HISTORY of The Bridges Building

17th & Main

The history of the B.E. Bridges building has much to do with the successful Goodland salesman and entrepreneur that established a successful wholesale grocery business here in 1922.  But the history of this building also owes a debt of gratitude to the tenants who later inhabited the building and helped preserve it so that it remains much same as it was back in 1922.

Byron Edgar Bridges, an enterprising young man in 1910, worked as a traveling salesman for the Burke-Donaldson-Taylor Wholesale Company of Denver.  He grew up in Alma, Nebraska and attended Business College in Omaha.  He also served for a time in the Nebraska National Guard.  He married Edith Kimmel of Goodland on Aug. 25,1916 and in 1919 established himself in business as a wholesale grocer in Goodland.

He first started business in a building that adjoined the Garrison ice plant, located at 215 East 17th Street, but soon outgrew that location and built his own warehouse at 17th and Main.  At the time of B.E. Bridges' warehouse grand opening, the building was a great source of pride for the community and described by the local newspaper as "immense."

The building was made of paving bricks, supplied by Cook & Ransom, the same supplier that furnished bricks for Goodland's Main street.  The original warehouse building was 60'x140', two stories with a basement and boasted a total square footage of 22,800.  It was ten times as big as the building from which B.E. Bridges first operated his business.

The new building featured large glass display cabinets in the entry and a large display room on the south side of the entrance, which can still be seen today.  The first floor warehouse was constructed with reinforced concrete floors and on the north side of the main floor were two cold storage rooms where the temperatures were kept at a constant 34 to 38 degrees.  These rooms were built of solid cork walls, five inches thick and stored fresh fruits and dairy products.  A banana room stored the fresh fruit by hanging the bunches on hooks from the ceiling, which can also been seen today.

The basement held many "modern" features including a solid maple chute, which connected with the railroad cars on the sidetracks next to the building.  This enabled workers to unload goods in a minimum amount of time.  Other features of the basement included a 6-ton ice refrigerating machine and a large steel brine tank.  There was also a large tobacco room and a specially constructed cigar humidor room.

An elevator connected the basement and two floors above.  The second floor, with a balcony that extended the entire length of the floor on the south side, was used mainly for storage of dry goods.  The loading platform was located on the east end of the building and was complete enclosed, so that several trucks could be loaded at the same time, while 10 trucks could be stored under cover.  The unloading dock ran across the south side of the building and allowed three freight cars to unload at one time.

B.E. Bridges always advertised handling only the best products and featured Hunt's canned goods, Del Monte, Quaker Oats, Karo Syrup, Idaho potatoes and boasted receiving the first carload of English Walnuts in Goodland, a delivery that cost $7,000.

With such an impressive new building and new business, Mr. Bridges also planned a very impressive grand opening on October 26, 1922.  Tour guides showed the new building to local as well as out of town visitors.  A grand ball was scheduled for the evening and was hosted on the second floor of the building.  Among the out of town guests were many presidents and representatives of the companies from which Bridges purchased goods.

Another feature of the business that Mr. Bridges took great pride in was his fleet of delivery trucks.  The business used Patriot trucks built in Lincoln, Nebraska.  The fleet of trucks was all painted royal blue and carried the slogan "Blue Streak Service."

The B.E. Bridges warehouse employed 20 to 25 people, operated 10 trucks, and employed seven traveling salesmen. It served approximately 700 accounts within a 100-mile radius of Goodland.

Mr. Bridges was a well-respected member of the Goodland community.  He was a charter member of the local Rotary Club and Elks Lodge.  He died at his office on July 10, 1952.

After his death, the B.E. Bridges business was sold to a Colby wholesale firm and his building sat empty for several years.  The building saw several owners after the death of Mr. Bridges.  The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad sold it to Iron Mueller in 1955 and later that year it was sold to Tyron Corp.  A group of local investors purchased the building in 1957; they included Robert & Rose Hayden, John & Freda Nelson, Roy & Marie Johnson, Jesse & Eve Topliff and Ed Defries.  They sold the building to Shores Brothers in 1970.

In 1977 the building was owned by Tom Bush and leased by Goodland resident Walt Adams.  Adams renovated the building, with an eye toward preservation.  Adams installed architectural features such as an antique window grill from the post office, an arched doorway from the Episcopal Church and doors from the original First National Bank and built a cement wall along the east end of the building made from sidewalk removed from Central School.

While he managed the building between 1978 to 1985, several small business were housed there including: Warehouse Discount Furniture, Klip & Kurl Beauty Salon, The Walnut Bowl Gift Shoppe, The Blossom Shoppe, The Stitchin Post, Jan's Book Bin, The Nutrition Nook, and 17th Street Exit Disco.  Other business housed in the warehouse in the 1980's and 1990's included: Luci's Aquarium, The Yacht Club, Reaching Out, LaFiesta Restaurant, EI Conquistador Restaurant, Golden Oldies, Margaret Bergsma Accounting, House of Woods Furniture, OJ's Hobby World, Caldwell's Furniture Mall, and the Northwest Kansas Regional Prevention Center.