Red's Delivery Service, Ma'am Your order is here
By Phyllis Badgley
|
|
A well-remembered business in Baker
during the 1920s and 30s was Red’s Delivery Service. My
father, C. H. “Red” May, began delivering groceries and
meats in a rig that sported a cab with a built-in box on
the back of it. This was a step up from the sidecar
motorcycle he had traded in on it.
Because of his
auburn colored hair, my father was know as “Red” and
many people didn’t know him by any other name. Baker Packing Company (where Anderson Photo is now located), Smith Packing Company (directly east across Main Street from Baker Packing) and Harry Bunker’s meat market in the 1700 block of Main Street. These |
|
establishments took telephone orders as
well as serving walk in customers. |
|
 |
The Business was located at 2300 Resort Street. Current location of King's Department Store |
| Grocery deliveries were
made twice daily. Most grocers closed on Sunday. One
that stayed open late on Saturday night was Piggly-Wiggly,
where the closing time was 8 p.m. The store was located
in the south portion of 2036 Main St., which most
recently has housed Courtesy Furniture. Over a period of years, Red’s Delivery added heavy-duty trucks and expanded to include out-of-town transfer service. Red May acquired an office and truck terminal building at 2300 Resort St., the present location of King’s variety store. The large, wooden-fronted building housed loading docks for shipments to interstate locations. Local merchants depended on freight deliveries being made to customers around the county by truck lines that terminated at Red’s Transfer. Residents of Halfway accepted delivery from Todd Crook, while Richland was served by Bob Coble, McKinney from Medical Springs, Thurston from Huntington and a connection with Blue Mountain Stages in John Day. Because Red’s Delivery and Transfer building was located immediately across Resort Street from the Clarick Theater, the wooden building was in danger when the 1937 fire consumed the Clarick. Flames leapt high and cinders floated, settling on the front of Red’s building. Intense heat caused putty to pop from the windows of the Transfer building. Garden hoses were employed to prevent destruction of the business. The home of Dr. Ragle, the local veterinarian, which was immediately north of the terminal building, was also spared. After a successful business operation of 14 years, Red’s Delivery and Transfer was sold in 1838 to Curtis Smith. The location eventually housed a Safeway store. It also served an interim as a church prior to King’s occupancy. |
|
Printed here with the permission of Baker City Herald
