Saturday were all sorts of family pictures, advertising signs, and other memorabilia. One piece of history was an 1881 copy of the Mineral Springs Gazette, which was Allendale's newspaper at the time. It was named that because there was a mineral spring a quarter of a mile north of Allendale which is still there today. There were four such springs in the area; the one in Siloam Springs was the best-known. However, there were two others in Denver and the one just north of Allendale which advertised in the Mineral Springs paper.
The Mineral Springs bath house was reputed to have medical properties. It was run by a board which included President T.J. Smith, Secretary Calvin Tilton, Secretary O.C. Dawson, Treasurer William McElvain, and board members J.A. Hunt, R.P. Wilkinson, and Lewis Campbell. The ones in Denver were the Shadora Mineral Spring along with the Denver Mineral Well. Dawson also ran the dry goods store, where he sold muslins, wool jeans, tweeds, cashmeres, cottonades, denims, ducks, chevoits, and flannels as advertised in the Gazette.
Back then, news was two weeks old and subscriptions cost $1.50 per year. The editor was W.H. Conn; the paper held forth on the assassination of James Garfield; he had just died of his wounds. Other favorite topics were advice on marriage as well as the evils of liquor and the futility of trying to marry someone in the hopes that they would change their drinking habits.
One of the most common advertisements in the paper were those for drugs which would supposedly cure just about anything. One such advertisement was for Perry Davis' painkiller, which could supposedly treat rheumatism, neuralgia, cramps, chlorea, diarreha, sprains, bruises, burns, scalds, toothache, and headache. There were plenty of other ads as well. Lindsay Addington's Livery and Feed Stable from Grant City advertised. L.F. Hammer advertised groceries, tobaccos, and cigars. W.C. Jones had a drug store.
Among other memorabilia were signs for various products such as Hines Root Beer and Fire Chief Gasoline. One sign advertised Pepsi for 5 cents, saying that it had more bounce to the ounce. Even back in those days, Pepsi was trying to target people with the younger view of things. There was an old cookbook from the J.R. Weddle family, model train sets, and a set of David Melville Pewter which was a cookware set made in Rhode Island sometime between 1776 and 1793.
Numerous other businesses and organizations participated in the Allendale Open House. The Pool Hall did a raffle for a t-shirt and a tenderloin dinner. Mike's Garage served homemade cider from a machine; you just pushed a button and it would dispense hot homemade apple cider a few minutes later. Also on display was a jeep with a corvette engine. Oldtowne served free cinnamon rolls, a cookie, and coffee. Hannahbear gave 10% off on all purchases that day. Mary Kay's Quilting raffled off a Christmas Throw. The Allendale Baptist church served cookies. Civili-Tea had standing room only for much of the day and all the tables were completely full. A group of ladies came up from Albany and had a previously planned tea party as scheduled; they did not mind the huge crowds who showed up.
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