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Tag Archives: clippings

Pomona General Store

words and images Posted on April 6, 2023 by dlschirfApril 7, 2023

On a 2013 visit to Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, I came across this gem at a crossroads near the Pomona Natural Bridge. Finding the photos again, I was curious about what this building had been and when it closed for good.

Pomona General Store in May 2013
Pomona General Store
May 25, 2013
Pomona General Store in May 2013
Pomona General Store — love the Mail Pouch thermometer
May 25, 2013
Pomona General Store in May 2013
Pomona General Store
May 25, 2013

It’s the Pomona General Store, and even the New York Times published an article about it.

At an Illinois Country Store, Nostalgia Sells Best
July 15, 1987

The store was built in 1876 when Pomona, about 15 miles southwest of Carbondale near the southern tip of Illinois, was a railroad town with more than 500 residents and a shipping point for produce.

The original wooden store burned down in 1915. A rebuilt store burned in 1917, and a brick store was built the same year to replace it.

I dug around newspapers.com and found a little of the store’s most recent history starting with the 1970s, when media mentions picked up. Over the next couple of decades, the store changed hands a few times. It also attracted attention as a relic — an old-school general store in an era of big box stores. For years it seemed to be a center of Pomona community. Even after it closed, its location was used for community events like bake sales.

Pomona store gets transformed
Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois) · 15 Feb 1976
Pomona store changes owners
Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois) · 4 Sep 1985
Photo of man, dog, and truck in front of Pomona General Store
Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois) · 12 Apr 1987
General store is a living museum
The Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, Illinois) · 14 Jul 1987
A town in the woods
Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois) · 27 Feb 1989
Southern_Illinoisan_1992_09_20_Page_106
Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois) · 20 Sep 1992
Pomona General Store: New manager has made some changes, but the philosophy's the same: relax and enjoy
The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois) · 14 May 1995
Southern_Illinoisan_1996_12_31_Page_9
Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois) · 31 Dec 1996, continued below
Southern_Illinoisan_1996_12_31_Page_12
Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois) · 31 Dec 1996, continued
Pomona General Store ad
Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois) · 20 Aug 2000

A few people have mentioned surprise the gas pump was in place (as of 2013) as they are “very collectible.” I found a photo from 2022 that shows the pump still there. Perhaps the Pomona community keeps a watchful eye on it.

The store must have closed between 2000 and 2002. Over the next decade or so, it deteriorated more than I would have expected. I’m reminded of what I saw of the TV series “Life After People,” which speculated how plants, wildlife, and other forces would eat away at the infrastructure and buildings humans have wrought after they were no longer maintained.

Pomona General Store gathering place
Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois) · 24 Jan 2002

I imagine someday in Pomona the ivy will finally take over the store, and time will erase the memories.

Posted in Adventure, Blog, Photography, Relics | Tagged clippings, Illinois, National Forest, photo, relics, Shawnee | 4 Replies

Future of artificial limbs (prosthetics)

If these men were alive now, wouldn’t they be amazed by today’s prosthetics?

16 Apr 1973, Mon The Buffalo News (Buffalo, New York) Newspapers.com

January 28, 2023 by dlschirf Posted in Blog Tagged clippings, New York, news, nostalgia Reply

“Hirohito Wouldn’t Understand”

This is from the June 7, 1943, edition of the Altoona Tribune (Pennsylvania).

07 Jun 1943, Mon Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com
June 10, 2022 by dlschirf Posted in Blog Tagged advertising, clippings, nostalgia, Pennsylvania Reply

Marietta Schirf, WAC editor

words and images Posted on March 22, 2020 by dlschirfFebruary 4, 2023

Marietta Schirf was my dad’s youngest sister. He said he didn’t know how she snuck into the Armed Forces because he was sure she didn’t meet the minimum height requirement.

At a 1980s July 4th concert on Capitol Hill, E. G. Marshall officiating, veterans by branch were asked to stand up. When the turn came for the Air Force, she stood and whooped, to the surprise of our neighbors on the grass. I asked why Air Force, and she answered she’d been in the Army Air Corps. That’s the first I’d heard that.

Aunt Marietta died in the mid-90s. How she would have appreciated the resources of the internet. She once took me to the Library of Congress to look up articles on sugalite.

I will have to look up Front and Center. On the internet.

Marietta Schirf
Marietta Schirf at work on Front and Center
Posted in Blog, Life, Reminiscence | Tagged clippings, family, news, nostalgia, Pennsylvania, Schirfs, vintage family photos | Leave a reply

Hike and a picnic

words and images Posted on January 28, 2019 by dlschirfFebruary 4, 2023

Today is the 100th anniversary of my mother’s birth. I discovered this delightful clipping about a hike to a farm and a picnic with storytelling under a big tree she helped to organize. It could be straight out of Anne of Green Gables.

I love finding these blurbs. This and others are giving me new insight into my parents’ early lives pre-me.

Posted in Blog, Life, Reminiscence | Tagged clippings, family, news, nostalgia, Pennsylvania, Schirfs | 2 Replies

Stop the presses! Family members visit other family members in Williamsport

words and images Posted on January 22, 2019 by dlschirfFebruary 3, 2019

I jest, but this does bring back memories of visits back and forth when I was young enough to be bored but old enough to appreciate any change in routine. This was a visit without us, though.

Posted in Blog, Life, Reminiscence | Tagged clippings, family, news, nostalgia | Leave a reply

Schirf state visit to Bellwood, Pennsylvania

words and images Posted on January 22, 2019 by dlschirfFebruary 4, 2023

This morning I, “Dianne Schirg,” made this marvelous discovery from a simpler time when a family visit to Bellwood, Pennsylvania, was noteworthy.

Posted in Blog, Life, Reminiscence | Tagged clippings, family, news, nostalgia, Pennsylvania, Schirfs | 2 Replies

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