Harmon’s Histories: 100 years ago this week, Piggly Wiggly opened Missoula store
By Jim Harmon
I see in the local paper that a new grocery store is opening in Missoula. The ad says, “Don’t forget to bring your ticket and vote for some institution to get a cash donation. Any child coming in with their parent will receive a treat and a pair of scary eyes” for Halloween.
The trouble is, the ad is from one hundred years ago: September 27, 1924. So I’m a little late for the grand opening of Missoula’s Piggly Wiggly store.
That’s right – Missoula had a Piggly Wiggly, right downtown at 120 East Cedar Street (today’s Broadway).
And what bargains they offered: a can of house-branded coffee was 38 cents; name brand cigarettes were 13 cents a pack and five pounds of macaroni cost 49 cents. Ah, those were the days!
Anyway, as I read on, I noted the city band gave quite a performance on the courthouse lawn. Their rendition of “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’” drew tremendous applause as well as laughter (since it had been raining considerably the day before).
Classes were beginning in the public schools and at the University.
Missoula County High School reported “first day enrollment” of 790 students, virtually unchanged from 788 on the first school day of 1923.
Principal G.A. Ketcham had some stern words at the first student assembly: “If all students will cooperate with the teachers, there will be no trouble.”
As a freshman, I would have been petrified upon hearing that. But he was just getting started!
“Rules are necessary. If students come to high school to sit and look around for four years, they are not wanted. The only person that can give you an education is yourself. Regular work starts today, so let everyone start today, not tomorrow or a week from tomorrow.”
The delayed opening at MCHS (due to the epidemic) “proved hard not only on studies but on the football team.” They were about “a month behind all other schools in the state in practice time.”
An aside: What wonderful first names teachers had, back then: Winifred, Bula, Gertrude, Flossie, Edna and Maud. You don’t hear those names much today.
Meantime, back on task: 1,125 students had registered at “State University” (now, UM), but more than 200 of them hadn’t yet arrived in town. President C.H. Clapp attributed that in part to “the infantile paralysis epidemic.”
In Bozeman, Montana State College (now, MSU) reported its biggest freshman class ever, with 306 new students registering.
But wait – there’s so much more local news to take in.
A man was arrested for drunkenness, spent the night in jail, and was released on $15 bail the following morning. Alas, he failed to show up a few hours later for his trial.
In another case, William Walterskirchen appeared on a charge of “standing at the curb while his engine was running.” He was fined five bucks.
Finally, on the court docket, was the case of Claude Davis. The small boy had been charged for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. He was fined one dollar.
As I said before, “Ah, those were the days!”
Jim Harmon is a longtime Missoula news broadcaster, now retired, who writes a weekly history column for Missoula Current. You can contact Jim at fuzzyfossil187@gmail.com. His best-selling book, “The Sneakin’est Man That Ever Was,” a collection of 46 vignettes of Western Montana history, is available at harmonshistories.com.