In this ongoing series, we feature a piece from our Museum Director, Billie DeLancey, originally published in The Johnstown Breeze. Enjoy this look back, and keep an eye on the paper for the newest stories shaping our community.
Early Johnstown had its share of general stores. The W.H. McCormick Mercantile and the Davis-Hartford Mercantile were among the earliest retailers to serve the budding town’s residents. The Gem Mercantile entered the scene a few years later and would outlast them all.
Older newlyweds Henry and Albina Clingenpeel incorporated the Gem Mercantile Company in August 1905. Six months later they bought the lot at 20 S. Parish from town founder Harvey Parish and erected a building to house their new venture. They opened their doors to the public in February 1906 and carried a variety of dry goods and groceries. Local entrepreneur John Sansom served as the store clerk.
The Clingenpeels were active and well respected in the community. A review of the growing firm published in The Breeze in February 1919 touted the Gem Mercantile’s success, stating that the business had been in continuous operation under the same ownership for the past fourteen years. This achievement secured the title as the oldest continuous business in Johnstown.
In speaking with Mr. Clingenpeel, the author noted that the co-owner’s business outlook for 1919 was never brighter than at present. The Clingenpeels were at the top of their game with the store. Behind the scenes, though, plans were in the works to sell the mercantile. Sam Parkin, a local businessman who operated a retail store from the Eureka Block building, and his brother-in-law John Parish, for whom the town was named, would take over as new partners later that year in a smooth transition, keeping the name Gem Mercantile.
Parkin and Parish each had been operating their own stores. When Parish returned from WWI, he ran a hardware business, and Parkin had been operating Parkin and Sons Clothing and Dry Goods from the Eureka Building. The new co-owners operated the Gem Mercantile at its original location on the west side of Parish Ave for five years, and in March 1924, Parkin bought Parish’s interest in the company.
In 1928, the Gem Mercantile was in the current Ace Hardware building at 9 S. Parish Ave., and in 1937 Parkin moved it to the north room of the Eureka Building. At that time The Breeze had seen many years of faithful weekly Gem Mercantile ads, but Parkin stopped advertising in May 1938 with a few token ads combined with other businesses that autumn and winter. He and his wife Lottie (Parish) Parkin had been spending time in Long Beach, California, along with other members of the Parish family.
Eventually, they moved there and had others manage the store. Research has not yet revealed precisely when the Gem Mercantile was closed. Lottie Parkin died in January 1945, and in June that year Sam and their three daughters sold the Eureka Building to Leonard W. Anderegg, potentially ending a nearly 40-year run of the Gem Mercantile, a true Johnstown icon back in the day.
