Postcards from Home

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Mill Store
Rock Island

by Diane Oestreich

The Mill Store operated under that name between the 1890s and the 1940s. However it is believed that the business existed even earlier, operating as a Weyerhauser and Denkmann company store. The W & D Sawmill was only two blocks away. Much later in its retail life, the Mill Store evolved into a neighborhood grocery store, eliminating the drygoods, shoes, and hardware. After the grocery business closed in 1944, the building was used for other purposes, from a rug cleaner and auto repair shop, to a heating and airconditioning business. In the 1960s the old store was demolished.

Although we don't have a picture of its exterior, it's easy to imagine what it looked like. From fire insurance maps, we know that was a two story frame building with an ice house in back. The upstairs was an apartment usually occupied by the store owner, as was common in the era. The front of the building probably had a gable roof, which may have been enhanced by a more ostentatious false front. Storefront windows would have been as large as practical Ð not so much for display as for interior light.

Although this part of Rock Island is now mostly industrial open space, at one time it was a very real, very interesting neighborhood. As Rock Island grew below the bluffs, industrial, business, and residential uses easily coexisted. As noted earlier, the big sawmill was only two blocks west of the Mill Store. F.C. A. Denkmann's elegant house was one block west. To the east was Garnsey Square park. The manufacturing plants of Rock Island Stove Company and Rock Island Plow Company were within easy walking distance. There was even a horseradish canning plant nearby. And around it all were homes.

But it is the interior of this store as we see it on our postcard that is most intriguing today. Imagine a store not much larger than the deli department of a modern grocery store that is able to stock just about everything a family would need. We can see that light from the front windows, and perhaps smaller windows high on the side wall, were supplemented by large oil or gas lights suspended from the embossed tin.ceiling. There are small iron and wood stools in front of some of the display cases and counters. Behind the display cases are racks of full shelves. At the upper right, men's shirts are displayed in an alcove framed by fancy wooden latticework. There is another latticed cupboard on the back wall of the store as well.

Shoes are arrayed at the left of the aisle near the center of our postcard. In front of the shoes are what look like bolts of cloth for economical homemakers to sew their family's garments. Although we don't see evidence of the groceries, they were probably located at the far back conveniently near the ice house. And, if the original proprietors used modern marketing techniques, it would have been good for business if patrons walked past the "luxury" drygoods department to get to the "essential" groceries.

There is no physical remnant of the Mill Store or even its neighborhood today. But there is a remaining link to this historic era in Rock Island. William Thoms operated the Mill Store with the assistance of his son Raymond between 1903 and 1918. The Mill Store must have provided excellent experience for young Raymond. He went on to help found the "homegrown" company that we know as the Thoms-Proestler Company, an enduring business in our community.