In Other Words
April 21
2022
13
The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel and Bob New
Cecil Johnson and Miller’s Mercantile
In prior columns we have written of the
businesses of downtown Vernonia and their
owners or managers. Bob New, VHS Class
of 1949, recently shared a memory of his fa-
ther-in-law, Cecil Johnson, whom he greatly
liked and admired, and of the Miller Mer-
cantile 16-store chain for which he worked
31 years. We share some of those memo-
ries below, but first a bit about the Vernonia
store’s history.
On the northeast corner of Bridge and
Madison once stood the Majestic Theater,
built in 1924, that housed a magnificent the-
ater organ. A fire destroyed it completely in
1927. The building code was soon revised
to require new buildings be made of brick;
the theater was not the only structure de-
stroyed by fires from wood stoves and other
causes. In 1930 a J.C. Penney store opened
in a new brick building on that site. The
Penney name is still present in the mosaic
tiles at the entrance, but the chain closed the
Vernonia location in 1934 during the depths
of the Great Depression. We presume that
Miller Mercantile was doing business lo-
cally before the mid-1930s as they adver-
tised in the Vernonia Eagle in the 1920s;
however, the ads at that time gave no ad-
dresses. The Vernonia store took over the
site and remained there until 1963. Several
other businesses have come and gone since
then, but it was recently – and beautifully –
refurbished inside by the new owners, Joe
and Nina Shaffer, for their Penny Lane An-
tiques store.
Les Dewey, who led the 1936 drive to
create the summer swimming hole on Rock
Creek known as Dewey Pool in his honor,
was the general manager of Miller’s from
the mid-1930s until 1941 when Cecil John-
son took the helm. Cecil had worked at oth-
er Miller stores in Hillsboro and Portland’s
Hollywood District. He, his wife Melba,
and their daughter Dolores, moved to 294 B
Street. Several years later the daughter was
to become Mrs. Robert (Bob) New.
The department store stocked men’s
and women’s clothing, shoes, hats, house-
wares, linens, fabric and patterns. Many
Vernonians recall the large, ornate cash reg-
ister in the center of the store that operated
with a crank handle, but a stronger collec-
tive memory is of the cash handling process.
The customer brought their selected items
to the sales counter; a clerk took the money,
placed it and the hand-written sales slip in
a metal container the size of a water glass.
The clerk screwed container into a fitting
attached to a wire that stretched from the
sales counter to the manager’s office on the
mezzanine. He or she pulled a lever that re-
leased a spring, and the money and sales slip
shot up the wire to the office. The manager
took the money, made the change, wrote out
a receipt and sent it all back down in that
receptacle via the wire, and the customer re-
ceived the change and receipt.
Bob recalls that there was a big (for
Vernonia) safe between the sales counter
and the stairway to the mezzanine. Cecil
Johnson, the store manager, didn’t even
know the combination of the safe as it was
never locked. It was simply used to put
record books inside in case of a fire. One
night some safecrackers broke in and blew
that safe. All they would have had to do was
turn the handle to open it to find nothing in-
side by ledgers.
In another part of the mezzanine were
racks of women’s dresses and fitting rooms.
A section of that floor was also rented out
for a women’s beauty salon that was run in-
dependently, Essie Nance being the most re-
membered hairdresser. The drinking foun-
tain on the corner in front of the store was
sort of a gathering place for people to meet
and stop and talk.
The store had steam heat. In winter,
Cecil would get up early, walk to the store,
build a fire in the woodburning heater, walk
back home, have his breakfast, dress in his
better clothes, walk back to the store and
open it for the day. At lunch time he walked
back home for lunch, back to the store for
the afternoon and closed the store at 6 pm.
After that he swept the floors, counted the
money, did the books, and walked back
home.
Cecil decorated the show windows in
the front with clothing, shoes, and other
goods. The store was open six days a week
from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. It was not at all
unusual for a logger to come to his house
after hours or on a Sunday and ask Cecil to
open the store for him so he could purchase a
pair of “cork” boots, clothing, or gloves. He
graciously accommodated those requests.
In summer, on a Sunday (his one day off
from work), Cecil would watch the weather.
If it were a bright day he would walk back
to the store and put down the awning so the
sun would not fade the merchandise in the
show windows.
According to Bob, Cecil was a real
“company man.” If someone even hinted at
anything disparaging against his employer,
he would come back with “I had to go to
hospital for an appendix operation, and
Miller’s did not dock my pay for the time
I was in hospital.” He worked for Mill-
er’s for 31 years and closed the store for
them when they shut it down. During the
years that Vernonia did not have a bank
and Cecil did not have a car, he would take
the bus from Vernonia to Hillsboro once
a week to deposit the store’s money. In
1948 he bought a new Chevrolet at Ver-
nonia Auto and could drive to Hillsboro to
do his banking. He could have made more
money by working for Oregon-American
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letter we tore up. Bright and dan-
dy in forenoon but cloudy most all
afternoon. Left up there 12.35 and
got home 2.20.
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil Powell (1887-1963) was a long-
time resident whose family had a farm in
the Upper Nehalem Valley between Natal
and Pittsburg. Each year from 1906 until
1955, he kept a regular diary of his activi-
ties. Again we have some tantalizing tidbits
about the “kid” – his future wife, Inez Smith
– and an apparent lovers’ quarrel along with
a shopping trip to Portland.
