Duckwall Store Badges

Cleo Mastin worked at the A. L. Duckwall Variety Store in Colby in the 1960's. She collected these unique seasonal button badges worn by store employees.

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 Duckwall's opened a store in Colby in 1933 at 456 N. Franklin Avenue.  In early 1949, A. W. Lauterbach began construction of a new brick building on a prime business location at 390 N. Franklin. From the onset, this new 100' by 50' on the southwest corner of the intersection of 4th Street and Franklin was designed to house the A. L. Duckwall Variety Store. The store opened on November 20, 1949 - just in time for the Christmas shopping season. After 50 years in Colby, the store closed its doors in 1983.

A. L. Duckwall opened his first variety store in 1901 under the name of "The Racket Store". By 1960 A. L. Duckwall company was operating 100 A. L. Duckwall Variety Stores in the Midwest and based in Abilene, Kansas. In 1968 the company opened the first ALCO discount store hoping to compete with much larger competition. By 1984 there were 127 ALCO discount department stores in 14 states and 33 Duckwall variety stores in a four state area. In November 1914, after 113 yesrs in business, ALCO stores announced it was going out of business nationwide. At that time ALCO operated 16 stores in Kansas.

Salt & Pepper Shakers and Dolls

Our lobby exhibit for August comes to us from Evan and Regena Barnum of Colby. It is a fine example of how collections from past generations are combined and then are perpetuated as a whole.

When Evan's mother was young, her father traveled as a bank examiner and often brought her a pair of salt and pepper shakers as a souvenir. She continued collecting as an adult. Evan's aunt also collected shakers and he now has part of her collection too. The oldest salt and pepper shakers in the exhibit are a pair of silver ones from Evan's paternal grandparent's and were possibly one of their wedding gifts. Regena's mother was also a collector of salt and pepper shakers. 

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Evan's father and step-mother were able to travel much of the world while he was a senior engineer for Conoco Oil. While traveling, she acquired dolls from various areas. Regena was given the bridal doll when she was a child. It was put away in a drawer to keep it in pristine condition. The Barbie and Ken dolls were also hers. The monkey and original "Teddy Bear" belonged to Evan's paternal grandparents when they were young.

Be sure to visit Prairie Museum of Art and History during the month of August to see this amazing family collection. You will also want to see the artwork of Julie Peterson-Shea from Phillipsburg, Kansas which is on exhibit in the Garvey Education Room. Both of these exhibits are open to the public without admission fee.