Star Junction:
The Company Store, circa 1900
| Just about every coal patch
had a Company Store, so-called because the coal company owned
it. See below to learn how the coal companies took the miners’
pay right back from them by forcing them to shop at the Company
Store. This photograph was made in about 1900 by the Webmaster’s
grandfather, George A. Baughman. If you remember
the Company Store from a later era (it was open through the
1950’s)
you remember it looking much different than it does here.
At the time of this photo the front of the store faced northward
toward what is now the doctor’s office; the railroad tracks
(now Rt. 51) would have been to the left in this photo and
the original Rt. 51 and the churches to the right. When the
store was enlarged the original facade was walled over and
a new facade was built facing westward toward Church St. Below is an enlargement of the men and boy. Please e-mail the Webmaster if you can identify any of these people. |
Photo
courtesy R.C. Baughman
