Written by Geoff Howes
Bowling Green Historic Preservation Commission
As its Historic Building of the Month for August, the Bowling Green Historic Preservation Commission has chosen the former grocery store at 443 N. Enterprise St., the third in a series of neighborhood markets that began in June 2025.
The story of the grocery at 443 N. Enterprise St., known over the years as McCarty’s, Boosembark’s, Stearns, Eddie’s, and Hipshers’, starts with a market that no longer exists, across the street and down the block, at 416 N. Enterprise St. In 1919, this store belonged to Sadie McGrane, daughter of James McCarty and wife of John McGrane, a plumber.
An advertisement in the Daily Sentinel Tribune of April 16, 1919, says: “Call at McGrane’s grocery for your home-made fried cakes, 416 N. Enterprise.” A short time later, in June 1919, the newspaper announced: “James McCarty has purchased the McGrane grocery store on N. Enterprise St. [sic] from his daughter, Mrs. McGrane.”
McCarty and his store made news again in August 1921, when, on his way home from work, he was assaulted by a would-be robber who lay in wait with an iron pipe. The grocer was able to escape, and the assailant did not get the $200 that McCarty was carrying—about $3,500 today. The storekeeper was treated by Dr. J. V. Boyle and recovered. The crime was never solved.
According to the Wood County Auditor’s records, the store at 443 N. Enterprise St. was built in 1920. In July 1923, the Sentinel-Tribune reported that James McCarty had “moved his stock of groceries into his new building at the corner of North Enterprise and Evers avenue [sic]. He has a very commodious room.”
McCarty’s building must have been finished by July 1922, when the Sentinel-Tribune reported that Earl Decker and his family had moved there, presumably into an apartment behind what was to become McCarty’s new store. The 1925 Sanborn insurance map shows a long building with a larger section fronting on Enterprise and a narrower rear section along Evers, just as it looks today.
On Aug. 27, 1923, the Daily Sentinel Tribune reported: “James McCarty, local grocerman, is ill at his home on North Enterprise Street [sic].” On Jan. 25, 1924, the same paper ran an “invitation” from W. A. Cook & Son, the owners of a grocery at 117 S. Main St., announcing: “We have purchased the store of J. J. McCarthy at 443 North Enterprise, and will conduct it to give first-class service” with a complete line of “GROCERIES, FRUITS, VEGETABLES, ETC.”
On Oct. 23, 1925, the former grocer James J. McCarty died at the home of his daughter Sadie McGrane, who resided in Toledo.
Cook & Son did not keep the grocery on Enterprise for very long. In 1928, the “grocers” section of the Bowling Green telephone directory lists William Boosembark at 443 North Enterprise. Boosembark was born in Sparta, Michigan, in 1891, and married Nettie Hudson in 1917.
He served in the 409th Motor Train during the First World War and in 1935 became Post Commander of the local American Legion. He was also a member of the Elks and the Odd Fellows. He worked for the Heinz Company before opening his grocery, which became a favorite place for Heinz workers to get together for snacks and meals.
Having developed asthma after being gassed in the war, on Jan. 1, 1936, Boosembark traveled to New Mexico for his health but died in Albuquerque on Jan. 13 at age 44. His funeral with military honors was held in the United Brethren Church (now Trinity Methodist), and he was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery. Nettie Boosembark resided at 443 North Enterprise for another year or so. She died in 1989 at age 95.
On Jan. 2, 1941, the Sentinel-Tribune ran an announcement: “Lawrence (Mike) Hipsher’s grocery store at 443 North Enterprise is open for business.” Mike Hipsher already owned a market at 206 S. Main St. and later owned one at 412 Adams St.
Mysteriously, there is no record of the Enterprise store or of Mike Hipsher in the telephone books from 1942 to 1946. From 1947 through 1948, Stearns Grocery is listed at the address. (I have not been able to find out who the Stearns were and would appreciate it if readers could help out.)
A Sentinel-Tribune article of Feb. 28, 1949, reports that Burton Burwell had bought the Stearns Grocery at 443 North Enterprise and would take it over as “Eddie’s Grocery” on that date. Burton “Ed” Burwell was born in Bowling Green in 1913. Burwell seems to have run the store through 1954. He married Mary Chamberlin in 1955. It was the second marriage for both, after both had been widowed.
Burton worked as a custodian at Milton Center Elementary School, where Mary was a matron. “Ed” Burwell died on Dec. 9, 1978, and Mary died on July 13, 1987. Both were buried in Milton Township Cemetery.
In 1957, the grocery section of the phone book once again lists Lawrence Hipsher at 443 North Enterprise. The Hipshers seem to have run the store until 1968, when Lawrence “Mike” Hipsher died on Dec. 9. He is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery. His second wife, Verna Hipsher, lived at that address through 1970, after which she moved to 212 Gorrell Ave. She died on May 30, 1980, and is also buried in Oak Grove.
Since 1975 at the latest, the building at 443 North Enterprise has been divided into three apartment units. The only remnant of its history as a neighborhood store is the distinctive shopfront façade extending above the building’s roof.
The Heinz ketchup bottling plant, which probably kept the market on the corner of East Evers in business, closed in 1975, and much of the vacant factory burned down in 1980. But both businesses live on in the memories of many Bowling Green residents.
The series on neighborhood markets in Bowling Green will resume sometime next year.
(Thanks to Todd Waggoner and the Barn Bums for the idea, and for a working list of mom-and-pop stores in Bowling Green. Thanks to Millie Brokaw for information on William and Nettie Boosembark, and to Jim Graf, Claudia Lantz, and Amy Betz for information on Burton “Ed” Burwell.)
Would you like to nominate a historic building or site for recognition? You can do this through the City website at – https://www.bgohio.org/FormCenter/Planning-13/Historic-BuildingSite-Nomination-Form-83
You can learn more about the Historic Preservation Commission by attending the meetings on the fourth Tuesdays of each month at 4 p.m. or by visiting the webpage at https://www.bgohio.org/436/Historic-Preservation-Commission
