Lenexa Historical Society

The Bradshaw Bros. Dry Goods Store

The Bradshaw Bros. Dry Goods Store

A now gone building that was an original landmark to Lenexa

Today an all-brick building stands at the corner of Pflumm and Santa Fe Trail Dr, that was built more than 100 years ago. The landmark building in Old Town has seen many tenants, and was home for years to the Ryckert’s family grocery store. But do you know about its predecessor, the Bradshaw Bros. Dry Goods Store, that stood in its place for more than 30 years?

Charles Bradshaw Sr. is a well known name in Lenexa history. The Swiss immigrant moved his family to the area in the 1860’s from Illinois, purchasing 160 acres of land. In 1869, a large portion of that land would become the original plat of Lenexa.

Yet it was his nephews, Charles A Bradshaw and Jabez Bradshaw, who turned the diagonal corner lot into a large business in 1887. The brothers bought the stock of an existing stand owned by C. Deweese and opened their own dry goods store, calling it Bradshaw Bros. An ad in the Olathe Mirror in 1887 shows they sold “dry goods, groceries, boots, shoes, etc.” By 1912, Bradshaw Bros. was even supplying ice to the community, running their own “natural ice plant.”1

Shootout in the Streets of Lenexa

The Bradshaw Bros. building briefly made national news when an attempted burglary led to a shootout in the streets of Lenexa. At just past 1:30 a.m. on Monday, November 1, 1909 four bandits were seen breaking into the building. Dr. P.L. Jones, who lived across from the building, happened to spot the robbers and called to alert the city marshal, Willard Haskins. Haskins attempted to sneak up on the thieves by climbing over the train depot. At that time it was located on the southeast corner of what is now the intersection of Santa Fe Trail Drive and Pflumm Road. Haskins was spotted by the burglars’ lookout and a shootout ensued. Haskins exchanged fire with the thieves and was shot three times. The wounds were to his elbow and knee, yet Haskins pursued the burglars down the street as they fled before collapsing at the intersection of 2nd and Elm, which is where the row of buildings in today’s Old Town ends.2

The burglars stole a carriage from a farm outside town and fled to Kansas City, where the carriage was found abandoned in Westport. Marshal Haskins was attended to immediately by Dr. Jones and recovered from his injuries. The burglars were apprehended in Kansas City just a few days later and marshal Haskins was able to identify them.3 The story of the shootout appeared in newspapers throughout the country, even in an article as far away as Augusta, Maine.4

A Cornerstone Business

The Bradshaw Bros. business thrived in downtown Lenexa, staying open for nearly 30 years. The wooden, white building that was home to their dry goods store can be seen in many of the early photos of Lenexa. It not only contained the Bradshaw Bros. dry goods store, but also included a Public Hall, which opened within the store in 1894.5 The Masons of Lenexa used the second story of the building as their home for many years as well.

In April 1913, the Bradshaw brothers decided to retire from the dry goods business and start a real estate business. The brothers sold the building and their store’s stock to the Standard Land Co. of Kansas City.6 However, the building returned to a local Lenexa company within a few months, when E.H. Haskins and the Farmer’s State Bank bought the building and stock of goods in July of 1913.7 By 1922, Farmer’s State Bank had outgrown their location and needed a new home. They decided to locate where Bradshaw’s two-story white building stood. Though the original plan was to tear down the Bradshaw building, the Masons purchased it and moved it to the north of where the brick building currently stands.8 The remodeled stucco building became the new Masonic lodge which later experienced the return of the building’s original occupiers when the Bradshaw Real Estate Co. moved into the first floor.9 The white building remained in that spot until the 1980s when it was torn down.

References

  1. The Olathe Independent, [Olathe, KS], 22 May 1912
  2. The Lenexa News, [Lenexa, KS], 5 November 1909, p. 1
  3. Kansas City Times, [Kansas City, MO], 6 November 1909, p. 14
  4. Kennebec Journal, [Augusta, Maine], 02 November 1909
  5. Olathe Mirror, [Olathe, KS],27 September 1894, p. 2
  6. Olathe Independent, [Olathe, KS], 04 April 1913, p. 8
  7. The Olathe Independent, [Olathe, KS], 16 July 1913, p. 7
  8. The Olathe Mirror, [Olathe, KS], 01 June 1922, p. 4
  9. The Olathe Register,[Olathe, KS] 12 October 1922, p. 6