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Taylor's Hardware & Grocery

104 E. Morgan St., clean, IL
Phone:

East < GO > West

The ghost signs on the front of this building indicate three of the business that occupied it at some point, but not all at the same time. The sign on the left in the photo above looks like it says O. W. Earl Hardware and was later repainted to say Taylor's Hardware. The panel on the right says Lunde Implement Co.

According to the McLean history page O. W. Earl Hardware operated here from 1941 to 1946, followed by W. C. Taylor's Hardware Store starting in 1946. Taylor's store was apparently on the ground floor because they say he moved it downstairs in 1953 so he could install his grocery store on the ground floor, where newspapers indicate it stayed until at least 1979.

So what part of the building did the Lunde Implement Company occupy, beginning in 1944 and for how long ? I haven't figured that out for sure yet. I'm guessing Taylor originally occupied the west half of the building and Lunde occupied the east half and whenever Lunde moved out Taylor remodeled the east section (under the Lunde Implement sign) leaving only the entrance on the west section.

At any rate the building is now used as private storage.

The ghost writing in this panel appears to say Taylor Hardware and in this 2022 photo it is not too hard to read.

In this panel the ghost writing seems to say Lunde Implement Co., but it is very faded and hard to read.

Photo(s): 2022