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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1953)
Tuesday. August II, ItSS MEDFOXD (ORZOOm MAIL TMBUTO ITVB Open House To Marti Eompletion of Weeks m& Orr Store Remodeling Program Five Generations Continue Business; Store tlo7 Modern Open house at Week's ad Orr Furniture store on West Main st, beginning at 9 a.m., Wednesday, August 12 through Saturday, August 15, will ob serve completion of a remodeling program which has been under way for the past seven months. Ben H. Todd, architect, was in charge of the program. Owners .of the store are Al bert E. Orr, who has been with the business for 47 years, and his son, Eugene Orr, with the company 21 years. Eugene Orr's son, Gregory Orr, employed there for two years, is the fifth generation of the same family connected with. the fur niture store. To Give Prises Free prizes will be given dur ing the opening and the public .is invited to inspect the store. The first 3,000 women to call in person will be given gifts, the managers have announced. Only the outer walls remain of the original brick building 1 which housed the furniture com pany at the time the remodeling was begun, Eugene Orr said last week. The first section of the brick building was erected in 1907 and stood next to a frame building which had housed the firm since the early 1900's. (The frame building was removed to the present Dean's Pontiac agen cy location and was not torn down until World War II.) In 1909 the brick building was com pleted on the same ground on which the frame building had stood. 23.000 Feet Total space in the store now is 23,000 square feet, about 7,000 square feet of sales room added by the remodeling. There also are about 14,000 square feet in the firm's storage space in . another location. Until 1917 the furniture firm also included an undertaking business. This part of the busi ness then was sold to Conger mortuary. The Weeks and Orr Furniture company, originally known as Weeks Brothers, was begun in 1892 in a store building on Front st. Much of the furniture sold was made by the firm's factory at Phoenix. The factory burned in 1905 and was not replaced. John and Fred Weeks, origi nators of the business, were Al bert Orr's grandfather and uncle, respectively. Later the firm was known as Weeks McGowan and company and was operated by Fred Weeks, W. H. McGowan and Albert Orr. Alfred Weeks, a business asso ciate, and Albert Orr's father, Eugene M. Orr, are credited ,with planting some of the first commercial pear orchards in the valley, reported to be the Klam ath, Del Rio and Bear Creek orchards. In 1917 the firm became Weeks and Orr Furniture com pany. Since the remodeling, the business will concentrate on fur niture, rugs and carpeting sales, the owners said. No appliances, linoleums or television sales will be included, they point out. The store now is one of the most modern on the Pacific coast, the managers state. Front of the building is finished in porcelain steel, said to be the third such installation in Ore gon. Mrs. Sarah Hardin will be in charge of sales of baby equip ment for which a new depart ment has been added. She also will have charge of other tpe- !r rj.w...i.wi).roiiiit.u.. i-''-'''w myrmr'r-m' - i-ynwa mummtytmiitmmmitt nwv y g0"'frge - . 'j&rj. 7,...,;,. .,!,;, . t ri v''X v!n L 1 1 rK - L -t,,-,,,,. ...,.fe.,,Tr"-"g -- ri L-V -rt,,' -y r V-'- i f - - MIIIIMIII1IIM I II Ill Ill Till III Ml I II I I" H I I if iT" I III i I I I' I III The remainder of the building was finished in 1909 and appearance of the building was vir tually unchanged for many years. A complete remodeling of the structure, just completed, has changed the building into one of the most jf modern in southern Oregon. LONGTIME HOME Pictured above is the West Main st. building which has been the home of Weeks and Orr Furniture store since 1907. The left third of the building was con structed in that year adjoining a wooden struc ture which is pictured elsewhere on this page. IWffcKS BROS 5? r i f-l I 1, w VEZ" ;"T" 'i u4taii.iiwiji).i .in.ji.y-- ?rr- 1 r il tV EARLY STORE Pictured above is the been with the firm for 47 years. After the firm's Weeks Brothers "Furniture and Undertaking" present building was erected in 1909, the store store as it appeared around the turn of the shown above was moved to another location, century. The firm, which was founded in 1892 where it remained until it was torn down during in a building on