Written by Charles Collett
Huntington, WV Newspaper – October 26, 1965
Horatio Alger Story – A real estate deal announced yesterday means another new look and improvements on Railroad Street, the sixth big expansion by the Tri-State Furniture Co. since 1950…The deal also removes the Cloran name from the corner at Fourth and Railroad where it was established and continued as a grocery store since 1870.
Don Koster, the owner of Tri-State, is now the owner of buildings covering a quarter of a city block which, with the newest addition, will mean the largest furniture and appliance store and customer parking lot in the city, with a continuous window display 132 feet in length.
The Cloran building, erected 90 years ago, originally contained six business rooms with apartments on the second floor…Business establishments recalled in the building, when Herbert Hoover was president, were the Martin F. Cloran Grocery, Gholson & Sons Undertakers, Woo Hee Chinese Laundry, and Wuest Bros. Meat Shop.
The story of the Tri-State Furniture told step-by-step over the past 15 years, would sound like a Horatio Alger storybook that schoolboys read years ago…In 1950 Don Koster, a lad just completing his education at Rock Hill High School operated a light motor truck delivering packages for merchants and odd hauling jobs for the public…Seeing an opportunity to purchase cheaply when doing the light household moving, he purchased odd pieces of furniture…He opened a small used furniture store in a vacant room on Railroad Street between Third and Fourth…Soon he was the owner of the building and added new lines, changing the name to Tri-State Furniture…Each year since he purchased adjoining buildings added basements and new display fronts until now his holdings extend half a block along the street extending deep to the alley, which is to become the largest customer parking lot of any retail store in the city when the new front is added at the corner building.
The expanded store has attractive yet crowded display rooms, including a television room handsomely furnished in the rear and seldom seen by patrons unless they inquire about the latest models…Remodeling of the building just purchased afforded the opportunity to brighten up the corner opposite Memorial Hall and to light up Fourth Street…Mr. Koster deserves congratulations for his progressive spirit and his confidence in a Greater Ironton.
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