A While Ago

CHUCK RUSSELL
The Oskaloosa Herald

OSKALOOSA May 23, 2008 12:10 pm

— This picture shows a fine, three-story brick building. It was taken in about 1908 and this business was located on the corner of First Avenue West and South A Street. Presently, this space is occupied by the parking lot just south of the south entrance of Penn Central Mall. This photo shows the home of the H.L. Spencer Co. and you can faintly see the sign on the east face of the building saying “H.L. SPENCER COMPANY — WHOLESALE GROCERS.” The two-story building to the right was undoubtedly the Underwood Candy Co. and the steeples to the left were the Congregational church that burned to the ground in about 1913. The Spencer/Western grocery network covered most of Iowa and a small part of Minnesota and employed several hundred employees. Mr. and Mrs. H.L. Spencer had two sons, Henry and Amos, who were also involved in the business as vice president and secretary/treasurer, respectively. In about 1914, the firm built a new, ultra-modern, large 58,000-square-foot building located four blocks further west at 601-11 First Ave. W. In the middle 1900s, it was owned by General Mills Co. and used as its split pea soup facility. When the wind was in the right direction, a person could smell a pea soup aroma. Mrs. Spencer, in the name of her deceased husband, donated money for the chapel at William Penn, known as Spencer Chapel. The children of the Spencers gave the pipe organ in the chapel. This beautiful chapel can be seen on the William Penn campus today. H.L. Spencer lived at 517 High Ave. E. However, the house doesn’t exist now but in the 1970s it did and was known as the Penn Apartments. The Oskaloosa community has and is being blessed by many firms and individuals with gifts of effort and money.

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