Everyday life around the shop

A lost dog and the shop telephone

The January 7, 1921 newspaper carried a small appeal that had nothing to do with machinery: a brown Irish female water spaniel was missing. Anyone with information was asked to telephone Chas. Cady at Roling’s Shop.

The notice does not identify the dog’s owner or tell us whether she came home. It does leave a lively glimpse of the shop as a place where a call about a missing dog might arrive alongside the day’s business.

Source: Salisbury Press-Spectator, January 7, 1921, page 5, lost-dog notice. Publication details and wording checked against the family-preserved clipping.

Flour, feed and an office in Roling’s garage

In November 1922, Salisbury’s Farmers Elevator Company had major plans in hand. Its newspaper notice said shareholders had voted by an almost unanimous majority to rebuild the elevator at an approximate cost of $19,000. Plans and a blueprint were being prepared by a construction company.

Meanwhile, trade was continuing. The company advertised flour and feed, said it was still buying wheat and corn, and announced an expected carload of northern potatoes at ninety cents a bushel. The notice ended with a practical direction: its office was in Roling’s Garage, with telephone number 73.

That address puts another local business inside the garage’s everyday history. The notice does not explain why rebuilding was necessary or establish when the office first moved there.

Source: Salisbury Press-Spectator, November 24, 1922, page 8, “News from the Farmers Elevator Co.,” internally dated November 22. Original newspaper page, preserved in the family archive.

Family news at the machine shop

Not everyone who called at the Roling shop in August 1924 needed a repair. The newspaper noticed an unusual number of friends dropping in to congratulate Ben and Joe Roling: both households had welcomed babies. It reported a ten-and-a-half-pound boy at Ben’s home on Wednesday and a girl at Joe’s the previous Friday. The children were not named in this notice.

The shop could also make the paper for an accident involving someone outside the Roling family. In October 1908, the Salisbury Democrat reported that Paul Derks had badly injured his hand in shop machinery the preceding Saturday. By the time the notice appeared, he was able to work again.

Sources: Salisbury Press-Spectator, August 22, 1924, p. 1; Salisbury Democrat, October 2, 1908, p. 5. Family-preserved clippings.

What the shop was selling

Preparing for a dry spell

John Poschl of Bee Branch came to town in May 1905 prepared for a dry spell in more ways than one. The Salisbury Democrat reported that he bought an electric pump with eighty-four feet of tubing from J. F. Roling for a newly bored farm well. He also acquired a case of bottles that, the paper teased, “may have been filled with lemonade for all we know.” The writer seems to have had something stronger in mind.

Source: Salisbury Democrat, May 19, 1905, p. 4, John Poschl notice; family-preserved clipping.

A sales pitch for every job

The advertisements give the family business a voice. “Saves Your Back in Pumping,” promised a 1913 advertisement for Olds gasoline engines sold by J. F. Roling. Readers could visit for a demonstration or ask for a free catalog. The pitch was not complicated: let an engine do the pumping.

The range of goods could be surprising. In 1905, J. F. announced arrangements to sell binder twine made by the state at the penitentiary. A 1920 tire sale offered tires and tubes at cost. In May 1924, a “While They Last” list put hand corn graders at $1, Rock Island corn planters at $60 and cultivators at $40 or $45.

These notices can be read alongside the engines, tractors, plumbing and repair work already documented for the shop. They show the words and prices the family used to bring customers through the door.

Sources: Salisbury Democrat, May 19, 1905, p. 4, “State Binder Twine”; Salisbury Press-Spectator, July 11, 1913, p. 6; October 29, 1920, p. 2; May 16, 1924, p. 2. Preserved advertisements.