MITCHELL'S HARDWARE, INC
Illiopolis, IL

HISTORY OF ILLIOPOLIS HARDWARE STORE

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In October of 1856 the town of Wilson was born. In March of 1867 the name was changed to Illiopolis. Early history of the site where the store was built is rather sketchy prior to the 1900's. In 1907 the Faith family acquired the property and a store was built on that site. This store was passed from the Shafer to the Sinniger families to Lawrence Delaney.

The Pritchett family purchased the store in 1922 from Mr. Delaney. The store was not used specifically for hardware; it was also the local ambulance and mortuary. As the town grew the business became strickly hardware. The Pritchett's sold the store Mr. Johansen who operated it for approximately 3 years.

Don and Margie Mitchell purchased the store from Art and Beatrice Pritchett in January of 1980. In June of 1981 their son Rod came with his family to help in the daily operations of the store. Margie worked part time as a clerk and Rod's wife Cathy did the bookkeeping. Rod and Don did service work for the surrounding areas. In September of 1998, Don & Margie retired and Rod and Cathy took over the operations of the store. Both of Rod's children grew up in the hardware store. Daughter, Trisha, still works during college breaks and over the summer.

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