Remembering Rogers

Stroud's department store serves Rogers for 104 years

Photo courtesy of Betty Crum and the Rogers Historical Museum Stroud's -- shown here in 1956 -- specialized in quality, name-brand merchandise, mostly clothing, but it sold everything from shoes to floor covering.
Photo courtesy of Betty Crum and the Rogers Historical Museum Stroud's -- shown here in 1956 -- specialized in quality, name-brand merchandise, mostly clothing, but it sold everything from shoes to floor covering.

Harlan Lafayette Stroud opened Rogers' first department store in 1884 on First Street about where Centennial Park is located today. The Stroud Mercantile Co. -- most commonly called "Stroud's" -- was the first and last department store in downtown Rogers, operating for 104 years. The impact of this store on the people of Rogers was enormous. Here is a bit of background on the historic store.

In 1891, H. L. Stroud moved Stroud's Mercantile into its second home at 105 W. Walnut St. Keep in mind, that at the time, there was no electricity or indoor bathrooms, the streets were dirt and cows, pigs and other farm animals roamed freely in the streets.

In 1898, H. L. Stroud expanded and cleared the trees and brush and built the lovely building which became 116 W. Walnut St. On March 18, 1898, the store opened with great fanfare, and an orchestra played from the balcony. Stroud's specialized in quality, name-brand merchandise, mostly clothing, but it sold everything from shoes to floor covering.

Stroud's introduced many innovations in marketing to Rogers, including hiring the first female sales person, Allie Dodge. This experiment of hiring lady sales clerks was so successful that many more ladies were hired to work in Stroud's -- including Betty Blake, who later became Mrs. Will Rogers. Another innovation introduced by Stroud's was tagging merchandise with a set price for everyone. Before this radical idea, the price was determined by haggling between the customer and clerk (Rogers Daily News, July 1, 1950).

Stroud's also had the first electric lights and later the first air conditioning in Rogers. It was the first business to ban smoking in the store.

Although the store was owned by H.L. Stroud, it was managed by his younger brother, A. B. Stroud. A.B. started work for his brother at age 17, and it was the only job that he ever had. He managed the store for 60 years from 1889 until 1949.

In 1949, A.B. and H.L. Stroud retired and sold the firm to Harold Wardlaw, who had worked at the store since 1925. Wardlaw was president with Lawrence, Gene and Ray Harris as co-owners. Wardlaw owned and managed Stroud's from 1949 until 1972, and under his leadership, the store modernized and prospered. He sold Stroud's to Bill Crum and H.K. Scott, who owned and operated it until it closed in 1993.

In 1984, Gov. Bill Clinton sent a letter to Bea Wardlaw, widow of Harold Wardlaw, congratulating Stroud's on its 100th anniversary. Clinton proclaimed June 30, 1984, as Stroud's Centennial Anniversary Day in Arkansas. (Information provided by Shery Crum Boyles, niece of Bea and Harold Wardlaw.)

So, why was this amazing store an institution in Rogers that affected so many lives? Who were the owners, employees and customers, and what were their experiences?

To find out, I asked for help on a popular Rogers' website and received hundreds of responses. Here are some of those memories:

Jim Morgan: "I was about 12 years old (This would have been around 1956.) and had been taking confirmation classes at Central Methodist Church. I neglected to tell my parents until a Sunday morning that our class was scheduled to join the church that day. I didn't have any presentable clothes for the occasion. My dad called Harold Wardlaw, who met us at the store on Sunday morning and found me my first suit in time for church. I think it cost $27."

Tom Hughes: My memory was of the pneumatic cash handling system.

Betsey Robinson-Harold: "I remember Mr. Stroud sitting up on the mezzanine while the money went up and down the chutes." The clerks downstairs put the money in tubes like drive-through banks today. The money would go up the tube, and Stroud would make change and send the canister back down to the clerk and customer. By the time the store was purchased by H.K. Scott and Bill Crum, the clerks were making change, and the tubes were discontinued.

Melissa Johnson: "I remember shopping for a dress when I was in junior high school. I couldn't decide between two dresses. They told me to take both home on approval to see which my mother liked and bring the other back."

Steve Ash: "Had my first credit account at Stroud's at age 15 (1971), but remember taking things home 'on approval.' I was telling a young clerk at a chain retailer last week about the approval deal, and he was dumbfounded as to why we didn't just use credit cards."

