By Lisa YatesThe Times of Southwest Louisiana
Photography: Karen Wink
Cover Graphics: Darrell Buck
When Jenkins Hardware opened in downtown Oberlin, Warren G. Harding was president. The year was 1921, and the store operated as a blacksmith shop – an essential industry at the time.
For Jimmie Jenkins, it’s a piece of his family history. His father, Ivor, founded the store and worked as its blacksmith.
“Dad got out of the Army in 1918, and opened the store in 1921,” he said. “He did shop work in the Army during World War I – blacksmithing. Back then they traveled by wagons -- He repaired the wagon wheels and spokes.”
After returning home from the war, his father married a young woman named Emma, and moved to Port Arthur, Texas. Ivor worked at Gulf Refinery until he decided to open his own blacksmithing business and moved to Louisiana.
Choosing a location
Jenkins, 81, said the lure of free land brought many Northerners like his father to the area at that time.
“His dad – my grandfather -- was born in Wales, settled in Illinois, and worked in the coal mines,” Jenkins said. “Back then, a lot of people from the North were moving south. They were giving away 160 acres of woodlands to people who would come and settle here.”
Because blacksmiths were in demand, Jenkins said his father “had his pick” of three towns in which to settle and open shop. He chose to open the store at 231 Sixth Avenue in West Oberlin, where it still operates today.
The shop prospered. Later, the family added general hardware, paint, glass, pipe fittings and miscellaneous items not generally found in hardware stores today.
“Mother did the bookwork for the store,” Jenkins said. “By then, she already had a child, Norman. Then, she had three more boys – my older brothers, Raymond, R.C., and me.”
As the boys grew, they also joined the family business.
“My older brothers worked in the shop – I didn't. I liked to sell, so I worked in the store,” Jenkins said.
His father and brothers, all expert blacksmiths, sharpened plow points for the local cotton farmers, who plowed their fields by mules.
“They got 10-cents for sharpening turning points, back in the 1920s,” Jenkins said. “They got 25-cents for sharpening middle busters.”
Jenkins never learned the trade, but he has kept the blacksmith shop intact over the years.
The store today
Stepping through the back room of the store is like stepping back into time – the entire shop is still there. Old tools hang from the ceiling and the original anvil still sits on the floor, near an old wood heater and electric forge.
Jenkins pointed to the ceiling of the blacksmith shop, which he said is fashioned from lumber cut at the old sawmill on the property. He also proudly displayed of a couple of antique John Deere tractors housed on the property.
“This one is from the 1950s, and the other one is older than that,” Jenkins said as he started up the 2-cylinder engine. “It still runs!”
The store has outlived fleeting fads and is a part of the community fabric, providing loyal patrons not only with a sense of history, but also with a wide array of goods they need.
Customers keep coming back to Jenkins Hardware – not merely for the selection of shovels, paints or even coffee-grinders. It’s the old-fashioned personal touches that Oberlin residents can’t live without.
They know that when they come in looking for a “whatchamacalit” or “a thing that goes in the faucet to stop it from leaking,” Jenkins will know just what they’re looking for and will never direct them to “Aisle 6.”
Instead, folks are greeted with a warm, friendly: “How are you doing today?” when they step through the door.
Minding the store
On any given day, the store attracts a steady stream of customers, some new, but mostly regulars dropping by to pick up a few needed items. On a recent weekday morning, Jenkins Hardware seemed as lively as ever with several customers purchasing bug killer, one man buying oil for his Weedeater® --- and, a local beautician found a hanging scale for her father, who operated a nearby vegetable stand.
Jenkins Hardware is a one-of-a-kind, charmingly cluttered shop with its display of tools, old newspaper clippings and football schedules. There’s a picture of his granddaughter as homecoming queen hanging on the front counter.
“She’s a freshman at Iowa State,” Jenkins said.
The counter also holds old photos showing pieces of the town’s history, including: Oberlin High School’s first football team from the 1930s, class pictures dating back from the class of 1936-37, a group of area wolf-hunters, and a photo of a fire, which was taken by his wife, Ann, a retired school teacher. The photograph made front page news.
“That was a hotel across the street that caught fire and burned down,” Jenkins said. “We saw the flames from our house and ran over to see what was burning.”
He said the street was once part of a bustling downtown with several hardware stores, the hotel across the street, restaurants and even a couple of bars.
Through the years, Jenkins has seen all of the changes. He has been minding the store since he was a young man.
“I was raised north of Elton and rode my bike over here,” he said.
Like many of his generation, he put his career on hold to serve the country.
“When World War II came along, in 1941, I was in the service along with two of my brothers,” Jenkins said. “The other brother wanted to go, but he had diabetes, so they wouldn’t take him.”
After the war, Jenkins came back to work at the store along with his oldest brother. One of his brothers went to college and became a professor at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette.
“He’s still in Lafayette,” Jenkins said. “Of my three brothers, he’s the only one left.”
A rarity
Part of a second-generation to have a hand in the family store, Jenkins Hardware is a rarity. Only about 30 percent of family-owned businesses survive into the second generation, with only 12 percent remaining viable into the third generation. Only 3 percent of all family businesses operate into the fourth generation or beyond, according to the Family Business Institute.
Jenkins said it is doubtful that his family business will survive into its third generation. His children – James Jr., Laura Reed and Terry Jenkins – are grown and living in different areas of the country.
“Everyone has college degrees and good jobs,” he said, adding competition from “big box” stores makes it tough to stay in business.
“In a few years, little businesses like these will be all gone. Only the national chains will be left. Everything is now made in China and I’m not sure that’s such a good thing. If we had to pay rent, we couldn’t stay in business.”
What keeps Jenkins in business is his customers, he said.
“We’re providing a service,” he said. “We have stock people need and they don’t have to go out of town to get it – gas is expensive.”
In addition, the store is full of old-fashioned friendly service and there’s no walking around for 20 minutes trying to find a store associate.
Better than a museum, Jenkins Hardware is a living piece of history, which honors a family’s legacy and that of all blacksmiths who were once the lifeblood of each and every community in America.
For more information, call (337) 639-4915, or visit at 231 Sixth Avenue in Oberlin. Store hours are from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. Mon., Tues., Thurs. and Fri.; and, from 8 a.m.- noon on Wed. and Sat.
