If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above. ← Back There aren’t many general stores left in the U.
S., let alone in Missouri. These stores sold staples like flour, sugar, soap, coffee, clothing, and ammunition.
Modern big-box stores have long replaced most of these stores. But the Parkland has a special general store with a history that dates back more than a century. The Old Village Mercantile of Caledonia, originally listed on the National Historic Register as the McSpaden Golden Rule Store was first built as a wooden structure in the 1850s.
It was rebuilt in 1909 after a devastating fire destroyed the store and two blocks of the village’s buildings. Steve and Nina Gilliam purchased the building 21 years ago after it had been closed for more than two decades. “It was like unlocking a time capsule with most of the original things left in it,” said Nina.
“The building was going to collapse if we didn’t save it.” The couple stepped up to restore and revive the building. “General stores were always at the center of the community, supplying goods and gatherings,” said Nina, “so we wanted to bring the building back to its original purpose as a general store.
” Nina’s grandparents owned a general store in Iowa during the Great Depression. As a kid, Steve gathered soda bottles and turned them in for money so he could buy candy at his local Ben Franklin, an old-fashioned candy and craft.