Front st., was a forerunner' World War II. The undertaking portion of the of the present Weeks and Orr Furniture store, business was sold to Conger mortuary in 1917. Pictured on the right is Albert Orr, who has First MS Degrees Awarded al College Ashland The first diplomas for the master of science degree in elementary education at Southern Oregon college will go to eight candidates who com pleted requirements August 7 as the summer session clased, ac cording to a SOC announcement. The successful candidates in clude Harold Boner, Don G. Dar neille, Glenn L. Linn and Ray mond Graves, all Medford; Mil dred Schmidli, H. Clayton Sharpe and Maxwell S. Marvin, all Klamath Falls; and Arthur Phil lips, Ashland. The graduate program was inaugurated by the state board of higher education Jan. 8, 1952. furniture and bedspreads. No other additions to the staff are planned for the present time. Some of the firm names which manufacture merchandise sold by the firm include Magnuson's; Builtwell; Simons; Drexel; Bas sett; Los Angeles Period; Doern becker, B. P. Johns, Sterling Maple and Veal Maple; Serta; nutneriord an1 TTnnH- Rrk. cialty items, Including bedroom liner and Virtue chrome. SOC Professor Leaves For Denmark Lectures Ashland Dr. Alva Graham, professor of education at South ern Oregon college, has left for Elsinore, Denmark, where he will deliver a series of lectures to teachers from many countries attending the summer workshop there. Dr. Graham was Invited to the teaching assignment by Dr. Peter Mannicke, president of the International Peoples' college at Elsinore. Dr. and Mrs. Graham will sail Aug. 12 on the Queen Mary from New York City, re turning to the SOC campus in time for the opening of the fall quarter Sept. 21. FARMERS INDIGNANT Panmunjom, Korea (U.R) Allied officers said today it was not political feeling that prompted South Korean farmers to throw rocks at a convoy of Communist prisoners near here yesterday. The South Koreans were angry because the Com munists, - contrary to custom, weren't tearing off their clothing and strewing it along the road as they passed. The farmers had been collecting the clothing for their own use. Summer Enrollment At SOC Increases Ashland With 550 students enrolled at Southern Oregon College, the 1953 summer session shows a 4.8 per cent increase over the 1952 session previous all-time high for summer session enrollments, according to the registrar's office. The post ses sion got under way August 10. Completing graduating re quirements at the end of the ses sion, Aug. 7, were 102. Of this number 42 completed the three year curriculum which until July 1, 1955 will be the minimum amount of training required for regular certification to teach in the elementary schools and the junior high schools of Oregon. Sixty completed requirements for the B.S. degree in elementary education. All but seven can didates for graduation in both categories are already in the teaching field. LOGGER KILLED Grants Pass (U.R) Herman Deese, 36, Grants Pass, was killed yesterday when he was crushed by a log on a forest operation near Wimer, Ore. NEW STORE FRONT The sparkling new green store front ing tomorrow through the rest of the week. The remodeling of Weeks and Orr Furniture store, recently completed, is shown project, which renovated the store inside and out, lasted seven in the picture above. Open house at the store will be held start- months. from TTDne v IMWMffi -Sheet Metal & Roofing Co. Contractors for the Installation of Your New "CAMEO" Architectural Porcelain Store Front 924 North Russell St, Portland 12, Ore. -TR-6766 w Floors OF New Merchandise IN MEDFORD'S Most Beautiful STORE! TOMORROW-WEDNESDAY WHUCCS SAME LOCATION - SAME LOW PRICES SAME EASY CREDIT TERMS NO CARRYING CHARGES OR INTEREST Now, if ready for YOUR inspection ... and YOU are invited to attend the op ening TOMORROW and all week! Here is southern Oregon's LARGEST FUR NITURE STORE in a beautiful setting. We've planned lots of surprises for you, so don't miss this biggest event in Medford's furniture history! FOREVER FLOWER BOWL with Plastic Flower - $1.00 Value ... for the first 1,000 women who visit our store during oar opening. If desired, the plastic flower may be replaced with real flower. SPECIAL PRIZES Be sure to get your ticket at the door yea do not hare to purchase anything to participate. f MUSIC by ABBEY GREEN from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. OPEN THIS WEEK 9 a. n. to 9 p. m. 7
