Before Van-Atkins was Robbins-Sanford. Searcy AR. Historic ledgers!

Hello Barbara - a treasure trove of history and memories.  

Robbins-Sanford Merchandile Store was a marvelous store with many grass covered display cases at kid level so we could see all the wondors the store had to offer. My favorite was the pocket knife display. Every kid had to have a pocket jack knife to play mumbly peg on school grounds. Yes we carried knives to school. Knife in one pocket and marbles in the other.

Then there was the full size horse on a platform with wheels that ran on a track through the store. Kids could climb up on the horse and take a ride. Some of us always thought it was a real horse that was stuffed.

We bloggers have commented many times on the store. Start here for a tour.

Probably the most information is here.

There was also a grand hall and it can be found here.

There is a previous blog about the Van-Atkins store here.

I realized that I had not posted the story of an unusual window display in Robbins-Sanford's window. This is from Dr.   Muncy's book pp. 172-173.

A Mrs. Frazier, a cleaning woman at the jail, had died. She had no known family and had settled in the community under rather mysterious circumstances. Since she had to be cared for, and there was no apparent financial remuneration in the offing, John Neel, whose establishment was across Race Street from the jail, where Leslie’s Jewelry Store is now located, asked for her body and was given permission to embalm it. After accomplishing the task, and much to his satisfaction, Neel decided to display it in the window facing Race Street. The corpse remained there for three weeks, and an object of great curiosity, except for the small children who passed that way to and from school who were quite fearful of it. Mrs. Angie Mae Dellinger remembered as a girl how she used to close her eyes and run by it as fast as she could rather than look on it. After a thorough exposure of the embalmed remains of Mrs. Fraizer on the west side of the square, the body was taken to the show window of Robbins-Sanford for another week of public display before burial in the local cemetery.