Jackson County IL Archives News..... F. S. CRAINE VIVIDLY RECALLS HOW HE STARTED IN BUSINESS 29 YEAR AGO ON $1200 - BORROWED October 16, 1923
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Mary Riseling riseling@insightbb.com July 13, 2006, 7:40 pm

Murphysboro Daily Independent October 16, 1923

   When F. S. CRAINE, president of the Union House Furnishing Co., was a lad his
ambition was to be the best clerk in Murphysboro.  He was employed as salesman
by Geo. KENNEDY, deceased, and his only rival for the championship was "Billie"
PELZER who was "jumping counters" for Mrs. S. HAWK.  The rivalry between the two
was keen.

    When Mr. Craine grew to young manhood and felt that this ambition had been
realized, his ideal became owning the biggest store in Murphysboro, and set his
mark as his goal.  Wages in those days were not to be compared with those of the
present time and Frank CRAINE's capital consisted of a good name, the ambition
to succeed and the confidence of his friends.

    He recalled with pleasure today how just 29 years ago he managed to borrow
$2100 with only his name and his reputation for honesty, as security for the
loan, and bought his opening stock of furniture.  He rented the room directly
across the street from his present location, as a sales room and opened for
business.  In the good old days buffet and kitchen cabinets were unknown and
kitchen safes and tables came "knocked down and in the white."  They were set up
and painted or varnished after the store closed at night.

    Room size rugs were unheard of then and only ingrain carpets were seen on
the floors of the best homes in Murphysboro.  During the day he waited on the
trade and when the store closed in the evening he sewed the carpets he had sold
during the day and made them ready to lay the following morning.  Later Brussels
carpets made their appearance on the market in the larger cities but were not
carried in stock here for some time, being handled as special orders from samples.

    The homes in those days were not furnished with the elegance of those of the
present time and when the good housewife spent $20 for a sideboard and $15 for a
set of chairs she felt that she had gone about the limit.  As times changed as
did the standards of living and through a campaign of education urged by Mr.
Craine, on buying quality furniture many of these cheaper furnishings were
replaced by sideboards costing from $40 to $75 and chairs, ranging from $30 to
$40 for the set.  Quality had been his hobby and the store has been largely
instrumental in raising the quality of the home furnishings of Murphysboro.

    As the business grew and prospered he needed additional warehouse space and
took over the first floor of the building facing east at the rear of the old
location and a short time later the second floor was converted to his needs. 
The store remained in this location for 11 years but at length outgrew its home
and the modern three story buff brick building directly across the street was
built in 1905.  The store was moved to its new location and has remained every
since.

    It is now the largest furnishing store in southern Illinois with 17,500
square feet of salesroom space in the Craine Building and an additional
warehouse across the street continuing 12,000 square feet of floor space and
warerooms on the upper floor of the main building bringing the total floor space
up to more than 43,000 square feet.

    Believing that it was possible to do an even larger volume of business by
being prepared to handle it, last March the store was reorganized by taking in
additional executives and reorganizing on a larger scale.  Willard F. HARRIS
became secretary-treasurer of the company, relieving Mr. Craine of much of the
detail of the management and giving him time to devote to the broader aspect and
policies of the business.

    The style of the concern was changed to the Union House Furnishing Co. and a
store was opened in Centralia in March, 1922, by Delmar F. CRAINE and John
PARRISH.  Some time later they entered Mt. Vernon.  The Centralia store is
practically as large as the Murphysboro institution, while the Mt. Vernon store
is growing rapidly in size and popularity.  F. S. CRAINE is president of the
Murphysboro stores and Willard F. HARRIS secretary-treasurer, while Delmar F.
CRAINE is executive head of the Centralia and Mt. Vernon establishments and John
PARRISH secretary-treasurer.  

    Some idea of the volume of business done may be obtained from the fact that
on a recent trip to market by F. S. and Delmar CRAINE they placed an order for
three carloads of stoves and ten cars of furniture.  The Murphysboro store
covers a radius of fifty miles and has been an asset to Murphysboro by bringing
here each year thousands of dollars from outlying districts of Jackson and
surrounding counties.


Additional Comments:

Transcribed by Mary Riseling from grandfather C. E. RISELING's collection of old
newspapers.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/jackson/newspapers/fscraine96nnw.txt

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