HISTORY OF THE MACKE GROCERY STORE

by Dick Macke

Entry B37 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

No Caption

The first Macke's Store appeared in 1948,
when Edgar and Pauline Macke purchased a
small business from Mr. and Mrs. Art
Jacobsen. The store was located in approxi-
mately the front 1/3 of the same building in
which the grocery store is now located, one
door east of the bank. The store was called
the M&J Store for a time as Vilas Jones was
a partner in the store for awhile. They sold
groceries, produce, and a small amount of dry
goods. The back part of the building was a
separate business which sold cattle feed and
coal at that time and had previously been a
mechanic's shop.

In 1949, after Vilas went on to a mechanic
job, Ed and Pauline moved one door to the
east into what is now the Napa Store. They
operated a grocery store there until 1956,
when they bought out the inventory of Chet
Johnson, and moved again. This time to the
south side of the street and one block west,
where the Johnson-Vinton Feed Store is now
located, this building was originally known as
the J.L. Roseberry Building with the date of
1910 on the front of the building. Here the
Macke's operated a full line grocery store, a
full line clothing department, as well as a
slaughtering and processing plant.

Ed and Pauline were abruptly put out of
business in November 1974, when a fire
completely destroyed the Johnson building.
Although Ed and Pauline decided not to start
over, their son-in-law, Bob Rogers, who had
been managing the former store for several
years, and their son, Dick Macke, who was
operating a store in Whitman, Nebraska at
that time, formed a partnership and reopen-
ed Macke's Store in May of 1975 in the same
building in which Ed and Pauline had first
started in the grocery business.