SANDHILLS COMMERCIAL COMPANY

by Walter L. and L. Berniece Wadlow

Entry B17 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

L-R: W.R. Machlan; Owner, Ed Wadlow; and son,
Walter Wadlow.

Sandhill Commerical Company in early '40s.

                  1935-1954
           E.E. Wadlow and Son

The Sand Hills Commercial Company was
located at First Street and Washington Ave.,
the place now (1986) occupied by the quonset
building of the Mullen Feed and Supply.

Bill Gruenig had purchased the business
from Charlie Campbell in 1932. By 1935 Bill
decided the grocery and men's wear business
was not his main interest. In 1935 he sold the
store to Ed Wadlow. Ed and Effie Wadlow
moved from the Lowe Ranch, (where he had
been ranch foreman for several years), to
Mullen, Nebr. to run the store he had bought.
They had owned and operated a general store
in Lesterville, Mo. during their early years of
married life. At that time (so they have told
us) Ed carried change in his pants pocket and
Effie had change in her apron pocket. When
a customer bought groceries the Wadlows
made change for them from their pocket. Ed
always said, "If we took in enough at the store
to pay our bills we were doing O.K. in the
store business".

At the time Ed and Effie moved in to
Mullen their son, Walter and wife Berniece,
were managing a movie theater in Dayton,
Iowa. Ed asked Walter and Berniece to come
back to Mullen and go into the business as
partners. They returned in Feb. of 1935.

The grocery business was very different in
the 30's and 40's to what it is today (1986).
Many foods came in boxes or bushel baskets
and foods were weighed into a brown paper
sack at the time of the sale. Potatoes,
tomatoes, peaches, pears and such foods were
shipped, in the baskets or wooden boxes, by
the railroad instead of by truck.

About 1938 the Wadlows closed out the
men's furnishings, which were located in the
south room of the store. The opening between
the grocery and men's department was closed
by a wall. This south room was rented to Mac
Rayfield and Emmett Glen Long for a Beer
Parlor.

Walter went into the Army Signal Corp. in
Sept. 1942 and returned in Jan. 1946. During
that time, Ed, Effie and Berniece took care
of the store and learned many things about
keeping books and buying merchandise.

From 1935 until 1954, when the Wadlows
sold the store, we noticed many changes in
the grocery store business and in the years
from 1954 to 1986 when we, Wadlows, became
customers we have noticed drastic changes
and improvements in the grocery business.

Berniece Wadlow, when she shops for
groceries, never asks for an exact amount of
ground beef. She says, "One pound, a few
ounces more or less is O.K.". Clerks have ask
her why she does not request a specific
amount. Berniece replies, "When we had the
store I had trouble getting exact amount
requested and I promised myself I would
never be so particular."

In 1954 the Wadlows held a "closing out"
sale as the younger Wadlows had other career
offers and Ed and Effie retired.

Alan and Wanda Smith rented the building
and operated a Beer Parlor and Cafe for
awhile, and later the building was sold,
demolished and the present quonset building
was erected for the Mullen Feed and Supply.

We hated to see the old building torn down
and destroyed. It seemed like an important,
pioneer land mark for the community of
Mullen.