The Union Store used to be where the Century Link telephone building now sites at the intersection of Virginia Avenue and Third Street in the town of Shenandoah.
From the book Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People we learned “ The original Union Store was located on Third Street where the Christian Church now stands. (The old Amos Shuler building). The little store at the corner of Third and Virginia Avenue was Printz’s Store. In 1911 H.P. Griffith opened a store there and operated it until 1923, when he moved to front street where he opened up another store. The Store on Virginia Avenue, then became the Union Store until it was torn down to make way for the Central Telephone building.”
We discovered more about the history of the Union Store from an article in the Page News and Courier dated October 18, 1962.
Shenandoah Union Store Modernized
The Shenandoah Union Store building, one of our oldest structures, has been modernized on the outside by a new asphalt brick siding and an aluminum awning across the front. The work was done by the Womack Insulation Company. The Union Store Corporation was organized July 26th, 1920 and was located in the Amos Shuler building on Third Street next to the Christian Church. In 1925 the store moved to its present location on the corner of Third Street and Virginia Avenue. The building was purchased by the corporation. This store is open to the general public, no one needs to be a member. The store was managed from its beginning by F. A. Lankford until his retirement, December 31, 1950. Mr. Lankford died September 26, 1952. R. O. Epps the present manager, took over the management on January 6, 1951. He was associated with the Korger Store in Roanoke for eighteen and a half years before coming to Shenandoah. His home is at Mt. Solon. The late J. H. Moore was the first president of the corporation and the present officers are: president-D. A. Foote; vice president-D. O. Powell, secretary-Ray Hansbrough, and treasurer-R. O. Eppard. Mr. Epps has also added many improvements in the store and carries a full line of meats, vegetables and canned goods and many other staples.
Note: we found that after the Union Store moved out of the Amos Shuler Building, the store room was rented to a young lady to open a dancing school.
Union store photo courtesy of Lora Jenkins.
Photo of telephone building at corner of Third Street and Virginia Avenue in Shenandoah taken in September 2024.
We found out more information about the telephone company being in the Union building. The below article was found in the Page News and Courier dated December 31, 1935.
VETERAN TELEPHONE OPERATOR RESIGNS
Mrs. Rosa Louderback, the only telephone operator that lots of the residents of Shenandoah have ever known is moving today in the Russell Bumgardner property on Fourth Street and Mr. and Mrs. Frazier of near Luray are moving in the flat over the union store vacated by Mrs. Louderback and her daughter Pearl. Shenandoah welcomes Mr. and Mrs. Frazier to the town but it is with genuine regret that we note the resignation of Mrs. Louderback. Mrs. Louderback’s resignation will probably be temporary. She is resigning due to ill health and will resume her duties again as soon as her heath is sufficiently improved. Mrs. Louderback has been in the service approximately 22 years having begun the service about 1907, resigning about 1914, and resuming the work again in 1920. Most of the time she has kept the switchboard alone, however, after, coming back in 1920, she had the following ladies as assistants: Misses Mamie Grubbs, Zaida Emerson, Nellie Foltz, Mrs. Nellie Lauck. Misses Marjorie Piper, Jessie Gray Thompson, Pauline Bear, Mary Lauck, Etta Snyder, Hazel Jennings. Mrs. Evelyn Fox, and Pearl Louderback. During the six years she was absent Miss Beulah Koontz. Miss Pear Coffman. Miss Eula Higgs, Mrs. Mamie Grubbs and Miss Ruth Dadisman attended to the office. Mrs. Louderback has served under the management of Messrs Ed Foote. Charley Grove, John C. Grove, Bud Spitler, Walter Strickler, James Borden and Ray Jones. During the intermission that she was out of the service D. L. Kauffman served as manager. Mrs. Louderback is loved and respected by the subscribers in Shenandoah. She has never been too busy to accommodate, going out of her way most of the time to be of service. She will be missed but it is hoped that her well-earned rest will serve its purpose and she will soon be with us again with her pleasant “Hello” and “Thank You”.
Note: Mrs. Rosa Louderback’s daughter Pearl was Pearl Louderback Womack. Mrs. Womack worked at the Shenandoah Telephone switchboard with her mother as a youth and was a teacher at Shenandoah High School and Shenandoah Elementary School for 30 years before retiring. Mrs. Womack was a member of the National Society of Colonial Dames XVII Century, was a charter member and organizing Regent for the Shenandoah River Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) in 1985 and was chairperson for the Shenandoah Centennial Association History Committee. She was also a member of the Shenandoah Crafters. Mrs. Pearl Womack passed away October 26, 2004.
Picture of Rosa Louderback found in Shenandoah A History of Our Town And Its People on page 25.
In the Page New and Courier October 2, 1942 edition, we found the following article:
Shenandoah's First SwitchBoard In Fine Condition
Mrs. Rosa Louderback has been presented with Shenandoah’s First switchboard which was first installed in Warthen’s Store on Front Street and operated by the owner, O. W. Warthen. It was later placed in the home of the late J. S. Lauck, who with the late “Ed” Foote, of Stanley, comprised the company operating the Shenandoah branch or extension of the Page Valley Farmers Mutual Telephone Company. The board has twenty bells, representing ten lines then in and around the town. One bell (or double bell) was the operator’s bell and she “plugged in” at the same place to answer all calls. The plugs were pulled back in place by heavy weights underneath which necessitated the operator’s standing. Mrs. Louderback says the calls were few then, sometimes an hour would elapse without a call, and remembers when on several occasions a whole afternoon went by without a telephone call. Two of these lines went to Elkton with numerous subscribers on the party lines. Mrs. Louderback says the switchboard is at least 40 years old. She served the company 23 years (not continuous service) having retired in 1935. She expects to arrange the old board to serve as a table or holder for her desk telephone, and prizes it as one of her most valuable possessions.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Shenandoah dated December 1905. The original location of the Union store in Amos Shuler building was located at 101/102 on the Sanborn Map. It then moved to 108 on the map.
During our research on the Union store, we discovered yet another business that used to be in the old telephone building at corner of Virginia Avenue and Third Street. In the Page News and Courier dated February 10, 1939 it stated “Miss Alice Smith and her sister operated a millinery store where the union store is located. This would have been about 30 years ago around 1909.”
We don’t know exactually when the Union Store closed, but we know it was still open in June of 1963, providing small jobs around town to former life guards from Shuler’s Pool in Stanley. This tidbit of information was found in the Page News and Courier dated June 20, 1963.
