The Last of the New Enterprise Company Store

As the round up of stores and services at the New Enterprise company store comes to an end, we get a peek into Detwiler's Hardware and Lizzie's Restaurant.

Ira had five children. Two of his sons, Cletus and Willis, assisted in various capacities at the hardware store.

After Daniel Hoffman, Eliza's son, returned from the military he went to work for Ira. Also among the employees was Roy Barnes.

Ira's ad found in the pamphlet, Anniversaries, offered Waterbury hot air fired automatic heating equipment and soil and stoker fired automatic heating. Maytag washers, Fairbank scales, cement, lime, plaster, seeds, rugs, pipes were also available.

As time passed, the grocery store and soda fountain were turned into a restaurant. Ira's wife Lizzie became the chef in charge.

The Replogle school on the hill lacked a cafeteria so students who didn't pack a lunch crowded the restaurant at noon.

Lizzie became one of the cooks at Replogle after the restaurant closed.

On the menu at Lizzie's was the ubiquitous hot dog, It only cost five cents; that is, if you had a nickel to buy it, said Clay Hull, a New Enterprise resident who was 84, about 20 years ago at the time of this writing.

Some of the students who lived within walking distance headed home for mom's cooking at lunch time.

Charles Hershberger of Martinsburg recalled that after the kids consumed their lunches at Lizzie's, they expeditiously returned to the classroom with their pockets filled with candy bars.

He also noted that disciplinary action was taken if students were caught sneaking out the door at other times to the restaurant down the hill.

Betty Clapper, formerly of New Enterprise, spooned her way back in time to Lizzie's tantalizing vegetable soup. "It was so good," she said.

Eventually Willis assumed the responsibility of the hardware store.

Joe and Bertha Sollenberger took over the restaurant that had become a critical stopping point for one couple, Della Mae Grubb and her husband Ray.

They met her parents there one evening and grandfather and grandmother Detwiler were called upon to baby sit while the couple made an exit to Nason hospital. Della Mae was about to deliver their third child.

The thought of ice cream at the restaurant removed any anxiety that siblings had of being away from their parents.

When New Enterprise Stone and Lime expanded, the company purchased the building from Betty and Clyde Clapper.

"We had bought the store as an investment," Betty Clapper said.

The first and second floors of the building were renovated for a boardroom, various offices and contract division.

Mrs. Long was one of the first secretaries hired by company founder J.S. Detwiler and her office was moved from the corporate office to the company store.

The restaurant became the cafeteria for the employees and Nellie Stonerook used her culinary skills to serve appealing meals.

After Stone and Lime constructed its new facility, the former company store was vacated and now it is just a storehouse of the good times, the bad times and the sad times for those who remember.

And that, dear readers is the sum and substance of memories that were part of the life of the company store on Church Street in the village of New Enterprise.