“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard
There’s a great building at the foot of Eldon Hill where highways 62 and 51 split. I think it used to be a grocery. It’s one of those buildings that screams ‘Oklahoma’ with its native red dirt rock walls. It’s within walking distance of the Baron Fork Bridge where I first experienced the joys of Oklahoma summers in clear running water. I’ve wanted to photograph the store for years, but always said, “next time, next time.” It was finally the next time. I thought someone had said the store was going to be torn down because of a road job, but no one I talked to had heard any such thing. I must have dreamed it, and that’s a good thing because I would hate to see the little building destroyed. Many people see it as a landmark, rightfully so. I wish I knew more about its history, but even more than that, I wish it was still in operation. I’d stop and buy something even if I didn’t need it.
Addendum: After the original post, Angie Bliss Fanning found a story about the store in the Tahlequah Daily Press by Brad Agnew from May 15, 2016. The article read, in part, “A sign once proclaimed the building “Hitchcock Place, Since 1913.” In 1982, its [last] proprietor, Roberta Hitchcock, told a reporter, “This place is bristlin’ with history.” She was not exaggerating; that place and four generations of the Hitchcock family contributed significantly to the story of the region and its people. William Ireneus (Rene) Hitchcock, opened a general store on Jan. 1, 1913, at age 28…The store Hitchcock opened in 1913 was probably on top of Eldon Hill, but within a month, it was moved to a location near the railroad switch in Eldon. The Ozark and Central Cherokee Railroad – soon acquired by the St. Louis–San Francisco [Frisco] Railway – reached Eldon in 1902, giving families that had been almost totally self-sufficient since they moved into the isolated foothills of the Ozarks ready access to 20th century products. By the 1930s, construction of highways challenged the dominance of the railroads. As cars replaced horses and buggies, Hitchcock moved his general store to the intersection of two recently constructed highways at the foot on Eldon Hill. For the next half century, Hitchcock Place was the economic and social hub of the Eldon community.“
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