The Dickey Mouse was in this 1965 advertisement with other Yorktown Merchants.
Dickey Mouse
Dairy Queen 1961
The Dairy Queen was on Smith Street in downtown Yorktown. At this time there was no dine-in service. One just walked up and placed an order. The very first Dairy Queen opened in Illinois in 1940.
The Dairy Queen appeared in this 1965 advertisement of Yorktown Merchants.
Yorktown Methodist Church
The Yorktown Methodist Episcopal Church built their first church in January 1875. The churches were supported by ministers who rode a circuit to minister to the people. The earliest churches in Yorktown met in homes and the school house.
Just 23 years after building the first church, they had outgrown it. The old church was moved to another site and another church built in the same location on the corner of High and Walnut Streets. These boys pose sometime after 1898 in front of the brick structure. The church had a fire in 1950 The structure is still in use in 2021 by the Baptist Church.
Carpenter Hardware Cammack
Byely’s Drug Store
Later was Bonnet Drug Store downtown
Overmire’s Store 1890
Airport at Hwy. 32 and Andrews Road
Childs and Son Hardware
Childs and Son Hardware Store was operated by Carl and Pearl (Witt) Childs and their son, Enoch and daughter-in-law, Alice Dorothy Potter Childs. The first advertisement for Childs and Son Hardware was in The Star Press on 2 Jul 1934.
Carl and Pearl Childs are living in Yorktown in the 1920 census residing on Yorktown Pike. In the 1930 census, High Street is listed as their residence. In 1940, they reside in Yorktown but there is no street listed. (At this time 1940 is the latest available census.) In 1938, Carl and Pearl purchased the north half of lots 129 and 130 in downtown Yorktown from the estate of Mary E. Miller for $1750. This lot is on Walnut St. , the side of the lot runs along the alley, near the southwestern corner of Arch St. The purchase of these lots may mark the Childs move into downtown Yorktown. They moved to Yorktown sometime between 1910 and 1920 from Monroe Township.
Carl Childs (1878-1945) operated the store until he died in 1945, with son, Enoch (1910-1987). Enoch and Alice operated the hardware store until their retirements, she in 1968 and he in 1971.
Enoch was in the 8th grade class in the 1925 YHS yearbook and the Freshman class in the 1926 YHS yearbook. In the 1928 Enoch is willed by senior Herbert Barker “his position at center”. This information leads to the conclusion that Enoch graduated from Yorktown High School with the class of 1929. I could find no on-line yearbooks for 1927 or 1929. He and Alice were the parents of Jay K. Childs, a long-time Clevenger Vending supervisor and Shelia, a veterinarian. She married Timothy Sheward.
~Julie Musick Hillgrove; contributor, Pat Mason
Facebook comments bring to light that the building had a number of tenants through the years: A general store, meat market, the original Dickey Mouse Tavern, Childs and Son Hardware Store, Junior and Betty Sollars‘ Hardware Store, Painted Memories, Greek’s Pizza, The Toy Soldier? (toy store). It is presently the home of an architecture firm.
Pat Chasteen says that her grandfather, Charles Mohler, worked there. He was a hard worker and much beloved by customers.
Hop’s Drive-Inn
