The Rippey Lions Club held their regular meeting on October 19, 2017 and enjoyed a delicious meal served by Phyllis Bardole and Connie Neese. During the business meeting the group discussed their upcoming spaghetti dinner and will direct proceeds from the event to the food pantry provided through the Greene Christian Action Resource Center in Jefferson to help support an important community effort.
The program, “Rippey’s Main Street-1931” was led by Nancy Hanaman. Nancy shared a map drawn by her parents, Clark and Esther Bardole, showing the businesses on or near Main Street in 1931, the year Clark began his career at the First National Bank.
At that time here were at least 35 business places with the Rippey Savings Bank and the First National Bank as important anchors. For many years the Rippey Post Office was in the First National Bank building. The two banks were able to reopen right after the bank holiday in 1933 and continued to serve the community for many years, now as Rolling Hills and Peoples Bank. Churches occupied the three corners on the west end of Main Street with the Methodist Church on the north side, the Christian Church across the street where the present church is located and the Baptist Church across the street to the west.
The roll call of businesses included a stock yard in the area where the elevator is located now, butcher shops, two telephone companies-among the operators over the years were Hazel McClintock, a cousin of Myron Rinker, Bernice Riley and Edith Anschutz. When the Rippey Mutual Telephone Company was formed in the early 1930’s, board members were Claude Johnson, Richard Von Egdom, Owen Lape and Clark Bardole as Secretary Treasurer. The two car dealerships were run by Jiggs Fry, Chevrolet in a building at the west end of Main Street now owned by Rick and Mary Fry Liebich, and the Ford Garage under the direction of I.J. Burk, Jr. located in the building now housing Dan Brubaker’s business.
In early years, there was a blacksmith shop at the south end of the building. Doctors included, Dr. Shipley, Dr. Martin and Dr. Chase. B. F. Osborn operated a drug store for many years across the street from the First National Bank until 1933. He also had the first telephone in the area and took messages for those without phones. A cream station on Main Street near the former IOOF lodge building was where farmers brought cream and eggs to supplement their incomes.
Nancy concluded her presentation by quoting from notes Clark had written in 1981 about the businesses that lined Main Street in 1931, “The egg and cream checks were what kept most farmers in groceries and covered household expenses. At that time they had very little but seemed to get along with what they had. With horses for farming and raising their own hay and grain to feed them, they didn’t have the expenses that they do now. In spite of modern households and modern farm equipment and electricity, I would say people were just as happy as they are now and maybe more so.” For more details about Rippey businesses during that time and later, check out the gray Rippey history book or the blue history book that included the business in the 1956 gray book, as well as the updates to 1970, which was printed for Rippey’s centennial. By Nancy Hanaman