November 2, 1961 — A momentous event occurred recently at what is known as Long’s Store when the old pot-bellied stove, a fixture in the store for some 60 years, was removed in favor of a more modern heating plan.
The departure of this “old friend” was looked upon by the regular customers and visitors at the store as a sad occasion and as Mr. Burner said, “if they could find all the parts, they’d put it back again.”
The old stove was a fixture in the first Long’s Store, which was located in what is now the yard of the Rex Burner home and is believed to have been placed there about 1900 or thereabouts. It had well established its claim on the affections of the neighborhood when the business became too large for its quarters and a new building was constructed in 1911.
The first stove was much larger and almost a cord of wood could be put into the stove at one time. If only that old stove could talk … what stories it could tell.
Just imagine that stove was there when the neighbors gathered to discuss the advent of the automobile and new innovations in farm machinery.
~ From the public archives of the Page News and Courier
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