The business on the left occupies the space of the original Bank. When I was a youngster it was the Washington Water Power office.

Where you see the Palouse Tavern above, was Morrison's Variety store. Morisons had lots of novelties and toys.

Fireworks were outlawed in Palouse in about 1945, but Morrisons sold some practical joke items that included a cherry bomb with tape. The idea was to tape this onto your friends tire so that when he backed out of the diagonal parking space it would explode and make him think that a tire had blown out. I went with a kid named Delmar West into Morrisons and he bought several of these. Once we were outside of the store he was so busy ripping open the packages that he didn't notice that the town cop with his handlebar moustache was standing right behind him. He threw three of the cherry bombs onto the sidewalk where they exploded with a resounding ka-boom, ka-boom, ka-boom. The town cop immediately grabbed him, and I took off.

Next was the bakery. All of the stores were open until about 9:00 PM on Saturday night and then everything was closed on Sunday. When dad took us downtown on Saturday night to get groceries we, of course, always wanted to go to the bakery to get "bismarks," they were kind of like a maple bar but with a white creamy filling, and boy were they good.

After the bakery was O.T. Wards Appliance shop and Electrical Wiring office. It was 1953, in the evening, when I heard a young boy running down Main Street shouting that they had television at O.T. Wards store. Sure enough, there was a TV in the window with "Test Pattern." We all crowded to the window to view this marvel.

Next in line was West's Food Store. West's was a major part of the history of Palouse. When I was in grade school there were four grocery stores in Palouse. In addition to West's and Mahn's I.G.A., There was Dave's across the street from West's, and Williamson's store also sold groceries. Williamson's had a fire and then went out of the grocery business but continued to sell dry goods.

Beyond West's Food Store was Ankcorn's Hardware store. Ankcorns was the source for just about anything that you might need. If they didn't have it they could get it on the bus from Spokane by the next day. A small store in those days could support a family as we had "Fair Trade Laws" that stipulated that the retail selling price for an item could be established and enforced by the manufacturer. Thus there was no advantage to driving to Moscow, Pullman or Spokane to look for a better deal... as the price would still be the same. There was a strong incentive to buy everything locally if we could.

Next in line was the Sim's Shoe Repair shop. The local farmers all looked to the local shop for shoes and boots either custom built or repaired. There were no foreign made shoes in town.

The West end of the block was the Palouse Branch of the Old National Bank. You had to climb up some small steps to get into the building. No handicapped access there! The banking business had some antique typewriters and a few adding machines... everything else was by hand.

It seems amazing to us now that there could be eight successful businesses all in one block. Each supporting at least one family. Those were the days before Costco and Wallmart.