Dunn Home Supply, Eskridge, Kansas

By wabaunseecomuseum on September 20, 2017 • ( Leave a comment )

-by Greg Hoots-

Dean Dunn was born in 1926 in Eskridge, Kansas, the son of local pharmacist, Preston Dunn and his wife Dora. Preston Dunn had moved to Eskridge with his parents when he was just a boy, and he became a civic and political leader in Eskridge and throughout Wabaunsee County. Preston and Dora Dunn had another son, Dale, who died of polio before his third birthday in 1925, and Dean was raised as an only child.

Preston Dunn, seen behind the counter at the left in this 1930s view, operated the Rexall Drug Store in Eskridge for over 50 years.

Inez Wolford was born in 1926 in Osborne, Kansas, one of three daughters of Chancey and Pearl Wolford. The family moved to Eskridge when Inez was just a small child, and Inez and her sisters attended school in Eskridge.

Just two months apart in age, Dean and Inez attended the Eskridge schools together, both graduating in the class of 1944. After graduating from high school Dean went to school at K-State in Manhattan, and Inez enrolled at Washburn College in Topeka. Eventually, both Dean and Inez decided to leave their studies at college, and they each returned to their hometown, Eskridge.

Preston Dunn’s Rexall Drug Store was located at 111 South Main Street in Eskridge, Kansas, as seen in this 1950s photo.

Dean and Inez were married on September 9, 1949, and one week later the young couple opened a furniture store on Main Street in Eskridge, just across the street from Dean’s father’s pharmacy. In a 2006 interview with the Topeka Capital-Journal, Inez recalled, “We started out selling furniture, but there aren’t enough people to buy furniture in this town.” The couple began to diversify their business and added various lines of household goods, as they became a true variety store. Dean Dunn remarked in the same newspaper story, “We sell a little bit of everything, except food, and we even sell a little of that. We’re the Wal-Mart of Wabaunsee County.”

Dunn Home Supply opened in Eskridge on September 9, 1949, and this photo was taken shortly after the store’s opening. Rissler’s Plymouth dealership is visible to the left of Dunn’s store in this view.

In the Capital-Journal interview, Inez showed a pair of work gloves to the reporter, saying, “These are something we have that they don’t have many other places around here. We also make keys and sell toys and odds and ends. We still sell small appliances.” Dean explained the nature of their business, declaring, “If I don’t have it, you don’t need it.”

Dean took a special interest in his customers and went the “extra mile” to serve their needs and preferences. Once, this author found himself removed from his leather work gloves one cold day, and I happened to be at Dunn’s store. I inquired about gloves, and Dean showed me his full line of work gloves, which included everything from economy-minded cloth gloves to a very nice elk skin leather glove. Dean’s top of the line gloves were made by the Geier Glove Company. The gloves were constructed of incredibly soft leather, and were offered in half-sizes, just as shoes are, providing a perfect fit. I picked a specific glove, an elk skin pair with a gathered cuff and reinforced layer across the palm. “Oh, you like the roping gloves,” Dean remarked. Then, he took a pocket-sized notebook from a desk and entered my name and the size and style, 9 ½ Ropers, on a line under several other names, styles, and sizes. Then, when Dean placed his order from Geier gloves, he would make sure he always had my size and preferred style in stock. It was just another service that the Dunns provided for their customers.

Dean Dunn photographed this night view of the display window at Dunn Home Supply in the early 1950s.

Dean never was a hard-sell salesman. He took pride in having exactly what the customer was seeking, and while he always offered to help a customer with his selection, he was never pushy in his sales techniques. I was once inside Dean’s little work room in the store, and I noticed above his desk there was a cartoon tacked to the wall. It showed a disheveled hobo with the caption, “Selling is like shaving, you need to do it every day or you are a bum.”

Dunn Home Supply was an institution in the town of Eskridge. Everyone had shopped there, and everyone knew the Dunns on a first-name basis. For twenty-five years, Inez Dunn was the City Clerk of Eskridge, and as the town had no formal City Hall at the time, the Dunn’s store served that function. One could pay their utility bills, apply for a building permit, or complain about the neighbor’s dog at Dunn’s store.

The Dunn’s took advantage of the crowd in town to have a sidewalk sale on the day of a fall parade in Eskridge in this 1960s view.

The Dunn’s store harkened to a golden age of the small town in Kansas that thrived during the 1950s through about 1970. During those years, virtually no residents of Eskridge (and other small towns in Kansas) commuted to the cities to work. Everyone made their living in their hometown or in the county, at least. Virtually everyone who lived in Eskridge shopped in Eskridge. During those years, no one would ever think of buying their groceries in Topeka, for example, and hauling them home to Eskridge. For more than a half-century, Dunn’s Home Supply served all of the needs of the residents of Eskridge.

Dean Dunn had a keen interest in photography. Dean sold cameras, film, and flash bulbs, of course, but he also took many photographs of Eskridge and Lake Wabaunsee throughout his life. Dean had an impressive collection of historic photos of Eskridge and Lake Wabaunsee. There were few things that would delight Dean more than if someone would ask him about details of the history of Eskridge or ask to see a historic photograph.

This real photo postcard, from the Dean Dunn collection, was taken the morning after a disastrous March 15, 1914 fire swept through the Eskridge business district.

Dean and Inez Dunn had three children, Douglas, Lisa, and Kristen, all of whom grew up in Eskridge.

The Dunns continued to operate the store as they both entered their eighty-first year. In 2007 the couple’s health forced them to close the store. Dean passed away on July 17, 2008 and Inez died on December 15, 2012.

Below are 50 historic photographs from the Dean Dunn collection. Click on any image to view the collection in a gallery format, and you may view any photo as a full-screen image in the gallery.

