(Whitewater Historical Society submission) In November 1946, the Whitewater Register featured a promotion following the Uglow family of Heart Prairie on their Saturday Shopping Tour of Stores in the Business District.”

Let’s check out some of the stores that Ellis and Dorothy, along with their children, Charlotte, Thane, and Bonnie, visited on their trip into town!

In the photo below, Ellis, Charlotte, and Dorothy watch as Bonnie tries out a new tricycle at Ledman’s Western Auto store, located at 88 West Main Street. Western Auto stores were all-purpose hardware and household goods stores that specialized especially in toys during the holiday season.

Over the years, Whitewater was home to many different Western Auto franchise locations:

1940-1941: Roy Crouch opens the first Western Auto Store.

1941-1942: Elmer Lubbers takes over from Crouch, yet ends up selling “everything but the store cat” by late 1942.

1945-1947: Hal Ledman opens up a new Western Auto store, pictured here.

1947-1948: Bill Swendsen buys out Ledman, but goes out of business himself just over a year later.

1955-1960: Eddie O’Donnell opens a new store in the space formerly home to Burns Electrical.

1960-1963: O’Donnell and Tony Willegal sell out to Tom and Ruth Burns in early 1960, however, the business only lasted a couple years beyond that as the space was transformed into a pool hall in 1963.

1969-1974: Jack Forrest opens a new Western Auto Store at 125 West Whitewater Street, closing down in late 1974. On Christmas Eve 1974, a fire raged through the building for several hours. Arson was suspected, but the culprit was never caught.

Join us next week for more from the Whitewater Historical Society collections!