Once again, it is time to celebrate the “Best Of” everything Owensboro-Daviess County has to offer! Whether it’s your favorite service provider, clothing, education institution, foods in any of a zillion categories, or anything else, it’s always fun to see how your picks match up with the selections of your neighbors.
There was no such thing as the convenience of online voting 100 years ago. Businesses had to depend on word of mouth and their own reputations to succeed. But then, as now, many of them utilized the power of advertising to let our community know about the products and services they offered.
A quick search of 1924 Owensboro newspapers using key phrases such as “we have the best” and “best in town” yielded numerous ads promoting local businesses. Let’s take a look at what these proud proprietors had to say about their wares a century ago!
Star Cash Groceries, located at the corner of Third and Allen streets, promised “high quality – low prices” … as well as something that is rarely, if ever, advertised in these modern times: “We also have the best of Home Killed Meats.”
The official definition of that phrase is to describe “meat that is processed on a farm,” meaning “the animals are slaughtered and butchered on the farm itself, minimizing the stress the animals may experience during transport and in the abattoir,” which is a fancy word for slaughterhouse.
Yikes. An ad like this in 2024 would probably be considered too much information, so we’ll just move along to a more genteel area of grocery shopping.
Model Bakery, 818 E. Fourth St., was proud to bake and distribute “The Bread for Every Digestion, for sale by all grocers.” Shoppers were assured that “no matter what your health is,” Model’s Quality Bread was indeed the best Bread in town. “Its uniformly fine texture – its lightness – its tastiness – makes it the logical Bread for the whole family, from Baby to Grandpa.”
Perhaps shoppers did not want to buy or prepare their own meat and bread. In that case, they could visit Joe’s Place at 216 Frederica St., to enjoy “meals cooked by the best cook in town, Jim Lewis.”
If you needed transportation to get around, Short Bros. Motor Company Incorporated – conveniently located at 216 Allen St. – touted themselves as “the best place in town to do your automotive shopping.” Customers could choose from a 1918 Baby Grand Chevrolet Touring car, advertised as “well worth the money” at $175, or upgrade to a 1922 Ford Coupe “with front bumper, five good tires and a good heater.” This was “one of the best kept Fords in town,” available now for the bargain price of $325. These and other cars could be purchased by putting down one-third in cash with the balance in monthly payments.
For those who didn’t own their own vehicle, or simply needed something more substantial for heavy hauling, customers could call upon Eck Miller Transfer Co. “You Call – We Haul,” was their promise. “Anybody can handle small jobs,” their ad scoffed. “Our specialty is heavy and careful work because we own the largest and best equipment in town.” Not only that: “We have the biggest Owensboro Wagon ever built!”
Not interested in vehicles? Prefer to walk? Well, look no further than the Birk-Baker Shoe Co. “Our repair department, like our shoes, is the best in town,” their ad asserted. “We use one grade material – The Best.”
Or, if you were interested in going into the shoe business for yourself, one could consider an advertisement placed in the Dec. 14, 1924, edition of the Owensboro Messenger, offering a “Shoe Shop for Sale, equipped with the best modern machinery, paying business, works two men all the time. Bargain if taken at once. Best stand in town.” The owner of this unnamed business at 1023 E. Fourth St. was selling because of bad health.
Perhaps he could have taken the advice described in an ad that proclaimed that even when “the best doctors in the United States” could not help – “Some said one thing and some another was ailing me, and all wanted to cut me open” – but “Mayr’s Wonderful Remedy saved me, so now I eat cabbage, sausage and anything I want to. Nothing hurts me.”
Well, some of these services and products may very well have been the very best of their time and others perhaps not so much, but 100 years later, we can all truly enjoy the very BEST of what Owensboro-Daviess County has to offer. OL
