WHO’S HUNGRY? – Nothing printed in this column since Soliloquy first appeared five years ago last January, has resulted in as many phone calls as the listing last week of grocers on South Third Street over the past three score years…
It is always my pleasure to listen and never dispute the other person’s memory…However, most items and dates printed in this column are authenticated before publication by the research of old city directories or newspaper files.
The list of old-time grocers printed last week was those on South Third Street only…They recalled to readers names of grocers in other parts of the city, which they thought I had forgotten…To recall the name of every grocer, past and present, is a job I would not want to undertake.
The first name in groceries in Ironton was that of Murdock…Thomas I. Murdock advertised in the first issue of the weekly Register, August 1, 1850…Two others in the same issue advertising groceries were E. F. and M. Gillen, as Gillen Bros., and also A. Ford…The location of the stores was not mentioned.
D.H. Clark established a grocery in 1851…The Murdock and Clark names were listed among grocers until after the 1913 flood…The name longest associated with groceries was that of the Lynds…The first was in 1879 when W. H. Lynd’s store was at Seventh and Adams streets and W. P. Lynd’s was at Seventh and Mulberry…They both had sons and grandsons to carry on the name in the grocery business…The last Lynd grocery is listed in the 1960 city director, although Ed. W. Lynd, now deceased had sold the store at 1018 South Ninth Street.
The name that predates all others in the grocery business today is Mart F. Cloran*…The store established in 1892 at the corner of Fourth and Railroad Streets remains in the same family listed under the father’s name today…The name Golden has been listed as a grocery since 1904…Charles W. Golden purchased the A. D. Markin grocery at Sixth and Park Avenue, and following his death his son, Harold took over and continues the Golden name at Seventh and Walnut Streets.
The Hannan grocery name first appeared in 1880 when John Hannan opened a store on Buckhorn near Seventh…The Hannan Supermarket at Third and Railroad Streets is among the three oldest-ranking grocery names in the city…E. F. Hannan was the second of that family to operate a store during the early Gay 90s near Third and Railroad Streets…Among the older of today’s busy food stores in Andy Kizzee since 1921…Anderson’s since 1926…Seventy-six grocery stores were listed in the city directory in 1931…Now, 30 years later, only 36 are listed or a loss of 40 in thirty years.
Written by Charles Collett
Huntington, WV Newspaper – May 22, 1961
*[Located on the corner of 4th and Railroad Streets, the Mart F. Cloran Grocery Store was organized by Mart F. Cloran in the 1890s. The site was purchased by Cloran from Charles Murdock. Over the years, Mart made some additions to his store. He added a lower section on North 4th Street.
He purchased Gholson’s Funeral Parlor, a Chinese laundry, Willard’s Restaurant, and another grocery store to make room to expand his store. The last owners and operators of the Mart F. Cloran Grocery Store were Martin T. Cloran, Lawrence F. Cloran, and Miss Hilda Cloran, children of Mart F. Cloran. In 1966, the store was torn down to make room for the new Ironton Post Office located at 4th and Railroad. SOURCE: Briggs Library]
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