Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article
Historic Treasure of the Week -
September 29, 2002
By Barbara Carney
Vigo County Historical Society
Calendar offers glimpse of the ‘sideline of fame’
Oakley Store No. 17 at 1637 S. Seventh St. in the early 1920s was one of more than 30 Oakley Stores in the “only home-owned and home-managed chain” in Terre Haute. This caption describes one of the photographs that make up the new 2003 calendar created by Dorothy W. Jerse for the Vigo County Historical Society.
Many who grew up in Terre Haute remember the Oakley Economy Stores. The first of the chain was opened by business man Hollie N. Oakley in 1909 at 1105 Wabash Ave. The number of the popular groceries continued to grow throughout Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. According to a Terre Haute Tribune article on Aug. 2, 1967, 93 stores were being operated in 1939. In that year, Oakley sold the stores and leased the buildings back to the Kroger Co. of Cincinnati. They were operated first as Oakley-Kroger Stores and, eventually, Kroger as we know it today.
After the stores were sold, Oakley divided his time between Maitland, Fla. and Terre Haute. He died in Florida in 1967 at the age of 80 and is buried in Highland Cemetery in Terre Haute.
A significant philanthropist, Oakley established the Hollie and Anna Oakley Foundation, a perpetual trust, from which many local organizations continue to benefit.
The Oakley Corp. remains headquartered in Terre Haute where it was founded. The corporation was sold in 1993 and remains a wholly owned subsidiary of the 124 Madison Corp., an Indiana corporation that leases equipment to business and professional organizations through the Midwest.
The photo of the Oakley Store 17 with its employees in long white aprons standing in front is just one of the memorable black and white photographs used in the 2003 calendar. All depict people, places and events from the first half of the 20th century in Terre Haute. The photos show ordinary people in places and situations that we recognize.
Jerse has described the selection of photographs used in the calendar this way: “There was no effort to portray the rich and/or famous. Most of the individuals pictured lived on the sideline of fame, but had been memorialized by the click of a camera lens.” Available in the Vigo County Historical Museum Gift Shop and Arts Illiana, the 2003 calendar is a perfect holiday present.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The Web: http://web.indstate.edu/community/vchs.