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Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
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In retailing, Columbian was decades ahead of Sam Walton Old Massie barn on Merchant ST would have been founding store Two photos accompany this story By Ed Waggener ed@columbiamagazine.com Everyone knows that Wal-Mart stores are headquartered in Bentonville, AR, and that they were started by Sam Walton. But did you know that the one-stop shopping center was invented in Columbia, KY, one quarter of a century before Mr. Walton opened his first Wal-Mart? Grover Gilpin recalls a trip across Merchant Street with his father-in-law, Tyler Furkins, when it happened. Tyler Furkins has a chain of stores in Adair County Tyler Furkins was one of the most entrepreneurial men in Adair County. He had a chain of stores in Adair County at one time, including the predecessor store to the great White Cash Market before he sold it. As Grover Gilpin and Mr. Furkins passed what is now the big blue barn--it may have been red way back when--on Merchant Street, Mr. Furkins said, "Grover, if I were 20 years younger, we'd buy that building. We'd have plenty of parking. We'd have the biggest line in of groceries in town. We'd have dry goods and shoes. We'd have a section for cars and another for hardware. We'd have gasoline and auto service. We'd have a drug store. We'd have a lunch counter." "We'd have one-stop shopping. We'd offer everything anyone in Adair Count could want to buy--all under one roof." Would get all the business in the county "We'd get all the business in Adair County, and then we could branch out with stores everywhere," Mr. Gilpin remembers. Mr. Furkins was describing a Wal-Mart Store When Grover Gilpin recalls the conversation, he says, "What Mr. Furkins was describing was a Wal-Mart store. And that was in 1937." Mr. Walton did not open his first small--by today's standards--Wal-Mart in Rogers, AR, until 1962. Granted, Mr. Walton had the same concept a few years prior to opening his store, but it is doubtful he had dreamt it up in 1937, when he was only 19 years old. Columbia, not Bentonville, might have been capitol of the world, if only . . . One can only wonder what Columbia would be like today if Tyler Furkins had been 20 years younger in 1937. Or if Grover Gilpin had taken his idea and run with it instead of distinguishing himself in the G&M Grill, as a dairyman, and as a Democratic political leader. If, as some believe, the world of the future will be run by corporations and not governments, the capital of the world might rightfully be in Columbia, KY, USA, not Bentonville, AR, USA, one day. Many of us remember Tyler Furkins as Julia Furkins' husband. After the other businesses were sold, the Furkins ran the Little Store, also known as "Miss Julia's." Thousands of Columbia High and Grade Center graduates ate over a thousand noon meals, each, over the course of their 12 year education there. The Little Store was located right off the high school property on Frazier Street, on the Mont Willis, John Lee Akin, Edgie Howell, Bill Downs, Billy Wilson, and U.L. Rogers end of the Frazier. Toward the Town Creek. Direct comments are not available. However comments, subject to editing, are welcome by sending to: ed@columbiamagazine.com or linda@columbiamagazine.com. or through Submit a Story. This story was posted on 2006-04-06 11:32:41
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More articles from topic Adair County:
LETTER: Writer urges support for Kick Butts Day, Wednesday, April 5 Driver taken to hospital following accident on KY 61 South Happy Anniversaries: APRIL 2006: Next anniversary listed April 3, 2006 Bruce Montgomery recalls tale of how Almighty felt making our town Trilby Vance injured in Thursday accident in Campbellsville, KY Free address markers ready to be picked up at Adair S.O. QUOTE on CITY FLAG Cyrus sends notes on Clayton Miller Prays a Mighty Prayer Tom Fisher says internet, emergency response, needed at community centers CYRUS: Deja vu all over again? and again, etc? Is this fifth boom? View even more articles in topic Adair County |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
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