The John Hesch Store in Buckman

 Grandpa's brother John Hesch died 23 years before I was born.  I didn't know he existed before we started doing Hesch History, and I certainly wasn't aware that a Hesch ever owned a store in Buckman.  BUT, he did X2.

Larry and I have looked at these pictures often.  They're so full of detail, beyond the family...I'm especially fascinated by the stock on the shelves, but the labels are mostly too small to read.  Still, we could figure out a few things, like the date, and who their wholesaler was.
(This kind of investigation is exactly what Larry and I were born to do, by the way).

In this second store pic, there are wooden crates being used for display, see?  The label on the side is enlarged and rotated, below.  

                          

"STONE-something-Wells Co

Wholesale Grocers

Duluth"

 Hooray!  Ancestry has a few of Duluth's directories, so I tried 1901--there:

Stone-Ordean-Wells Co

 Cool, huh?  But then, looking at the cans and jars on the shelves behind Ket, the labels are almost within memory; they might have been brands that were still around when we were kids, or are still around.  But damn, WHERE would you look for foods that were available in Minnesota before 1920?

I went looking on Internet Archives for possible catalogs from wholesale grocers.  Nope.  There are fascinating order books for five-and-dime type stores there, but not grocery catalogs.

Of course, the Amazing Mind of Larry tried other things: how about people who COLLECT VINTAGE LABELS?

Oh, and did I know there was such a thing as

( Click to go to The American Food Journal )

...?  And that they published a chart of the retail prices of some standard food items every month?  (See why he's such a gift?? ☺)

  I've boxed the prices from St Paul Minnesota, and Vermillion, South Dakota and  

Des Moines, Iowa.

  All this, and we haven't identified any of the labels on those cans and jars behind Ket, but damn, look at all we HAVE learned.