Written by Geoff Howes
Bowling Green Historic Preservation Commission
The Bowling Green Historic Preservation Commission’s Historic Building of the Month for July is the former market at 414 North Grove Street.
In June, the commission started a planned series of neighborhood groceries with the former Dillon and Moscoe Grocery at 316 Buttonwood.
On Sept. 7, 1923, the Wood County Sentinel reported that James Garnette was “erecting a one-story community store and residence on North Grove near Liberty Street and expects to open a grocery store in it in about six weeks.” This building shows up on the 1925 Sanborn insurance map as 414 North Grove.
James C. Garnette was born in Virginia in 1872. As a boy in 1879, he moved with his family to Bowling Green, where they lived at 126 Clay Street. In the early 1900s, he aspired to be a photographer and moved first to Bryan, Ohio, and then to Anderson, Indiana. His prosperous and respected father, Philip H. Garnette, passed away on Nov. 11, 1918, the day of the Armistice. In 1923, James Garnette and his wife Mary (née Zink) relocated to Bowling Green and opened Garnette’s Grocery. His mother Emma Hansborough Garnette died in January 1924.
Although his market seems to have been thriving—it was listed several times in the local “Honor Roll” of businesses—the 1930s were tragic for Garnette. His sister Mary died in 1931, his wife Mary took her own life in 1935, and his sister Jeannette died in 1936. Garnette himself passed away in 1941, leaving no heir.
In that same year, August W. Baumeyer (1905-1977) took over 414 North Grove and the store was renamed Grove Street Market, which it remained until 1950, when it was bought by Donald Spears (1929-1965) and became Don’s Grocery. Don passed away from a congenital heart defect in 1965 at age 35, but his older brother and co-owner Dick Spears (1925-2021), a World War II veteran, ran the market until 1972.
Popularly known as “Dirty Don’s,” Don’s Grocery supplied a generation of neighborhood kids with penny candy, Cain’s potato chips, ice cream (Drumsticks!), and pop. It also sold fresh meats, produce, and beer and wine.
In 1972, Shirley Busdeker and her son Terry, a Vietnam veteran, took over the store, calling it the North Grove Carry Out. Shirley passed away in 1990, and Terry ran the carry out until 2002. He passed away in 2003 at age 53.
For 30 years, the Busdeckers’ North Grove Carry Out supplied a second generation of neighbor kids with candy, ice cream, pop, gum, baseball cards, beef sticks, and energy drinks, and provided their parents with wine, beer, cigarettes, groceries, and over-the-counter medicines. The store was also known for not always checking IDs when selling beer and cigarettes.
From 2003 to 2006, the business was owned by North Grove Carryout S & D LLC. In March 2006, the cousins Deena Halleck and Holly Wulff-Cordes acquired the market and continued to run it as North Grove Carry Out. The former stay-at-home mothers wanted to get back into the community. Halleck told the BG News: “We’d like to keep that home-town feel. I love seeing the same faces and getting to know people.”
In April 2007, the cousins sold the market to Doug and Nancy Lee, but in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008, changing business conditions made it harder to keep the store going. It was last listed as North Grove Carryout in the city directory of 2012.
The location near the Senior and later Junior High school, City Park, the city pool, the library, and downtown assured a flow of customers, which is probably one reason it was the last of BG’s neighborhood groceries to close.
Recently, many members of the Historic Bowling Green Facebook page shared their memories of Dirty Don’s and the North Grove Carry Out. Here is a small sampling.
Kris: “If you grew up riding your bicycle in the fifties and sixties you had to stop at Dirty Don’s on the way to the City Park.”
Marilyn: “I stopped at least twice a week to get a nickel chocolate ice cream cone on my way home from Bowling Green Junior and Senior High Schools. It was a grand treat as I walked with friends to my home on East Reed Street. Don was always friendly and kind with the school kids. Great memory. We are talking about the 1950s!”
Jeff: “Our local go-to place. Bonnie and Don and his brother Dick were always so nice! Penny candy heaven!! Also, a nice, small selection of lunchmeat … On December 7th, 1941, my father, who was 12 at the time, was working on that Sunday for extra money, when the Japanese bombed the US. This is where Dad first heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor!”
David: “Mom would send me there to get a loaf of bread. Funny, you called it Dirty Don’s. It was a bit old even in the 1950s.”
Bob: “The Randall boys and I would stop on the way to or from the City Park for a cold pop and a 5-cent bag of Cain’s chips. This was in the mid to late ’50s.”
Kathy: “The penny candy wall, with the little brown paper bags. Favorites were Bazooka bubble gum, wax lips, wax ‘pop’ bottles with .05 oz. of ‘pop’! Or you could blow your whole nickel on a full-sized candy bar!”
Brad: “I spent 57 cents at Don’s and got 114 pieces of penny candy, which I consumed while watching the 1969 moon landing.”
Dick: “I remember when they had a fire there in July 1971. We lived in Louie West’s apartments by the City Park, and I walked over to see the excitement. I believe it was a Sunday evening. Seems like they were closed for some time after that.”
Brian: “Then, during the Blizzard of ’78, we tied a rope to each other and walked up Conneaut Avenue past the park and to Don’s for necessities!”
Robin: “My memory was walking out with my very first love, and we held hands! I was 17 years old and know exactly where we were, on top of the steps of North Grove Carryout … it’s etched in my heart!”
The commission wishes to thank the Barn Bums—Gary Carpenter, Kevin Sullivan, Jim Philo, George Stossel, Jim Miles, Larry Turner, Todd Waggoner, and Frank Butwin—for coming up with the idea of researching these gems of the city’s past and providing a working list and photographs.
Anyone wanting to nominate a historic building or site for recognition may do this through the city website at – https://www.bgohio.org/FormCenter/Planning-13/Historic-BuildingSite-Nomination-Form-83
Learn more about the Historic Preservation Commission by attending meetings (the fourth Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m.) or by visiting the webpage at – https://www.bgohio.org/436/Historic-Preservation-Commission.
