Featured Chewelah Commercial Company Punch Card?

Chewelah Commercial Company Punch Card (side 1) by amandarevemichel posted Jul 24, 2017 at 7:10 PM

Chewelah Commercial Company Punch Card (side 2) by amandarevemichel posted Jul 24, 2017 at 7:10 PM

I am curious whether anyone knows anything about the Chewelah Commercial Company or this punch card. I found it in a 1927 copy of Elementary German by Frederick W. Meisnest, PHD.

 

Welcome! It appears that your Album privacy setting is on Private. If you'll change that, we'll all be able to see your pics and provide comments.

 

Whoops! @Bakersgma this is my first day on the forum. I think I changed my settings. Thanks for letting me know!

 

No worries, Amanda, it happens to just about every new member who uses the Gallery for their pictures.

Have you Googled Chewelah, Washington? There's a pretty long Wikipedia article about it's history which I found quite interesting (just to get a sense of what kind of business the Chewelah Commercial Company might have done.) Not surprising that in such a remote part of the state there would still have been a "General Store" well into the 20th century. Agriculture and mining. And quite a ways to the next sizeable town in any direction.

I suspected the "Handsome 6-piece Kitchen Set" was furniture, although spending $30 on other things (and throwing in 30 cents) doesn't sound like enough profit for the store to fork over 6 pieces of furniture. But things we expect to pay a lot for today used to be a whole lot cheaper, so that might be it.

I expect that they probably carried just about anything their customers needed. Tools, feed and seed, clothing and sewing supplies, all the grocery items, linens, curtains and yes, furniture.

There's a Chewelah Museum that might be able to help date the card.

Do you remember where you found the book? Is there an owner's name inside?

 

Thanks for the info! I tried googling the name of the store, but turned up empty, and I didn't read up on the city. I purchased the book at an antique store here in Phoenix about 12 years ago. Getting in touch with the museum is a great idea! Thanks a bunch!

 

Good luck with the museum. The other thought is to see if Stevens County (where Chewelah is located) has an Historical Society.

 

Both great ideas. I'm going to call the museum in the morning. I'll post the results of my search!

 

I wonder if it was a set of kitchen dishes or cookware.

 

There is mention of it here, I think from 1916.

https://books.google.com/books?id=a...ah commercial co" general merchandise&f=false

 

You're no doubt right about the cookware, SIS.

 

I was just browsing the picture gallery of the Chewelah Museum and I *think* that there's a picture of the Chewelah Commercial Company building with all the employees and a couple of delivery trucks in front. I saw "think" because it's tiny and can't be viewed in a larger size online. But the big sign across the front of the building says "Chewelah" the start and other two words look about the right length for Commercial and Co.

The Museum looks very active, so I hope you can reach someone there by phone!

 

I think for $6 you could get a table and chairs AND some dishware and cookware at the time if it were a "bargain" package.