Yesteryear: When we needed two bakeries

Ed Daniels was born Nov. 2, 1889, at 624 N. Hall St. He wasn’t a famous man or even a well-to-do man; he was just a plain ordinary man who took the time to write his memories of growing up in Webb City.

In his memories, he wrote about people and places around Webb City, which cause your mind to pause to figure out the exact locations. Those are the memories I like to read.

Ed mentioned Harry Easley’s grandfather, Ryan, and his Irish accent and how much he enjoyed listening to him talk. I had never heard mention of Harry’s grandfather before so it is nice to know a little about him. Ed went on to mention that Harry’s parents had hidden some money in the mattress, $60 to be exact. One day, the mattress caught fire, and Harry’s mother was able to get the money out of the mattress before it burned.

Ed also recalled a chili wagon that was run by the Brewer family, whose children were Frank, Bill, Minor “Duke,” and Treva. The wagon was set up in front of Charlie Parker’s Saloon. Ed said it was the best chili he ever tasted.

Bill Gaw built the smallest two-story brick building in the United States, according to “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.” Ed remembers the building, on the south side of Broadway about the first door west of Tom Street. The building was used as a loan shop.

Joe West ran a restaurant on “Red Hot Street” about half a block east of Allen (Main) Street on Main (Broadway) Street. Ed said he used to love to linger in front of that cafe and smell the wonderful aromas of baked ham and pastries. One day, Ed’s dad took him inside the cafe for dinner. He thought it was the best food he had ever eaten, and it cost his dad a grand total of 50 cents.

Another memory of Ed’s concerned the local meat markets. Ed stated it may seem strange for a meat market to open at 4 a.m., but miners had to be on the job at 6 a.m., and since the homes didn’t have refrigerators, the meat was purchased fresh daily. Most miners worked 12 hours a day. By opening at 4 a.m., housewives had time to get the fresh meat, fix breakfast and pack a lunch pail in time to get their husbands off to work.

Wonner’s Bakery was another favorite stop for Ed. “I do not know what Webb City would have done without Henry Wonner.” All social activities relied on Henry to do the cooking – saloon feeds, lodge banquets, and other events. “Didn’t Henry do a wonderful job! He was always cheerful and a man with a wonderful personality!”

Many a family had a bottle of Stark’s medicine in their home. The Starks lived on North Liberty Street, and they made some kind of medicine that was a liniment, cough syrup, tonic or something. He said his family made tar soap or salve. Anyway, every home had some of Stark’s medicine.

Ed also recalled a sweet Sunday School teacher by the name of Grandma Soverin, who smoked a pipe. He said he didn’t know if it was tobacco or dried mullem leaves. “A great many people smoked mullem leaves in those days to cure catarah or asthma or something!”

Most of Ed’s memories were way before our time, so names and places won’t necessarily ring a bell. But it is so fun to take a look at what life used to be like when Webb City was a new town.

Ed’s description of Henry Wonner reminded me of John Etter, who was a bakery apprentice of Wonner in Centralia, Kan. Wonner later contacted Etter and said he thought Webb City could use another bakery. So in 1898, Etter and his new bride, Fannie (Phelps), moved to Webb City. Their first bakery was located on the southwest corner of Second and Main streets. But most folks who are old enough to remember the Etter Bakery will remember it at 1005 W. Daugherty St., just a few doors down from where they lived, at 1023 W. Daugherty St.

What a brave man Wonner was to invite competition to set up in his town. Although, from Ed’s writing, it may have been that Wonner was working himself to death and needed another bakery to survive.

In 1918, when the Etters needed a larger bakery than the two-story frame building, Etter didn’t want to change locations or shut down the bakery to build a new one. So he built a new red brick building around the older frame building and continued baking operations throughout the entire time of construction. Etter was a very smart businessman. Having a bakery close to the railroad was an advantage Etter could not pass. He would load bread onto the train to be delivered to restaurants in Joplin and other small towns along the way. Fresh bread delivered daily!

A special thanks to Sara Easley McKibbon, who shared a copy of Ed Daniel’s memories, “My Early Memories of Webb City, Mo.”