Part One: The Mikulich Era

By Frank R. Bartol

Louis Mikulich, Sr., behind the counter of the store he purchased in 1926 and operated untill his death in 1961. Part One: The Mikulich Era By Frank R. Bartol Editors Note: Part Two, which will feature what has happened to the store since Dee Morgan purchased it (among other things, it has been designated a historic site by the Michigan Historical Commission and is a candidate for national recognition), will appear in the spring issue of Footprints. Morgan's Country Store closed for the season the day before Christmas, that event being the first temporary closing of the historic old building known to most longtime area residents simply as Mikuliches' store. The only other time a closing of any kind occurred there was back in 1987, when Louis F. Mikulich, the last proprietor of the last general store in my township (Limestone) was forced by failing health to close the business that had been owned and operated by his family for over sixty years. In the early days of Alger County there was a general store like Mikuliches' within walking distance of just about every resident (bear in mind that folks were willing to walk a lot farther back then than they are now). Six miles west of where I grew up in Traunik there was Kivimaki's store, in Kiva; two miles to the east, in Limestone, folks shopped at Swanson's; five miles south several such business establishments were in operation in Trenary; and six miles north, in Eben, a like number. But my family never went to any of those faraway places to shop for its general needs because within spitting distance of our house there was Mikuliches' store and right across from it' at the intersection of two roads now designated as H 01 and H 44, another store and (after the end of Prohibition) a small tavern, operated by Ludwig Knaus. Folks in those days usually shopped at whatever general store they were closest to, gradually developing a loyalty to it that precluded taking their business elsewhere even when automobiles and good roads for them to travel on would have made shopping for the best prices feasible. The brief history of Mikuliches' store which follows will offer the reader insights into how many such places developed over the years: In 1922 John Debelak sold 2.6 acres of land to W. J. Kehoe for $75 and an agreement by Kehoe to employ John's son in the store he planned to build on the site. Bill Copeland, known also as "Indian Bill," was hired to construct the building out of lumber which had been sawed at Brown's portable mill in Trenary. Kehoe, who had operated a logging camp store in Loud Spur, three miles north of Traunik, had been educated to teach school (he came to our area from a teaching position at Birch, a now-defunct community on the Big Bay road) and after operating his new business place in Traunik for less than a year, he sold out in July of 1923 to John Knaus, Sr., and resumed his teaching career in a new school built just a few hundred yards west of the store. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

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