Friday, August 8, 2008 9:08 PM CDT
Shade & Son auction is bittersweet for longtime owners
By Bonnie Clark, Features Writer
Bob and Mary Walker of Kansas had mixed feelings seeing the contents of their Shade & Son Garage sold last weekend — happy perhaps that Walker is officially retired, and sad that a business with deep roots in the Kansas community has closed.
The building itself was sold prior to the sale to Kirchner Lumber Co.
“I hope retiring is going to be all right,” said Walker. “I’ve been practicing retired for a year or so now.”
Walker, who has been mayor of Kansas for 16 or 17 years, said he is retiring for health reasons.
Mrs. Walker is a first-grade teacher in Kansas.
Since 1969, Walker has owned the shop where he has done automotive repair, lawn mower repair, and some tractor work — “old tractors,” he said, “I didn’t get into the new ones.
“I also had a truck testing lane that I started in 1940. I kept that until the end of last year.”
The garage housed the Kansas Fire Department from 1940 until 1978.
“There were two fire trucks,” he said. “At the time, that was it for the fire department.”
Walker was a member of the fire department, giving it up last year after 38 years.
Saturday’s sale brought out buyers and spectators alike, although by noon, only the buyers were willing to brave the heat.
The auction included automotive shop equipment and tools, as well as antiques.
There were also all kinds of collectibles like early advertising items and primitives including tin signs and posters and even furniture.
“Every time the building sold it was sold with everything in it,” Mrs. Walker said. “So when we were getting ready for the sale the kids and I were dragging stuff down that Bob didn’t even know was there. Some of it was a hundred years old.”
Before there was the Shade & Son Garage at 304 N. Front St., in Kansas, a hotel occupied the corner lot. Over time, it went by several names — The Kansas Hotel, Kansas House, and Boyer House. Sometime between 1908 an 1917, Walker said, the hotel burned and the garage was built.
“It was built by Ira and Dillman Burch in 1917,” Walker said, “but they weren’t there for too many years.
“They sold some buggies, Dort motor cars, Auburn cars, Wallace tractors, real estate, Towers cultivators and Ford parts,” he said.
The building was occupied by W.W. Moody somewhere around 1922.
In 1930, it became Shade & Son, owned by Cleve Shade. When he died in 1948, his son Preston operated the business until the Walkers purchased it in 1969.
Walker continued to operate the business under the name Shade & Son.
When Saturday’s sale was over, there were a few things that might have gone differently, but for the most part, the Walkers were happy with the sale.
“I wanted to keep the potbellied stove,” Mrs. Walker said. “But Bob said it was either the stove or him. I didn’t have to think about it too long. I’d need him to fire it up.
“Anyway, it sold. It didn’t even bring a good price, and that’s what upset me.”
Walker said there’s a certain amount of nostalgia that comes with selling things associated with a lifetime of work.
“I was afraid it might bother me, because you hate to give up something you’ve always done. You get to my age and you know you won’t be doing it again.
“But it really didn’t bother me. We’ve been getting ready for this sale for so long. The first Saturday we worked on it we had the heaters on,” he said. “It’s been that far back.
“And the more I looked at the stuff and the more I messed with it, the more I was ready to be out of there and gone.
“It took a while for me to decide, but once I made up my mind to go, I couldn’t get out fast enough.”
Walker said he can remember when business thrived in Kansas.
“I can even remember when there was something behind every door upstairs on Main Street,” he said, “even a little pool room up there and apartments. And, we had a movie theater in Kansas.
“And I can remember when we had 11 places to buy gas in this town.”
Like many small towns, Kansas, population around 850, is feeling the loss of the stores that once dotted the business district, but there’s still a sense of neighborhood.
“The last couple of windstorms we had, there must have been 15 or 20 guys who just dived in to get things cleaned up,” Walker said.
“That shows we do have a community here.
“I used to be able to tell you who lived in every house in town. I can’t do that anymore, but I still know a lot of them.
“In Kansas you can call a wrong number and still talk 15 minutes.”
Contact Bonnie Clark at bclark@jg-tc.com or 348-5727.
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