Our story began with Mrs. Elvira J. Scales. 

   Elvira was an entrepreneur (to say the least).
In 1873 she peddled confectionaries, notions, and operated a millinery, akin to Nels’ and Harriet’s store on Little House on the Prairie. 

She was a businesswoman through & through, staying abreast of fashions, traveling to Boston & St. Paul for the finest materials, and selling everything from the finest green apples to grass cloth suits, Germantown yarn, woolen hose, beaver cloaks, and *much* more. She hired many women to assist in her business ventures.

    Elvira’s store was spared in a major fire in 1875, due to the help of townswomen & men, who formed a bucket line clear to the Kinnickinnic River. For 2 hours straight, no woman or man took a break from tossing buckets. Elvira’s shop fell victim to theft on this fateful night, with her stock of “back hair” being burgled.  

   Her house was built on Cascade Ave, 1878, and in May of 1878 we find record of a contract with Knowles & Parsons to perform the masonry on a building for Mrs. Scales. The building was completed in August of 1878 and her store moved to that location. That location is now known as Johnnie’s Bar.