Friday, April 26. Plowed till about
1.30 P.M. and finished. Another
dandy colt arrived today so the
kid will have a job looking up a
name for it. Hauled up some wood
in afternoon. Also went up to Pitts-
burg and got Kit and colt and took
them over to Elliott place. Cloudy
all day but did not rain any.
Monday, April 15, 1912. Garfield
and I left Smiths about 7 A.M. for
Portland. Got to Timber 10.30 and
Portland 2.45 P.M. Saw several Ne-
halem people in the evening. Went
to the Baker in the evening. Pretty
cold in the morning but good dur-
ing the day.
Tuesday, April 16. In Portland.
Purchased the big ring for my
own in the morning. Also got a
suit of clothes. We were just fool-
ing around most of the afternoon.
Went to the Lyric in the afternoon
and it was just dandy. Fair in the
forenoon but rained a little in the
afternoon.
Wednesday, April 17. We left Port-
land for Nehalem via Timber at
8.45 A.M. Presented somebody’s
ring to them about 10.15 P.M.
Rained a little all day. Stayed up
above overnight.
Thursday, April 18. Stayed up
above till about 2 P.M. Had a dan-
dy time all day. Got home at 5.30
P.M. Rained and stormed pretty
bad all day.
Sunday, April 21. Got up to Smiths
2.15 P.M. All us kids went fishing
down by the covered bridge in the
afternoon. Had a big fight over the
Wednesday, April 24. Plowed all
day on big piece in center of field
and certainly turned over a lot of
it. Showery all day. Certainly re-
member a month ago today.
Monday, April 29. Did not get up
extra early. Did not do much any
of the day because it rained ter-
rible hard all day. Was up to Pitts-
burg to look after the colts. Wrote
some items for Clatskanie Chief in
the afternoon.
Tuesday, April 30. Went up to Pitts-
burg and fixed a little fence then
on over to the Elliott place. Built
a raft while over there and came
across. Rode Trixie up to Vernonia
after the mail in afternoon. Got
home about 6.15. Mailed a letter
and card to Inez. Did not rain
very much any of the day
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is located at
511 E. Bridge Street and is open from 1 to
4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays (excluding
holidays) all year. There is no charge for ad-
mission but donations are always welcome.
Become a member of the museum for an an-
nual $5 fee to receive the periodic newslet-
ter. We now have a page on the Vernonia
Hands on Art website, www.vernoniahand-
sonart.org If you are a Facebook user, check
out the Vernonia Pioneer Museum page.
The museum volunteers are always pleased
to enlist additional volunteers to help hold
the museum open and assist in other ways.
Please stop by and let one of the volunteers
know of your interest in helping out.
Buckshot Betty’s continued from front page
some restroom updates are likely in the fu-
ture. And of course there’s the new handle
on the front door. The menu will be an
ongoing work in progress. Occasionally
bringing in some live music or some other
activities like Karaoke, trivia nights, or an
occasional DJ are other possibilities. And
look for some food and drink specials that
incorporate the catchy name. The big news
is the return of the popular Sunday Break-
fast, which Melissa says she hopes to start
sometime in June. When asked if they will
host the Beer Garden at Jamboree this year,
Melissa responded with an enthusiastic
“You better believe it!”
“We want to keep the same gen-
eral feel of the place,” says Melissa. “I’m
not looking to change it. We want it to stay
the awesome, local watering hole that it
already is. We’ve really been listening to
community feedback on the types of things
people are looking for. We’re just going to
try things and go with the flow.”
“I want this to be a place people
can kind of call home, whether they’re up
or down, it doesn’t matter, just a place with
a sense of community,” says Melissa.
This Old Building continued from page 8
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Lumber Mill, but he was loyal to Miller’s
despite low wages, no pension plan, and no
severance pay when they eliminated that
store from their chain. The last two weeks
he was there, as they closed the store and
had sales, he received no pay at all.
We thank Bob for his glimpse into the
life of a store and the man who managed it
for so many years.
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58605 Nehalem Hwy South • P.O. Box 292
Vernonia, Oregon 97064
(503) 429-7867
10-6 Tue-Sat
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Vernonia Grange held an apple pressing
event (they have their own 100 year old
cider press!) where people brought apples
and made cider. Now there’s a tradition we
can all be excited about!
Like many organizations these
days, the Vernonia Grange is always look-
ing for new members. The building is also
available for rent – for exercise classes,
educational events, family gatherings and
parties, plays or music concerts, commu-
nity activities, meetings, and more – which
helps pay for the heat and insurance and
keeps the building functioning. The rates
are very reasonable – just $15/hour, $75 for
a half day, or $150 for a full day. There is
a full, spacious kitchen, tables and chairs,
the stage has some lighting, and the main
room has really good acoustics.
“This old place just has a nostalgic
feel,” says Peyton. “The Grange has always
been pretty politically active. You can learn
how to get a bill passed in the legislature.
You can learn how to be a good citizen.
There’s a lot of integrity in the Grange.”
To learn more about the Vernonia Grange
or to rent the building contact Maggie Pey-
ton at 503-396-2046 or email Vernonia-
Grange305@gmail.com .