Beaconsfield’s Hy-Vee store in March 2007.
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I’ve been trying to find the origin and history of Charles Hyde’s and David Vredenburg’s first store they owned together. We know it was in this building in Beaconsfield, but the exact date is not known. We also don’t know for certain who built this building and when. This week, we’ll look at the Beaconsfield Centennial Book and the information I’ve dug out of the Tingley and Mt. Ayr newspapers.
The centennial book says Robert Beadle sold the original store and lot to W. J. Kikendall. The store was struck by lightning and burned May 29, 1915. Kikendall then re-built the store with the brick structure we know today. Tom Moore bought the business and later sold it to Frank Whiteaker and Ed Beadle. They in turn sold it to Hy-Vee in November 1929.
That information contradicts what I found. The Mt. Ayr papers say William J. Kikendall came to Beaconsfield in March 1916 and took possession of the store. It was struck by lightning and burned July 14, 1916. He re-built on the same site and opened October 20, 1916.
Kikendall stayed here until February 1923 when he sold out to J. F. Onstot. Onstot Grocery burned one year later. Was it the same building? Did the burned-out building get restored? I don’t know. But, the Record-News states on June 25, 1924, L. R. Beadle sold the store to W. E. Beadle and F. N. Whiteaker. That info somewhat matches what the centennial book says.
The Tingley Vindicator of October 10 and 17 says Cecil Noftsger and wife of Lamoni have moved to the D. L. Onstot property as they will manage the new Supply Store (that’s what Hy-Vee was called in the early days). A. W. Dufty is getting his building ready for the Supply Store. In 1933, the building is, again, referred to as the “A. W. Dufty property.”
This tells me Hyde and Vredenburg leased the building from Dufty. But, I could be wrong.
So Hyde and Vredenburg opened a grocery store right after the stock market crash of October 1929, in the smallest town in Ringgold County, during the winter. Doesn’t sound right, does it? Well, here’s what most people don’t know – a two-story, brick schoolhouse was under construction at this time and Beaconsfield was just over a year away from getting electricity. Had it not been for the stock market crash, Beaconsfield would have experienced a “boom.”
