A Community Effort to Preserve the Historic Anderson General Store

by Cody Schreck

The history of Ephraim would be wholly incomplete without mention of the Anderson General Store. Built in 1858, the business stood firm as a center of commerce and community at the north end of town for nearly a century. Over the course of its life, the store served as a lifeline to early residents in need of daily supplies, a mechanism for exporting goods to ports around the great lakes, a social gathering place, and hub for early tourism. But in the late 1950s, when the Ephraim Foundation–now named the Ephraim Historical Foundation–was still in its infancy, the future of Door County’s oldest country store was uncertain.

Early Ephraim Foundation member Malcolm Vail even penned a letter to Mr. Burridge discouraging him from altering the historic building. Mr. Burridge was seemingly convinced to retain the building’s character and ended his lease of the store within a few years without making major alterations, aside from the installation of the concrete porch. Marion and Bert Allen, who owned the property that included the Anderson Barn across the street, replaced Burridge as the lessees of the store for several years.

 In the background of the Anderson Store’s final years of operations as a leased building, there was a growing community effort to preserve the building for perpetuity.  Henry Adolph Anderson II, M.D. had been elected the first President of the Ephraim Foundation in 1949, and in partnership with the community the Foundation was hard at work embarking on preservation and restoration projects focused on the Anderson Dock, Pioneer Schoolhouse, and Field House. Recognizing the few years that Adolph and Munda had left around this time, community members and members of the Ephraim Foundation also turned their attention towards the future of the Anderson Store. An effort was started by the Ephraim Foundation to build a fund to care for the building should it ever come up for sale.

Libby Gould, Phyllis Chomeau, Merrydelle May, Ethel Rasmussen, Ellen Ellis, and others joined together to spend countless hours cleaning the building, restoring the interior, raising money, acquiring historic artifacts, and creating a living history space. The Anderson Store Museum opened to the public in July of 1967. As a way to continue to raise money for the restoration of the Anderson Store, the Foundation partnered with the Ladies Aid Society of the Ephraim Moravian Church to reprint and sell the 1921 Ephraim Cookbook at the Anderson Store counter.

 Today, the Ephraim Historical Foundation has full ownership of the Anderson Store and is able to fund its preservation through an endowment thanks to the philanthropic support of the late Ruth and Hartley Barker. Next time you drive past the Anderson Store, or stop in for some candy, we encourage you to reflect on the power of local community preservation efforts. Without those mentioned in this article, and many more who we have surely missed, the preservation of the Anderson Store would not have been possible. Let us channel that same community preservation ethos today as we embark on the Ephraim Historical Foundation’s continued effort to preserve and share the history of this great village.