(By Charles K. Bridges, son of Peyton Bridges)
In the 1940’s through 1961, one of Trigg County, Kentucky's most unique type of business enterprise was operated by my father, the late Peyton Thomas "Pate" Bridges. It was known as a “rolling
grocery” store. Although I have been
told that there were similar rolling grocery businesses, I can only remember my
father’s special business endeavors.
It wasn’t until the mid 1900s that the automobile became a
common item that rural residents owned.
Very few of these resident were able to travel the few miles from their
county homes to “go to town” in the big city of Cadiz.
My father’s rolling grocery provided the only method for many of these
rural residents to obtain essential grocery items. Although many of these families had gardens
and depended on farm animals they raised for food, it was my father’s rolling grocery
that provided them with staples such as sugar and flour and other items that were
not grown or raised on a farm.
My father constructed his rolling grocery truck on the back
of a flat-bedded truck. Wooden shelves ran down both sides of the truck with
the center used for storage space. Each side had two flap-down doors which
swung up to expose the shelves. He propped the doors up with a wooden stick. A
fifth door hung down in the back for access to the center section of the truck.
My father had six regular routes that he followed Monday
through Saturday. He would leave Cadiz in the mornings
around 7:30 and returned
at 4 in the afternoon. He had specific
customers whose homes he stopped at each week.
He would stop in front of each home, prop up the sides of the grocery
truck and his customers would choose from the items. The grocery items were strictly
staples such as canned goods, cake mixes, cereal boxes and bags of sugar and
flour. The flour was usually sold in 25
pound bags. Bottled soft drinks were also available. He carried no fresh produce as his customers
usually grew their own. And, of course,
there were no perishables such as meats and diary products or anything
frozen. The grocery selections in those
days were a far cry from our giant supermarkets of today.
After his customers had finished their selection, my dad
would manually record the prices on a piece of cardboard that he carried and
would mentally add the column to arrive at what the customer owed. No cash registers, no tapes, a very simple
rudimentary process. Many of Dad’s
customer’s only income was a pension or social security check and they depended
on him to cash their checks. Many of
these customers were unable to write and I remember many times, my father
having his customers write an “X” on the back of their checks, cashing the
checks for them and receiving his pay for the groceries. The rolling grocery store not only provided
groceries, but acted as their banker. Daddy
allowed many of his customers to make their purchases on credit and “settle up”
at the beginning of each month when their checks arrived.
Daddy would also take fresh eggs from his customers in part
payment for their groceries—a form of bartering. I remember helping him “candle” the eggs by
holding them up to a light to ensure they were fresh before he took them to be
sold. He also used to take live
chickens from his customers as pay and take them “to town” where they were sold.
In the late fifties, my father came up with the idea to
convert his rolling grocery truck into an interior shopping experience by using
a converted school bus. He purchased a
surplus school bus from the local school system, painted it green, built two
rows of shelves down each side of the bus with an aisle in the center. Now, my father’s customers could shop
“inside” and not be out in the cold and rainy weather.
Each afternoon, my dad would return from his grocery route
to our small grocery store on Jefferson
Street. He
would start the process of restocking his rolling grocery store shelves by
transferring goods from the store shelves onto his truck or bus. This would take him until about six each evening,
at which time he was ready for his next day’s grocery route run.
I remember in October, 1961 when my dad made his last run in
his rolling grocery truck, a bus at that time.
It was out the Princeton
Road and into the community known as Lamasco in Lyon County, Kentucky. He drove the truck home that evening, removed
what few items he had left on the bus and parked it in our back yard. Unfortunately, my father was only a few
months from his death. But that day was
the end of a remarkable tradition in Trigg
County, the end of the
rolling grocery. More and more rural
residents were getting cars and the wide selections offered by the new town
supermarkets were appealing to them.
. Even if my father’s failing
health had not caused him to give up the business, the era of the rolling
grocery was over.
The original "Rolling Grocery" Store
The converted school bus "rolling grocery" of the late 1950s and 1960.
Bridges Grocery Store
Cadiz, Kentucky
1950s
Peyton "Pate" and Ida Bridges
THE LINEAGE:
(Peyton Thomas Bridges was the son of Ghent Alford and Nettie Linden Cunningham Bridges and the grandson of Cullen Thomas and Martha Ann Virginia Thomas Bridges. Cullen was the twelfth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges. William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges. Mary Thomas was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
