THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

March 11, 1993

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            Elijah Meynard Atkinson was born in Kansas on June 25, 1895, the son of John and Margaret Atkinson.

            He and Miss Laurene Wallichs were married in Fond du Lac, her hometown, on February 25, 1921, and they were the parents of one daughter, Laurene, later Mrs. E.J. Morgan.

            His early years in merchandising were spent with the J.C. Penney organization.  He was with the Penney Co. in Lewiston, Maine, and Berlin, Wis., before going to Waupun as the manager of their store.

            In the Waupaca County Post for March 25, 1937, Meynard and Laurene Atkinson had an announcement that they were going to open up a new retail department store in early May, in the two-store building that they had leased from Mrs. H.P. Mortenson. These two stores stood side by side and previously housed the Gamble Store at 117 North Main.  (Gambles had moved to a part of the Cristy building on the southwest corner of East Union ad South Main streets) and the other business at 119 North Main was Oliver Fredrickson’s Arcade Tavern.

            After some major renovations for a new front and interior remodeling the two stores combined into one.  Meynard Atkinson opened his store in Waupaca, while his brother Loid Atkinson, opened a store in Portage.

            Atkinson’s Federated Store was an immediate success and continued to grow until the death of E. Meynard Atkinson on May 26, 1952.  Closely associated with Mr. Atkinson in directing the store’s affairs was V.P. Billmeyer, who managed the business during Mr. Atkinson’s long illness.  Mr. E.M. Atkinson served in the Army in World War I, and he is buried  in the Rienzi Cemetery in Fond du Lac County.

            After the death of his brother, E. Maynard, Loid Atkinson took over the general operations of the store.  According to Loid Atkinson, the growth of his business in his Portage store, and the addition of his shoe and bargain store, made it impossible for him to give the Waupaca store the proper care that it should have, so he elected to sell the business.

            On March 1, 1972 Loid Atkinson, president of the Atkinson department stores in Portage, presented the keys of the Waupaca store to Mr. Charles Gamm, thus starting a new era in the Waupaca business district where the name of Atkinson has appeared for 35 years.

            The store’s new name was “His ‘N Hers.”

            Charles (Chuck) Gamm was a native of Milwaukee, and he met his wife Paula while on active duty aboard the USS Lake Champlain.  He was a party of the recovery crew for Commander Allen B. Shepard, who was the first man in space.  His wife, Paula, was born in Gloucester, R.I., and the couple was married in 1962 I Rhode Island.

            They moved to Milwaukee where tehyr eisded for six years, where Chuckbeganhis career in the retail grocery business as a stock boy. He later became the assistant manager of the Red Owl store in Glendale.

            In June of 1960 the Gamms came to Waupaca, where he became the manager of Ev’s Red Owl store. The Gamms resided at 503 S. Washington Street with their children, Cary, then 6, Christopher, 4 and Kathy, 2.

            In 1978, after six years in business in the His ‘N Hers store, Charles Gamm filed for bankruptcy.

            The property was picked up by one of our local realtors, and this property now belongs to Stuart Duchow, and now Stu’s Home interiors is the only business occupying space that at one time was three different business places. Mr. Duchow’s first purchase was on June 21, 1977, when he purchased the Bammel Furniture store at 121 N. Main St.