LEONARDS Vintage Thinges Thursday

I am really taking you back in time with Coloradolday today. Some of the best of vintages things are found at http://coloradolady.blogspot.com each Thursday.


In 1918, Marvin Leonard and his brother opened a small store that sold groceries and salvaged merchandise. It eventually grew to occupy over 6(six) blocks in downtown Fort Worth,Texas.
By 1929 they were the largest single-site purveyor of meat, groceries, baked goods and produce in Texas. It was known as the "one stop shopping center".

In 1935 a state-of-the-art creamery was added. The store made its own frozen Fudgesicles.
These are various things they carried in the store. They are now on display at the Leonard's Department Store Museum here in Fort Worth.

Internet picture courtesy of "Dr. Jon Bell, Presbyterian College, SC".

Eventually the Leonard Brothers built a subway to connect to their store with remote parking lot. It was called the M&O Subway. When I moved here in 1964, I worked downtown Fort Worth. I was a country girl coming to the big city. I was in awe of this store and a subway. The store was located on the far North end of town and I worked on the South end. That was the thing to do, park on their lot and ride the subway. Walking on to my job was worth it. In 1967, Tandy Corp. bought Leonards and the subway. It continued to operate as Leonards until 1974. At that time, it became Fort Worth's Tandy Subway. The Tandy organization kept it running until 2002. That was the end of the original Leonards Department Store and the M&O Subway.
This little couple sat every day in front of the store as long as it was Leonards. They were blind, sang songs, sold pencils for income. They were faithful till the end.