Nostalgic ride down Route 370: Part IV

By Dorothy Southard

Saturday, January 10, 2009 11:44 PM EST

Andrew M. Shuler bought the now closed Union School building in 1941 and turned it into a manufacturing plant for potato chips.
Do you remember those chips?

I do.

Locally grown potatoes were used to make the chips. After the business was sold to Sunshine Biscuit Co. of Rochester, the plant closed in 1961.

With the Shuler Potato Chip Co. gone, A. L. Pittenger purchased the building in 1963 and moved the Cato Showprint business to a larger facility. The Showprint had outgrown the old foundry building, so moving across the street was the practical thing to do. How many people are still around that used to work at Shuler's or Showprint?

The Showprint business moved to the Rochester area in the 1980s. Now the building is used as a warehouse for storage.

In back of the house at 2559 E. Main St. sits a small single story garage-style building. In this building, the late Norris Thompson started printing the Tri-County Advertiser. This advertising paper was the forerunner to the local Shopper, Shopping Guide, etc. that we get in our mailboxes now.

Thompson also printed lots of billheads, stationary, business cards, all types of invitations, etc.

A local gentleman found a Tri-County Advertiser in the walls of his house and thought that I would like it for the town's archives. Of course I told him “yes.” I have placed it in the climate-controlled vault at the municipal building for safekeeping.

Who remembers what was on the lot where the present U.S. Post Office for Cato is?

The home of Mrs. Crowninshield was there. Through the efforts of Sen. John Taber, funds were obtained to build the post office in 1960-'61. It was dedicated in November 1961. We still use it today.

Next door to the post office is Terry's Food Mart. Back in the early 1900s, Corry Dutton had a photography studio there.

How many postcards from the early 1900s that Dutton made can you find in our old photo/postcard albums? There are a number of local residents that collect them.

In the middle of the 1920s, Dutton enlarged his photo shop so he could have a hardware store. Several years later, the hardware business was sold and moved to the block just west of the Four Corners. Grocery stores have occupied this store since the hardware moved out.

Next week we'll continue on our journey of Route 370 where the Central Hotel was located. This hotel's bar sold alcohol on either the town of Ira or the town of Cato side - depending which town was “dry” at the time.

Dorothy Southard is the town

of Ira historian

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