Miriam Hibbs, several days ago, donated to the historical society this interesting postcard view, dated 1911, of one of Chariton's best known commercial buildings, Piper's, on the northeast corner of the square.
It had been kept in a family scrapbook primarily because her father, Albert Westling --- a very young man at the time --- is one of the four clerks standing in front.
That's most likely Joe L. Piper himself in the white apron at far left, although he's not identified. All the clerks are identified, however. They are (from left) Pete West, R. Findley, Albert Westling and Frank Tinder. I think that's the Piper's delivery wagon on the right.
It's an interesting photo for all sorts of reasons, among them because it's possible to read a little history in its signage.
Joe L. Piper had purchased the grocery business from Fred C. Stanley during early December, 1908, and by 1911 had placed his name above the storefront and on the awning. The painted sign along the east wall of the building still read "Fred C. Stanley" however.
The Piper's building itself was relatively new and already had its first addition in place by 1911, when this photograph was taken.
Fred Stanley's brother, Frank, had opened Stanley Grocery store during 1890 in the two-story wood frame building that previously stood here. That structure had been constructed during the 1860s by Chariton attorney Warren S. Dungan, whose law offices were upstairs. Rental of the store room at street level generated extra income for the pioneer lawyer and legislator. Frank Stanley sold the business to his brother, Fred, during March of 1892, then sadly died at age 30 a year later.
During January of 1894, when Dungan moved temporarily to Des Moines to serve as Iowa's lieutenant governor, he sold the old building to Lizzie Eikenberry, widow of Chariton entrepreneur Daniel Eikenberry and a very astute businessperson in her own right.
Mrs. Eikenberry, now Fred Stanley's landlady, began almost immediately to plan a new brick building for that location.
During March of 1894, in order not to disrupt the Stanley grocery business, the old frame structure was moved sideways into North Grand Street, where business continued as usual until July, when the new building was complete and Fred moved in.
Lizzie Eikenberry died during 1901, age only 49, and in 1904 her heirs sold the new brick building as well as two rattletrap old frame buildings to the west to Chariton's I.O.O.F. Lodge. The lodge got to work immediately on its grand new I.O.O.F. building, which still stands on the site of the old frame structures.
Two years later, in 1906, the lodge made an improvement to the Stanley Grocery building --- a two-story addition to the north that provided a storeroom and basement room below for use by the grocery and an extra rental space on the second floor.
Time has obscured the distinction between the original Stanley/Piper's building and its first addition, but in this photo, the brick of the addition shows up lighter than the brick of the original, making clear where one ended and the other began.
Fred Stanley sold his grocery business to Joe L. Piper during December of 1908 and moved soon thereafter to Minneapolis with his family. The I.O.O.F. lodge retained ownership of the building until 1913, when Piper purchased it, too --- uniting business and building under one ownership.
And so it remains, with Jill Kerns as as owner now of both business (still Piper's) and building.
The grand old building has had great good fortune in terms of ownership. When the second floor front began to crack, Jill had it seamlessly repaired and restored. And during the recent upper-level housing initiative, two fine new apartments were created in the old second-floor spaces.
And then of course there's all that candy that continues to flow from the Piper's kitchen.
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