The Emery County Historical Society (ECHS) meeting for the month of April focused on homegrown businesses, welcoming speakers to highlight two businesses that helped shape Emery County.
For the first business, the Peacock Cash Store, Mike Ralphs was welcomed to give a historical overview. Ralphs, who has Peacock blood in his veins, grew up in Ferron and spent a lot of his married life in Logan. He expressed his appreciation in being invited to speak, saying that it was nice to be home.
Ralphs took his knowledge from a history that was written by his uncle on this store from the 1920s to 1971. The store was founded by Del and Orpha Peacock, who were assisted by their sons and their wives in operating the store.
The store was a two-story brick building that was located on Main Street in Orangeville. It was essentially the social hub of the community.
Originally, there was a hitching post in front of the store and, when automobiles came along, the store provided the gasoline and oil for them. The Peacock store was one of three in Orangeville, but it was the only one to carry a full line of dry goods and hardware, as well as groceries and the meat department.
This made the store essentially a one-stop shop for locals, featuring candy, groceries and canned goods, fresh produce, a pop cooler in the front, a meat counter and a walk-in cooler in the rear.
The candy counter was highly popular with the local young children. Meanwhile, for the adult patrons, there was a custom slaughtering services. However, the store boasted even more.
Customers could purchase housewares and clothing, products from the drug counter and tobacco case, jewelry, perfumes, lotions and much more. Eventually, the top of the store was removed due to wind blowing off some of the roof.
Contrary to the name, the store was not necessarily a cash store, as goods and products were purchased on a line of credit. Some accounts could be out as far as six months and there was never any interest in the charge.
In 1971, the store was sold the the Emery County Telephone Union. To conclude, Ralphs wished to pay tribute to the Peacock women who ran the store for over 50 years. The store was a steadfast business for the town of Orangeville.
