History Knox
Mark Jordan authors a History Knox column each Saturday morning that reflects on various historical topics in the community.
MOUNT VERNON — Long before corporate chains overran the countryside, towns typically had local or at least regional stores which supplied goods with distinctive style.
In Mount Vernon, the place was Rudin’s department store on South Main Street. I wanted to share some photos of the store from the Knox Time Collection.
I should also note another long-time department store in downtown Mount Vernon was Ringwalt’s, whose history stretched back into the late 1800s. Alas, I have no pictures of the interior of that store.
The original commenters on the Knox Time Collection Facebook page talked about their vivid memories of the story, including the scents of wax, wood, and clothing.
Also to the front of people’s memories were the change tubes: Instead of having cash registers on the sales floor, Rudin’s kept the money in the business office upstairs.
When patrons were ready to check out, they gave their money to a clerk, who would load it into a pneumatic tube which would whisk the money upstairs to the office, where change would be made and returned back to the sales floor through the same tube.
The store also held goods in its basement and in an annex that was added later.
Often mentioned in commenter’s memories were the fabric section in the back, where fabric could be purchased by the yard. Many mentioned the elevator, also in the back of the store, which featured an attendant to operate the elevator as it whisked people from floor to floor.
Some readers mentioned going up to the second or third floor to look back down on the first floor, for the upper floors did not run the full length of the building.
The general consensus is that nothing today compares to that shopping experience in the 1950s through 70s, when stores like Rudin’s and Ringwalt’s gave Mount Vernon a classy experience.
Those were definitely different times. A bit more fulfilling than today’s shopping experience: pressing a button online to order something while taking a three-minute break from fighting with strangers on social media.
The building is today Mount Vernon Nazarene University’s Buchwald Center, which houses the Schnormeier Gallery, open Monday through Friday 1 to 5 p.m.
The current show features artworks of Jeremie Riggleman and is running through mid-March. There will be a gallery talk and reception on Feb. 13 from 6 to 8 p.m.