Stark County OhArchives News.....Many Changes Seen by Grocer Here 82 Years    May 20, 1950
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Lynne Moffitt lfmwvu@aol.com February 27, 2013, 3:32 pm

Repository; Canton, Ohio.  May 20, 1950. May 20, 1950
   In 1869 when Jacob Eicher opened a grocery store at the corner of Cherry 
ave and Mulberry rd SE, his little son, John, began helping with chores at the 
store.            
John was only 7 then, but he decided he would be a grocer when he grew up.  He 
was really serious about that ambition for today, at the age of 89, he is a 
grocer—with 82 years of experience.            
In his own store at 1811 9th st SW, he still serves his customers every day.  
Every one of the 82 years he has spent handling groceries has brought new 
types of them to the shelves.            
Fads, modern packaging, methods, an increase in by-products and refrigeration 
have accounted for kinds of food that could never have been imagined by the 
little 7-year-old boy who used to fill molasses jugs and kerosene cans in his 
father’s grocery.            
Those were the days when Canton stores were advertising melodeons, tin 
bathtubs, parlor stoves, horse blankets and buffalo robes, but the Eicher 
store did not carry this merchandise.  With the exception of sundries, pins, 
and a few other notions, their line was strictly food.            
Customers of today, who sigh for the passing of the old-time store, can find a 
few links with the past in the Eicher store on 9th st.  There is the ball of 
string suspended from the ceiling, a large jar of horehound candy on the 
counter beside the scales—and even the gauge and crank for the molasses barrel 
are still there.            
“Molasses came in 50-gallon barrels,” said Mr. Eicher, “and we set the gauge 
for the amount the customer wanted and then cranked it out. Sugar came in 
barrels, too, and it wasn’t granulated as it is today.”            
The small, cellophane-wrapped packages of crackers produced today may stay 
fresh longer, but the customers of by-gone days liked the convenience of the 
cracker barrel.  In those years following the Civil War there was a lot of 
political problems to be settled around the stove in the Eicher store, and it 
would have been a bit unhandy for a fellow to have to struggle with cellophane 
before he could get at a handful of crackers.  
  Of course, the settling of local and national problems didn’t hinge entirely 
upon the consumption of crackers.  There was a good supply of cut plug tobacco 
in the store.  The sale of this item fell off after the arrival of the new 
fangled tobacco know as scrap cut.  John’s father was the first grocer in 
Canton to put the new stuff called Mail Pouch on his counter. 
When John was 10, his father became ill.  Instead of helping with only lighter 
chores, young John took on new responsibilities.  One of his regular jobs was 
taking a hand cart to get supplies of groceries at Dannemiller’s, then located 
on Public Square.  Dannemiller’s made deliveries with a two-wheeled, one-horse 
dray but, since there were no phones the, it was easier for young John to go 
for the groceries than to write a letter ordering them.            
The boy didn’t have to worry about milk or meat deliveries.  Butchers and 
dairymen peddled their goods in wagons and rang a bell to bring the buyers out 
to the wagon.            
Fish could be bought at the Eicher store, but it was the kind that came in 
bags of brine.  Mackerel was the best-seller.  Crocks of butter were kept in 
the cellar beside the cans of home-rendered lard.            
Children, who ate cereal for breakfast in those days, were born 70 years too 
soon, for there was nothing available except oatmeal.  There were no bright 
packages containing prizes and no box tops that would bring an atom ray 
pistol.  In fact, there weren’t even any paper bags for the 
oatmeal.            
“We had sheets of rag-content paper for wrapping everything,” recalls Mr. 
Eicher.  “For goods such as oatmeal and sugar, we made a cone out of a sheet 
of paper, then twisted it at the top and bottom.”           
 “The only coffee we sold was in the bean form and the customers had to roast 
it and grind it.  They had to bake their own bread, too.”            
Mr. Eicher can remember the arrival of the first shipment of bananas to 
Canton.  The only oranges were those that came from Spain and there were no 
grapes except home-grown Concords.      
In 1884, John and his brother Gottlieb, took over the business from their 
father.  In 1910 they moved to the present location.  The store opened at 7 
a.m. and closed at 10 p.m.  Oil lamps were used for many years, and then 
gasoline lights added a modern touch.            
The present store has shining rows of canned and packaged goods …, and for the 
customers with nostalgic sentiment it has one of the largest and most complete 
stocks of reminiscences in the city.            
Mr. Eicher’s partner in the business is Kirk W. Negley, husband of Mr. 
Eicher’s daughter Pauline.  He has a son, Fred J. Eicher of Danbury, Conn., 
and two grandchildren, Betty Jo Eicher and Robert Negley. 
His 93–year-old sister, Miss Emma Eicher, resides at 332 Mason pl NW.


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