The Big Heart & Marketing Genius of Thomas P. Wickham
This summer, the Ohio County Public Library is celebrating the memory of Wheeling’s once plentiful corner stores, markets, and other businesses. There are modern examples and survivors, of course (Jebbia’s, Neely’s, and new places like the Public Market), but most of the historic ones are long gone.
Yet the nostalgia for such places is stronger than ever. We cherish their memory because they felt safe, like the homes of neighbors and friends, even as they supplied every neighborhood with food and drink, cut our hair, managed our money, employed us, and offered community gathering places to sit around a potbellied stove, play checkers on a pickle barrel, look for bargains with coupons clipped from the newspaper, sip a cherry Coke, or buy comic books.
But one such store, Wickham’s on the southeast corner of N. 25th Street and Warwood Avenue, went above and beyond that Mayberry ideal, offering an array of special promotions from a free circus to a dog show due to the innovative marketing mind of its owner.
The first Wickham family store in the Wheeling region was opened in 1912 in Triadelphia by Edwin George “E.G.” Wickham. He was the older brother of Thomas Porter Wickham, who married Margaret Helms of Elm Grove in 1916 and opened a Warwood store with horse drawn delivery at 2427 Warwood Avenue. Brother Carter Wickham also worked at Warwood.
According to a 1972 News Register report, Tom Sr. once delivered groceries as far as the Valley Camp No. 3 coal mine using a horse-drawn cart and later a Model-T truck, as motorized horsepower replaced the literal kind around 1925. E.G. and Tom Sr. partnered around that time, and another Wickham brother, Joe, then operated the Triadelphia store until his death in 1957.
The Wickham name might be familiar because, at the peak of operations, it appeared on five stores (including in Triadelphia, Warwood, Glenwood, and Power) in the Wheeling region under the I.G.A. (Independent Grocers Alliance) umbrella.
In the same 1972 News-Register interview, Tom Sr. recalled something most of us have forgotten or never experienced (except where revived at places like Sam’s Club): food was stocked in bulk — barrels of pickles, 100 lb sacks of flour, tubs of beans, butter, sauerkraut, and crackers — all of which had to be cut out and re-packaged by retailers or their customers.
When Thomas G. Wickham, Jr. returned from serving in the Navy in WWII, he and his father bought out E.G.’s interest in the Wickham stores. Needing to distinguish themselves from the old I.G.A. stores, Tom Sr. , who claimed his family was descended from the Cherokee (NR-07-19-63, p 9), came up with the well-remembered Native American chief logo and the (politically incorrect by modern standards) “Me Pickum Wickham’s” tag line.
Later elected Clearview’s first mayor, Tom Jr. and his father began, in the 1950s, offering an annual “Free Circus” for the kiddies or “Small Fry” every August in an empty lot across N. 25th Street from the store. Everything was free, from the pony rides, to the fish pond, to the “Red Ball Express” and “Small Fry Special” train rides, to the “space ship” rides. Hot dogs and soda were on the menu, and friends and neighbors volunteered to help. The famous Osiris Temple Shrine Circus clowns often showed up to help entertain the kids. Later, the Free Circus was moved to land near the Wickham home, the “Tom-Mar Ranch” (named for Tom and his wife Margaret), in Clearview. The event — which became known as “Christmas in August” with Tom Sr., of course, playing Santa — was beloved by the children of Warwood and Clearview, many of whom still remember the details with great fondness.
The Panda
Marla Crabtree was one of those children. She remembers “the pony rides and the ‘go fish’ booth. A helper would yell ‘boy’ or ‘girl.’ I was handed a fishing pole with a clothes pin on the end of the line. The helper would throw the line over the top of the booth. After a few seconds, there would be a couple tugs on the line. The helper would make a big deal out of how you caught a fish. I pulled the line over the top of the booth, and there was a brown paper bag clipped to that clothes pin. The bag was filled with candy, a few toys, and a paper Indian chief headband to wear. I was amazed at that… Fast forward to the present day when the Wickham’s were having an auction of the contents of the house here in Clearview (our property adjoins the Wickham land). I was walking in our woods one day and saw several full trash bags. I opened one of the bags and found maybe one hundred of those Indian chief paper headbands. Kind of bittersweet for me.”
About the Free Circus, Marla also remembers “men being dressed up in furry animal suits. One in particular I recall was a man in a panda suit with the big black eyes. I had to take my sister to the circus. I was probably seven, and she was three. That panda scared her so badly that I had to take her home. I was happy about that because I didn’t have to babysit her. She was screaming so horribly.” Interestingly, the panda appears in a contemporary newspaper photo (at left). He was with the Osiris Shrine Clowns.
“Oh my gosh!” Marla exclaimed when shown the photo, “Can you just imagine how this would scare a child? Why a panda? I still don’t care for pandas, even though it got me out of babysitting.”
