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Many well-dressed nineteenth and early-twentieth century Warren County residents bought clothing made by dressmakers, modistes or tailors. Lillie and Mattie Sumpter, Corrine Brashear and Mrs. A. H. (Carrie) Taylor were among Bowling Green's most successful modistes. Carrie Taylor began designing dresses in 1880. At the height of her business, Taylor employed 275 women, sent out mail order catalogs twice yearly to 24,000 customers living in forty-eight states and abroad and earned $50,000 a year. |
Milliners Local milliners once supplied many Warren County women with the latest in fashionable hats. A Mrs. Frazer opened a millinery in Bowling Green in 1827. There she made women's hats, stitched mantuas (women's loose-fitting gowns) and taught ladies the "art of drawing and painting on velvet." In 1876 Mrs. I. E. Hancock sold hats in Woodburn, a town of 500 people; ten years later Bowling Green had eight milliners. The number of local hat shops rose during the early twentieth century. The 1922 Bowling Green telephone directory included seventeen "Milliners." Their numbers decreased as department and women's clothing stores offered a wider range of hats. |
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J. L. Durbin opened the Golden Rule Store on Park Row in September 1898 with a $500 inventory. Durbin named his store for the biblical Golden Rule - the principle upon which he operated. A family-run business, J. L. Durbin & Company moved to 923 College Street in 1914 where it operated until 1976. |
Norman's Store Opened on March 11, 1935, "Norman's--the Store All Women Know" was a fixture of the Warren County shopping scene for more than fifty years. The Bowling Green store carried a complete line of dresses, suits, coats, millinery, blouses, sweaters, neckwear, footwear, hose and bags, gloves, lingerie, etc., for "juniors, misses, women and stouts." |
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Pushin's Department Store Lithuanian émigré Sam Pushin peddled notions and newspapers before moving to Bowling Green in 1893. He soon opened Pushin's Red Lion, a men's furnishings store, at 316 Main Street. Over time his business evolved into a department store. In 1920 he built a three-story building at 400 East Main at a cost of $250,000. Aldens, Inc. bought Pushin's Department Store in 1961. The store closed in December 1980. |
In 1842 Joseph L. Younglove and A. Starr opened a drugstore in the Thomas Quigley building on the corner of Main and State streets. In 1905 the drugstore underwent its first major renovation in 60 years adding "the latest and most approved soda fountain, show cases, shelving and prescription counter." |
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Small grocers and general stores once supplied Warren County with staples and fancy goods including tea, coffee and spices. Woodburn in 1876 supported three grocers; ten years later Bowling Green residents frequented twenty eight. In 1922 seven of the seventy-four Bowling Green grocers were African-American. Only grocers like Ervin G. Houchens, who adopted modern retailing practices, survived the movement of regional and national grocery chains into southcentral Kentucky. |
Taverns and inns served food and liquor early in Warren County's history. By the late 1800s oyster bars, restaurants, confectioneries and ice cream parlors clustered around Fountain Square, and eateries such as the Dixie Café on Main Street became local institutions. In the mid-1960s McDonald's built its 469th store with a ten-item menu. Since the 1950s the restaurant industry has exploded, with eating establishments following commercial development along the 31-W Bypass and roads leading into the city. |
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Revised April 2003 Created by Donna
Parker with contribution from Sandy Staebell, Laura Harper Lee, Lynne
Ferguson and Jon Kay, maintained by Web
Site Team. Send
comments to KyMus@wku.edu Phone (270)
745-6258, Fax (270) 745-4878. Write to Kentucky Library and Museum,
1 Big Red Way, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky
42101-3576. URL: http://www.wku.edu/Library/onlinexh/rrr1/Pages/Mainpages/business.html |
