Gardnersville

by Linda Lou Mann

About seventy-five years ago, Gardnersville, named after John Gardner, and early settler, was a busy little community.  In the business center, for example, there was a hat shop, run by Maggie Golden.  My grandmother told me that she could buy a hat there for $1.50 or $2.50 and that women were embarrassed if they couldn't wear a different hat for each occasion.  There was a general store owned by Jim Ervin, where you could buy almost anything.  Dick Hightower had saloon.  My grandfather said that the saloon stood about two feet from the ground; some men, knowing where the barrels stood, took a drill and bored holes through the floor up to the barrels and let the public get a free drink.  

There was also a large place where buggies were made.  It was owned by Fred E. Linder.  The two blacksmith shops were run by Mr. Barney H. Johnson; Mr. Ervin worked in the post office.  The mail was carried from Gardnersville to Flingsville and back to Gardnersville.  It was called the Star Route.  A burial shop was run by Fred Helmink and Sam Gibson who made coffins.  George Marvick was the shoe cobbler for the town.  A one-room schoolhouse, called the Boone School, was very crowded with about seventy-five pupils  

From a collection of essays written in American Literature Eleven.  The class was taught by Ms. Hazel Ogden of Grant County High School in the 1963-1964 school year, and was typed by the typing classes of Mrs. Mattie Cox.  It is copyrighted by the Grant County Schools, and is used here with their kind permission. We found a copy in UK's King Library.