Casey Ward: "Birch Kirksey (principal of Rogers High School and later superintendent of the school district, 1922 to 1955) kept an account there. He had a knack for grabbing wayward young high school boys by the scruff of the shirt, and it would rip. After he declared their punishment, he would send them down to Stroud's to get a new shirt on his account -- or so I've been told."

From the 1950s until the 1970s, Stroud's was instrumental in the annual Wing-T Style and Fashion shows. These very popular charity events were sponsored by Doris Larimore and the Wing-T Girl Scout Troup. Stroud's and other prominent clothing stores provided the latest style clothing, and local citizens of all ages modeled the clothes, sang, danced and played music for the big productions. Clarice Strode Moore, Mary Elizabeth Schopp, Karen Russell Burks, Sandra Balch Shingleur, Shery Crum Boyles and many others were involved in these events.

James Lawrence: "I remember buying a girlfriend an elegant and somewhat revealing (but tastefully so) black outfit there for the Wing-T dance (at the old Elks Club) around December of 1974. She loved it, but her mother gave me all kinds of grief about it. Forgot about that when I saw how stunning she looked!"

Sherri Caldwell Garner: "I remember singing on the big staircase in middle of the store with Betty Sutton's group, The Rocking Sounds -- always during Christmas season. Lots of good memories! I was in the group from 1974 to 1975."

Shery Crum Boyles: "I grew up at Stroud's ... it was my second home. And my two girls spent a lot of time there when they were very young before the store closed. Four generations of Crum women walked up and down that big, beautiful staircase -- Mabel Crum (mom of Bill Crum) wrapped packages at Christmas; Betty Crum, my mom, was the bookkeeper and accompanied my dad to market in Dallas to buy inventory for Stroud's; me -- I worked there as a kid taking inventory and later in junior high and high school wrapping packages at Christmas; and my two daughters cut their teeth on the stairwell banister. Great times in downtown Rogers. Great memories."

Bonnie Hardy Deason: "My memories are too numerous to post here. They range from being so short that I couldn't see the tops of the counters, and twirling around on the little stools in the pattern department on my tummy with my arms and legs dangling, to working upstairs for Perry Butcher for 20 years."

Coral Townsend McCallister: "Shopped there for years. H.K. Scott actually preformed my granny and Gus Guyll's wedding. We watched him play music at the fox hunters club out by Rocky Branch when we were kids, too."

Lena Adams Marchant: "I worked for Stroud's in 1966 for a whopping 75 cents an hour, and very thrilled to be there. Great working with H.K. and Bill and Betty. The entire crew was great. They would let you charge with no interest and pay so much a month. I thought that was great."

David Matthews: "I have a wonderful story about business friendships that transcended business competition. Back in the late 70s, people still bought things on credit at stores like Stroud's and Hunt's. Bill Crum was one of the owners of Stroud's. Bob Balch was the owner of Hunt's. They were competitors, but friends. On the night, downtown Rogers was on fire (1978), and the entire downtown area at risk. Bill Crum knew that Bob Balch was out of town. Bill Crum also knew, that if Hunt's burned, there would be insurance on the building and inventory, but NO WAY to prove who owed money on their accounts if the Hunt's ledgers burned. Bill Crum literally broke out the glass of the front door to Hunt's and went to the back of the store to retrieve Bob Balch's records of his accounts receivable. All while fire was raging in the buildings next door. It was one of the most courageous and kindest thing one businessman ever did for another. THAT is the kind of people we have in Rogers, and THAT is what makes Rogers such a great place to live and do business."

Linda Smith Shofner: "David, your story is absolutely correct! In fact, Bill brought Hunt's accounts receivables along with Stroud's and Tom Mayfield's over to our store, Shofner's, and we put them all in our fireproof safe. That was a long, awful night!!!! We were numb as we watched the flames and prayed that all of downtown was not destroyed."

There were scores of other fond memories involving Stroud's and the wonderful influence it had on our town for 104 years, but space only allowed a few. Hopefully, these stories and memories will give our children and future generations a glimpse of life in Rogers as we and our predecessors lived it.

Today, the famous Stroud building is occupied by Edward's Optical and JKJ Architects.

photo

Photo courtesy of the Rogers Historical Museum Operating for more than 100 years, the Stroud Mercantile Co., and its owner H.L. Stroud served the city of Rogers. The Stroud building at 116 W. Walnut St. is shown here in 1957.

NAN Our Town on 01/11/2018

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