As you can tell by
the wall still standing, this was a brick
building. It was built about 1910 by J. S. Wilson and was the Bank of
Columbus until about 1931 or 32 when it went under as did many banks
during the Great Depression, Mr. Wilson then opened it up as a store and
his son, Charley operated it until sometime in the 1940s. Allen and
Maggie Downs bought the store and Maggie ran it until the late 70s when
it
was sold to Tom Jackson. Mr. Jackson closed his store in building #3 and
relocated in building #4. Mr. Jackson remained there until about 1991
when he sold to Marshall and Mary Walker. They then sold to James and
Molly McJunkins in 1992 and we operated it until the last part of 1996.
Gas was also sold at this store. In 1999, we had had a 12 inch snow and
the roof collapsed. In 2008 the brick walls were torn down for the
brick.
The burned part you saw was burned by us so we could get to the brick
safely. - James McJunkin
