Vigo County Historical Society

Cookbook was charitable effort of Meis stores

From "appetizers" to "vegetables" the Noel Meis Holiday Cookbook is a culinary treasure from the mid 1970ss. Favorite recipes of Meis organization employees working at the downtown Terre Haute, Honey Creek Square, Plaza North and Danville, Ill., stores are featured.

An introduction by Paul E. Denehie reads in part: "You can all take special pride in your contribution because the proceeds from the sale of this book go to a very worthy cause, The Salvation Army Christmas Basket Fund."

The charitable effort was part of the ongoing, positive relationship between the Meis stores and the Wabash Valley from the time Lucien and Gustave Meis and Salo Levite opened the first Meis Brother store in 1924.

The downtown store was expanded in the 1940s and the well-remembered Boulevard Room of designer fashions for women open in 1947. This also was the year that a charge account department was inaugurated; the business had been operated on a cash basis plan until that time.

A second store opened at Plaza North in 1966 and the Honey Creek Square store was established in 1973. Later stores were opened in Danville, Mattoon and Carbondale, Ill., in Anderson and Marion, Ind., In Paducah, Ky., and at The Meadows in Terre Haute under the leadership of Salo Levite and Lucien Meis Jr. The corporate offices were moved to the former Schulte High School building in 1984.

A chapter of local history came to a close when the Meis stores were sold by the Brown Group of St. Louis to Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. of Dayton, Ohio, in 1989.

Yet cookbook collectors who are fortunate to have this small 45-page publication have a bit of local history on their kitchen shelves. Recipes such as Nola Goda’s "Potato Champagne" and Donna Schoppenhorst’s "Marinated Mushrooms a la Gray Shott Hall" may each be "one of a kind."

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.