E. R. Brown owned this drug store in Eskridge, Kansas when fire swept through the downtown on March 15, 1914, destroying nine buildings. After Brown rebuilt the store, it sold and became Jewett Drug Store before being purchased by Preston Dunn.

Preston Dunn’s Rexall Drug Store was located at 111 South Main Street in Eskridge, Kansas, as seen in this 1950s photo.

Preston Dunn, seen behind the counter at the left in this 1930s view, operated the Rexall Drug Store in Eskridge for over 50 years.

Merchants and residents of Eskridge, Kansas unload freight from an Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Freight train at the Eskridge depot in this view, circa 1900.

This early 1940s view of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe depot at Eskridge looks to the northwest.

The Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe depot at Eskridge, Kansas had gone to seed when Dean Dunn took this photograph in the early 1970s.

Dean Dunn waited at the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe depot to take this 1972 photograph of the last train departing the Eskridge, Kansas depot as the railroad line was discontinued.

Trusler Hardware, one of the first businesses established in the “new town” of Eskridge, Kansas in 1880 is seen in this view, circa 1910.

This rare interior view of Harkness’ Department Store, located at 103 South Main Street in Eskridge, was taken in the mid-1950s.

Sorrick’s Leather Repair shop was located on the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and Main Street where the Rush In is located today.

Dunn Home Supply opened in Eskridge on September 9, 1949, and this photo was taken shortly after the store's opening. Rissler's Plymouth dealership is visible to the left of Dunn's store in this view.

Dunn Home Supply opened on September 9, 1949 as a furniture store. Inez Dunn is seen here in the rear doorway on the store’s opening day.

When this photo was taken in the early 1950s, Dunn Home Supply offered a full line of appliances, including both “ringer” washers and the new fully automatic variety.

Dean Dunn photographed this night view of the display window at Dunn Home Supply in the early 1950s.

Dean Dunn took this photo of Main Street in Eskridge, looking north in about 1964. Notice that there were three new car dealerships in Eskridge at this time, the Ford dealership at the far left, the Chevrolet dealership, seen at the right, and the Plymouth dealership, located in the next block north.

The Dunn’s took advantage of the crowd in town to have a sidewalk sale on the day of a fall parade in Eskridge in this 1960s view.

This was the home of Dr. and Mrs. Coffey of Eskridge, Kansas when Dean Dunn photographed it around 1960. The house, located on West 2nd Avenue, was built in the late 1880s for John Clark.

This interior view of Dunn Home Supply was taken in the early 2000’s.

Dean Dunn holds a camera behind the counter of Dunn Home Supply while Inez Dunn, City Clerk, records utility bill payments in this view from March of 2002.

Bill Mercer, Dean Dunn, and Jack Price inspect the wreckage created when a customer of the Eskridge Post Office installed a drive-through window in the office in this view from about 2000.

The R. C. Day Ford dealership, located at 212 South Main Street in Eskridge fell victim to a fire which gutted the business on February 4, 1921. A telephone pole was propped against the building to prevent the façade from collapsing into the street, and unbelievably, the building’s brick face was saved and the structure rebuilt.

Three unidentified men stand amid the burned-out wreckage of autos at R. C. Day’s Ford dealership in this photo taken on February 4, 1921.

A fire at Robert C. Day’s Ford dealership in Eskridge on February 4, 1921 gutted the business and destroyed numerous vehicles.

A massive fire swept down the west side of Main Street in Eskridge, Kansas on March 15, 1914, destroying nine buildings in the business district.

This real photo postcard, from the Dean Dunn collection, was taken the morning after a disastrous March 15, 1914 fire swept through the Eskridge business district.

This early 1950s photograph by Dean Dunn looks north on Main Street from 3rd Avenue.

Preston Dunn stands at the left at the far end of the new soda fountain in his Rexall Drug Store located at 111 South Main Street in Eskridge, Kansas in this 1950s view.

Dean Dunn photographed the flood water from Lake Wabaunsee pouring over the old spillway.

Dean Dunn took this photograph of Lake Wabaunsee from the east arm, looking to the west. The barracks buildings are visible on the north shore.

Dean Dunn took this photograph from the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe tracks just east of the Eskridge Co-op and the Eskridge depot, visible in the distance.

This interior photo of an early pharmacy is likely a view of Preston Dunn’s first pharmacy at Harveyville.

This sign pointing to Lake Wabaunsee was located on K-99 (K-4) Highway, just inside the city limits of Eskridge.

Two ladies stand on the public dock at Lake Wabaunsee as swimmers are enjoying the floating dock in the swimming area.

This photo by Dean Dunn shows the swimming area at Lake Wabaunsee and the floating swimmers’ dock.

Dean Dunn photographed the public dock and beach at Lake Wabaunsee in this view from the early 1950s.

Boat race participants ready themselves for activities at the newly built Lake Wabaunsee in this view from about 1940.

The Eskridge Grade School was constructed in 1921. Originally, the building only had the basement and main floor, and the top floor was added a few years later.

Eskridge Rural High School District No. 5 opened in 1921 after the Eskridge High School burned in 1920.

Five unidentified girls from the Eskridge Class of 1944 enjoy Senior Skip Day.

Originally built as a bible college, this Eskridge building housed the Eskridge Hotel in the post-World War II era.

Dean Dunn took this photograph of the bandstand at the Eskridge City Park in the mid-1960s.

A group of Eskridge residents enjoy an evening at Cap MacKenzie’s Lake Wabaunsee Lounge. Inez Dunn is seated third from the right, and Dean is behind her, with a pipe in his mouth.

Dean Dunn photographed a boat being launched at Lake Wabaunsee in this view, circa 1940.

A group of Eskridge children brave a rainy day to join a fall parade at Eskridge in this view from about 1963. Virgil Wall’s Standard station is visible in the background.