NEWS: Cyclone Store 1885 - 1985, Bullitt Co., KY ***************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. Commercial entities must ask for and receive permission from submitter before downloading. Contributed by Marabeth P. Date: 18 June 2000 ***************************************************************************** This is part of a series of articles on the history of Mt. Washington presented in the local newspaper by the Mt. Washington P.T.S.A. by Bev Miller (Sorry, I don't know which newspaper.) In 1885, the Cyclone Store was started as a neighborhood Stock Company. It was managed by Albert S. Miller and the Miller family had living quarters on the second floor. The store continued as a Stock Company until 1906, when J.C. Gentry became the sole owner. Mr. Gentry started working in the store when it opened in 1885 and when he was 16 years old. In 1913, Mr. Gentry sold the store to C.A. Porter and H.P. Wigginton, who were partners. They kept the name of The Cyclone Store. In 1921, they dissolved their partnership and C.A. Porter was the sole owner. After Mr. Porter became the sole owner he changed the name to Cyclone Cash Store. Mr. Porter died in 1937 and since then the store has been operated by members of his family. If a young man had worked at the Cyclone Store in 1912 his salary would have been $15.00 a month. His hours would have been from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. during the week and 11:00 p.m. on Saturday nights. He could have bought a suit for $6.75, a hat for $1.25, shoes for $2.50, shirt for $1.00, tie and socks for $1.00 and still have $2.50 left over. Back in those days they didn't have the varieties of canned foods that we have now. Some of the canned foods were: Polk's Best Tomatoes, large size 10 cents per can; Polk's Best Corn, two cans for 15 cents; Our Seal Peaches, large cans 20 cents per can; and Red Star Salmon, tall cans 10 cents per can. Some prices for staples were: Coffee, (not ground) 12 1/2 cents to 20 cents per pound; sugar 20 pounds for $1.00; black ground pepper, 20 cents per pound; butter, 20 cents per pound; eggs, 12 to 20 cents per dozen; and home cured bacon, 15 cents per pound. Material was much cheaper then, too. Dress gingham was 10 to 12 1/2 cents a yard; calico was 6 cents a yard; and apron gingham was 8 cents a yard. They sold tin cans by the dozens because the housewives did most of their canning. There were no meat counters then. The local butcher would kill a beef on Friday and would peddle it on Saturday to out of town customers. There was no refrigeration so the meat had to be kept in the cellar, until it was sold. Those were really the good old days! Cyclone Store to Celebrate its 100th anniversary (Another news article from the local paper, date unknown but must have been around 1985 since the store began in 1885.) Cyclone Store began business over 100 years ago as a General Store with Al Miller as operator. In the early years of the business, W.L. McGee became manager with J.C. Gentry as clerk. C.A. Porter and H.P. Wigginton later bought and ran the business as a partnership for several years until Porter bought it and ran it as a proprietorship. During this time, cream was tested at the store for the Von Allman Company and later the cream was hauled to the Blue Valley Creamery. Eggs, chickens, lard, fresh meats, rabbits, ginseng and other items were bought from the farmers and sold to the Louisville markets. Upon the death of C.A. Porter, the business was owned by Mrs. Marion Porter, Marvin R. Porter and William F. Porter. The business was operated as a partnership until 1958 when William F. Porter became the sole owner. In 1961, W.F. Porter bought Barnes Bros. store from J.E. Fisher and moved the merchandise into the Cyclone Store. In the early part of 1968, the ready mix concrete business was started. Later in 1968, the grocery department was sold to Amos Brown, who rented the grocery section and remained in the building until a new building for Brown's IGA was built in 1977. After the grocery store moved out, Cyclone retained about half that space and doubled the size of the hardware department. Cyclone's now carries a wide selection of merchandise, as listed in another part of this newspaper.