People's Meat Market

In 1906, the first building here was Leopold Gabardi's Eureka Saloon. In 1909, the lot was empty. In 1910, the Golden Rule store and Guyer & Haynes buildings were built. Both were destroyed by the 1910 fire. Since the businesses on the square provided all the goods and services for an agricultural boom town, most reopened in other locations within a few days. In the early 1910s, the current building was built. The upstairs housed the New Commercial Hotel from the teens into the 1920s, and apartments into the 1930s. In this new community with a chronic housing shortage, upper floors around the square served as hotels and professional offices. The main floor was occupied by excellent meat markets for many years, including Smith's, in 1920, People's Meat Market in 1931 and later Dickson's and Rosecran's. All meat came fresh from local meat markets and none from grocery stores as meat markets were the only places with any refrigeration. People's had its own ammonia compression system ice plant to provide shaved ice for their display cases and chill the seasoning room for the carcasses. They also sold butter and eggs to those who had no cows or chickens. People's sold huge blocks of ice to the iceman who delivered smaller chunks to households with iceboxes. The kids loved Mr. Davis, the iceman. He would always chip off a sliver of ice for each kid, the high point of their summer day. From the late 1950s on, this building held two TV shops, a small newspaper and later an insurance office.