Markets and Mercantiles

Daniel Merilatt, a farmer who lived east of Ramona, established the first general store in Ramona in 1887. He built a two-room building, located on the west side of main street, a short distance north of the first intersection in town. Later the building would be used as the first bank, and later as a restaurant.

I remember ‘Butter and Egg Night’ in Ramona, when everyone came to town on Saturday nights to trade goods, enjoy fellowship with neighbors, or dine in one of the cafes. You could hardly find a place to park. We girls would go over to Lizzie Mohn’s Creamery, where she would weigh us. Or we’d go over to Billy Oyster’s Café to purchase a Mr. Goodbar for five cents.

Anna Mae (Sader) Stika - (From an interview in the Ramona News, 2002)

Strickler & Co., founded by the J.S. Strickler family, became Ramona’s most prominent general store.  He began the mercantile in partnership with J.B. Shirk.

As the mercantile prospered, Strickler built a large store, on the west side of main street, at the south entrance into town. When Shirk retired, Strickler was sole owner of this prosperous business. His five sons, helped run the mercantile.  The store served the community for over 70 years until an unfortunate fire, in February 1955, destroyed the building.

The building that has housed many grocery stores in Ramona, still stands on the west side of main street.  Robert Greer, who used it as a combination cream station and grocery store, constructed the building.  This small grocerty continued in business, throughout the next 100 years and these families were some of the owners:  Robert Greer, Jim Nelson, Grover and Eva Anderson, Jake & Bertha Schneider, Salu and Hannah Brunner, and Clinton and Frances Hanschu, who retired in 2000.

When I was in my youth, I worked for a short time at the grocery store when it was owned by Saul & Hannah Brunner.  I remember Hannah coming around from the back of the meat counter and saying, 'Sell the Hamburger for three pounds for a dollar today!' Imagine that!

Anna Mae (Sader) Stika - from an interview in the Ramona News, 2002

A.G. “Archie” Greer and his sister, Marie, built a store on the northwest corner of what is now Third and D Streets in Ramona.  The year was 1901. The Greers came from Ireland in 1890 and spent a decade working in New York City, before coming to Ramona. Archie was employed by a large mercantile firm in New York, and Marie was employed by several wealthy New York families—including the Vanderbilts who lived on the Hudson River.

The Greer siblings built a store that they called the “Coney Island Store.” Today, if you look carefully at the crumbling sidewalk just north of the old bank building, you can see Archie Greer’s signature in the cement, commemorating the opening of the Coney Island Store. They operated the store until 1911, and then leased it to the George Finuf family, who continued until 1920, when the land was sold to the Ramona State Bank, for their new brick building.