Jackson is a pretty town nestled in the Des Moines River valley amidst the flat prairies covered with farms in southwestern Minnesota.
Our farm was located 8 miles northeast of Jackson. There were 2 good ways to town and each was about half gravel and half pavement. The gravel roads were muddy in the spring, dusty in the summer (no air conditioning in cars) and covered with snowdrifts in the winter months.
Esther knew these roads well. She was often taking her children to piano lessons, band lessons, bible school, confirmation, dentist or medical appointments, etc. and of course to shop.
These are some of my memories of some of the places we went to shop in our home town of Jackson.

Fairway Grocery Store
This grocery store only had 2 aisles. After picking up supplies in the first aisle and rounding the corner past the meat counter, you were on your way to the check-out counter. With open sacks of onions and other fresh produce, the smells in this store were wonderful. Two people who worked at Fairway were Freddie the “Fruit Man” and Bad Egg Johnson.
Penney’s
We often went here to get clothing. After deciding on our purchases, the clerk would write up a slip, Esther would give her $10.00, and the clerk would put the slip and the $10.00 bill in a round brass container and attached it to a trolley system. A series of small overhead cables connected all corners of the store to a central cash register. After attaching this small brass container to the overhead trolley system, she pulled a rope that activated some spring system and the slip and money went whizzing along the cable to the head bookkeeper/cashier. The head cashier would review the slip, check for errors and then make correct change (if needed) and send the same container back to the proper corner of the store. Then the original clerk would give any change back to the customer if needed, along with the sales slip. Us kids all loved to watch this wonderful trolley system of brass containers/sales slips and money move overhead on our visits to the Penney’s store.
Ben Franklin Store
This was a 5 and 10 cent store. Yes, you could buy something for 5 cents. It was here we got our crayons and school supplies. In December, we spend a lot of time in the toy department dreaming of the toy we hoped Santa Clause would bring us for Christmas. Legend has it that Sam Walton had heard of 2 successful Ben Franklin stores in Jackson and Pipestone and decided to travel to visit these stores. It was in Jackson that he observed the success of having the cash register by the exit to the store and decided to arrange his stores the same way. In those days, most stores had their cash registers in the middle of the store. 
Davies Clothing Store
It sold women’s clothing and it is where Esther got her good clothing items.
Coca-Cola the beverage
This was originally gotten at the soda fountain at the drug stores. Later, dispensing machines contained the glass bottled beverages and could be found at gas stations and implement stores. A bottle of Coca-Cola cost 5 cents and we kids (on special occasions) got to put a nickel in the machine and pull out our bottle of the tasty beverage. Coca-Cola in those days had a lot more kick than the watered down stuff we drink now. You could take a swallow and it tingled on your tongue, plus it made your eyes water a bit too.
Dr. Peterson, Dentist The dentist’s office was located above the State Bank; it was a long 30 steps up to his office. With the smells of the dental office drifting down the hallway, this was never a good place to have to visit.
Gasoline Alley
Larry Ringkob (nephew of Tom and Esther) often talked about how many gas stations Jackson had in the 50’s. Highway 16, a major route to the Black Hills and Yellowstone National Park ran right through Jackson, MN. I remember when gas prices increased from 25 cent/gallon to 29 cents /gallon!! People were very upset. How was anyone supposed to be able to afford gas for 29 cents /gallon??
Haircuts
Tommy and Kent got their haircuts in Alpha, MN—a village located 6 miles east of Jackson. Esther would pay 50 cents for our haircuts and the barber would give each of us a nickel change which we immediately took next door to Dorske’s Café where we bought ourselves an ice cream cone.
-Kent
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