Marketing 101
The Free Circus proved to be a massive success (attendance of more than 1000 was reported in 1953), helping Wickham’s to stand out in the competitive small grocery market arena as the “the store that Always Remembers the Kiddies.” In fact, the circus won top honors in a 1953 nationwide contest among 5000 small retailers. In light of that success, Tom Sr. conceived of additional clever promotions for the store, including a “Burlesque Dog Show”; an “Ole Fashion Day” during which staff would dress in 19th century clothing; a pumpkin carving contest near Halloween; and free sled rides “For the Small Fry” during winter.
As early as 1933, Tom Sr. sponsored a basketball team in the Wheeling-Register Independent Basketball tournament. The team advanced to the finals, losing the “uproarious” championship game 35 to 33 to Wheeling Corrugating. From 1935 tp 1940, Wickham’s sponsored a community marbles tournament in the same vacant lot across from the store where the circus was offered. All participants were treated to a “moving picture show” at the Lincoln.
“Grandpa was ahead of his time in terms of marketing,” said Margaret Wickham St. Germain, daughter of Ronnie (who also worked at Warwood) and granddaughter of Thomas Sr. “He made many of his own signs, using a printing press he kept in the store’s basement.”
Just to prove that Tom was genuine in his love for the Small Fry, and that not everything was a promotion to inspire them to beg mom to take them to Wickham’s, Tom and family offered a free movie night, showing films for all of the neighborhood children who wanted to attend in the basement of the Wickham house. The popcorn was free too.
In the early 1970s, the Wickhams closed the old store, opening a new Convenient Food Mart next to McNamara’s Drugstore on N. 18th Street in Warwood. Tom Sr. retired, hoping to have more time for his fishing and photography hobbies.
The Wickhams promised to keep all of their staff and hire more.
Shared Memories:
“I remember walking to Wickham’s from 21st street when I was in junior high to buy a pack of Lucky Strikes for my mom (she quit smoking a few years later!) — and a pack was 50 cents!!!! And, who remembers Florence and Margaret who worked the cash registers and delivered groceries to your home if/when needed? Florence also sold Quality Street candies in a tin, ribbon candy and jelly candies (among others) at Christmas time!” ~ Fritz Neumann Guthrie
“Florence would visit homes with her case of samples, sit & have coffee with Mom while taking her order. And she ALWAYS gave us kids a sample. You could call in your grocery order, Margaret & Florence would take them, always said ‘alright’ after each item — then it was delivered same day! AND remember you could buy on ‘time’ between paydays… NO interest! They were wonderful people!” ~ Rudie Thompson
“Remember the ledger? You paid monthly for your groceries. Bernie Ehni cut meat to order and you used a ‘grabber’ on a big stick to get cereal?” ~ Heidi Kossuth
Sources
Doepken, Kitty Jefferson. “It’s Christmas in August — in Clearview!” Wheeling News-Register, Friday, August 26, 1960, p. 19.
Interview of Margaret Wickham St. Germain (by phone), Thurs., July 19, 2023.
Interview of Marla Crabtree (by text), Wed., July 26, 2023.
Johnson, Gene. “Wickham Family to Open New Store: From Pushcart to Modern Business” Wheeling News-Register, Sunday, October 8, 1972, p. 26.
Wheeling Intelligencer, Tuesday, April 23rd, 1940, p. 9.
Wheeling Intelligencer, Tuesday, September 22nd, 1953, p. 20.
Wheeling News Register, Thursday, September 11th, 1947, p. 17.
Wheeling News Register, Friday, July 19th, 1963, p. 9.
Wheeling Register, Thursday, March 2nd, 1933, p. 9.
Wheeling Sunday Register, Sunday, February 19th, 1933, p. 29.
All photos courtesy Margaret Wickham St. Germain.
Wickham’s Exhibit
Check out the new Wickham’s Display, a part of the “On Every Corner” Exhibit, now through September, 2023 at the Ohio County Public Library.
I am so very pleased and grateful that you have written a story about this his Warwood institution! It brought back so many happy memories!!!
Thank you,
Kathryn Ann Thalman
When the convenient store opened Tom Sr and Margret decided not to retire totally and they would go into the store and do all the produce every morning they were up into their eighties and still going into the store..
Store was one block from our Home and we were sent by Grandmother with a note as to what she wanted.
Yeah, Sean. Wonderful piece. Again.
This was so detailed and brought back so many memories. Very well done.
Very interesting. My whole career was in food sales with Campbell’s, HJ Heinz and OSI Industries in Chicago so I appreciate the early days leading up to the modern era.
What a wonderful article. Lots of great fun memories. Oh to have those days back.
My Dad Ray Sharpsky (Sharpsky Rendering used to pick up the fat and bones from the butcher’s in these small stores. Wickham always had the best chicken salad. I loved Schaefer’s brothers in Elm Grove and Freddy’s Meat Market on 29th St (best pork chops ever) Loved all the small stores
I worked three years at the Convenient store in Warwood and have many fond memories. Tom Sr. Got in very early each morning to prep and stock produce. Very happy times. I worked many evenings with Florence.
Curious if either article referenced from The Wheeling News Register had a by-line. Thanks.
Gene Johnson wrote the 1972 article. Kitty Jefferson Doepken wrote the 1960 article.