HISTORY of The Thompson Building

1216-1218 Main

In April 1920, the City of Goodland had the distinction of having the most modern and up-to-date garage between Topeka and Denver.  Local authorized Ford agent, Thompson & Son, had just completed an addition to its old building, which gave the dealership a garage with a capacity of about 140 automobiles.

Harry Schell had the contract for the excavation work and Fred Hunt had the contract for the carpenter and cement work on the addition.

The large storeroom was equipped with Steere-Kitson kits, and an arrangement of sections where Ford supplies were stored.  In these sections could be found any part of a Ford machine by simply referring to catalog numbers.  The office adjoined the supply room and was also equipped with all the latest conveniences.  The basement of the building was used as a storage room for tires and other inventory.  This area extended under the main building and sidewalk, and stored approximately $10,000 worth of automobile tires.

The machine and repair shop was located in the rear of the garage and boasted all the latest equipment of the time.  A 20-horse power engine operated all the machinery.  One of the features of the repair shop was the battery room, which employed an expert battery man to operate this room alone.

The second floor actually housed the most unique feature of this building – the show room.  The second floor was constructed with a 2 x 12 (full size) 12" on center, sub structure, 3/4" fir flooring, chicken wire and a 2" concrete layer for the finished surface.  A concrete ramp in the back of the building was installed to move the cars (Model T’s and A’s) from the ground to the second floor show room.  The ramp was too steep for the under powered cars to climb on their own power, so a gasoline powered wench was placed at the top of the ramp to help pull the automobiles up to the second floor.  Actually, the ramp was built knowing the cars would never drive up it, because it turned so sharp at the bottom that the automobiles could never get enough speed before going up the ramp.

An attractive feature of the garage was the new private offices and ladies rest room.  Both of these rooms were furnished and had all the conveniences of a hotel room.

The Goodland garage employed 14 people, but it was only a matter of a short time before more mechanics were added due to the increasing amount of work that the garage was doing.

Despite the fact that Thompson & Son was such a modern garage, it was always the intention of Mr. Thompson and his son to erect another story on the old building as soon as possible; however, this never happened.

Frank Thompson and his son Leonard operated The Thompson Garage until 1933, despite the fact that he had been in bankruptcy since 1931.

During the Great Depression, Mr. Thompson went out of business.  He and wife moved to Denver where they lived until 1949, when they returned to Goodland.

By 1935, William A. Davis moved his business to 1216 Main and began selling implements.  He sold cars to mail carriers, railroad people, and traveling salesmen.  The mail carriers and traveling salesman had to have vehicles for their jobs, and the railroad people had steady work.  Ford now was making tractors, and Davis sold these as well. People who had never needed or wanted an automobile were suddenly buying one.  "We had to give driving lessons to farmers who had no experience driving anything," Davis once said referring to farmers who had used horses on their farms before the tractor became popular.

Davis and his wife, Jessie, moved to Goodland from Burlington, Colo., in 1933, where he had been a partner in a Ford dealership.  Nationwide, the Great Depression gripped the country.  Locally, the "Dirty Thirties" dust clouds blacked out the sun - literally sucking the life from the earth, and threatened to stifle the spirit of the few people who were determined to stay in the area.  The Davis family moved here with two sons, Jack Presley, age 5, and William Shaw, age 2.  Eugene Griffith was born in 1934.  Davis remembered that this was not the ideal time to start a new business, but he did anyway.  Davis Motors was originally located where the present VFW Hall is today.

The family lived on west 12th Street for about a year and then moved to 412 West 10th.  In 1941, they purchased the Stark farm on the east edge of Goodland on 8th Street.  It was during World War II that they moved a house owned by Jesse Davis, from Burlington to Goodland.  Davis’ granddaughter and her family live in the house today.

The farm implement business had its ups and downs along with the farm economy.  When Davis first began selling farm equipment, there were still many farmers using horse-drawn implements.  The early tractors had iron wheels and lugs.  When the rubber tire became popular, farmers saw that it was a definite improvement.  The early tractors cost about $1,000 to $1,500.  The first self-propelled combines cost from $1,000 to $1,500 as well, and had 12 to14 foot platforms with a canvas table or an auger later on.

During WWII, cars were hard to get so Davis sold Jeeps and Army equipment in his building.  In 1945, he split his implement business and Ford Agency.  He moved the Massey Harris Service Store to 910 Main located in a building where the American Legion building was located.  It had a complete stock of parts and service and a complete line of Massey-Harris equipment.  The Ford Agency stayed at the 1216-1218 location.

In 1947, Davis sold the Ford Automobile and Truck agency to J. C. Sadewhite.  However, he continued to handle the tractor line and retained ownership of the Main street building.

The Davis Implement Company constructed a new building at 620 Caldwell in 1949.  The new building gave the company room to expand its farm implement business.  The larger facility made it much easier to service their customers and gave the company adequate quarters for machinery displays.

After the Davis Implement Company moved to its Caldwell location, the Davis family stored old equipment and antiques in the building for a while.

In April 1961, a new business moved into the building.  Don Sluman and George Davis owned the Goodland Interior Decorator’s Service.  They sold and installed carpets, inlaid linoleum, vinyl plastics and all types of floor tile.  They also had a complete kitchen remodeling service, which included built-in cabinets and appliances, all types of flooring, wall covering and cabinet tops.  This business was here until 1962.

It was about this time that the building was divided into two halves.  In 1961 the south side of the building was turned into a teen club called La Chateau Bleu.  The space was donated for the teens and Rolland Doerfer, a teacher from Wichita, directed the center.  He spearheaded the teens in fixing up the space for a teen club.  They installed bathrooms, painted, decorated and scavenge the town for old café booths, ping-pong tables and other game equipment.  The teen club operated in this location for about three or four years.  Goodland Sheet Metal Shop was in the north side from1965 to 1968.  From 1970 to 1977, Ken’s Schwin Cyclery was on the north side and Luci’s Aquarium was on the south side from 1970 until 1975.  In 1976, Luci Thomas opened Luci’s Aquarium again in the south side and was there until 1977.  Windy Plains Schwinn bicycle shop owned by Harold E. Snethen was in the north side from 1976 until 1982 and then again from 1984 until 1986.

Nellie Errington operated the Ye Olde Ice Cream Parlor in the north side from 1979 until 1982.  She sold ice cream cones, sodas, malts and sandwiches.  In 1984 until 1985 Ike’s Plaster & Crafts was in one side of the building and in 1986 Picnic In The Park Subs was on the north side.

Ernest Allsion purchased the building from the Davis family in 1988 and put in a craft shop called the Lemon Tree.  The store carried a wide variety of craft items.  It stayed in business there until 1990 when the building was sold to Curtis and Beverly Hurd.  The Hurds continued to operate the craft business until 1993.  In 1993, they opened Pied Piper Video store in the south side.  Elaine and Jay Morrow established Goodland Photo in the north side in February 1991 and remained there approximately one year.  Goodland Photo later moved to 1120 Main.  Uniques by Bonnie opened in early in 1991 and stayed there until 1993 when owner Bonnie Bollig moved her wallpaper and floral arrangement business to 1020 Main.  In 1997, Pete Fitzgibbons opened his lawn supply store, Fitzgibbons, Inc. in the north side of the building and is located there currently.

The Hurds operated Pied Piper Video Store until 1999.  Harvey Swager purchased the business in 1999 and he and his family continued to operate it until it sold to Scott Weber early 2002.  He moved the video store to the building south later in 2002.  The Hurds still own the building; however the south side is now vacant.