by

Frank R. Bartol

Editor's Note: Part one of the Traunik store story, "The Mikulich Era," appeared in Volume 16, No. 4 of our newsletter, (the Winter, 1992, issue, which we misdated "1993").

Just about every year another historic Alger County building is either torn down or converted to a use that completely obscures its original function and thus denies residents and visitors alike the opportunity to learn a bit of the history of the county through it.

That it didn't happen to Mikulich's General Store in Traunik is totally thanks to the monumental efforts of Dee and Bill Morgan, who purchased the store in 1987 and then spent five years first doing the extensive infrastructure work that would insure the building's survival for the foreseeable future and then recreating an early-twentieth-century store on the ground floor of the building and living quarters above it.

On July 19th of 1992 the store was reopened under the name of "Morgan's Country Store and Museum." Area visitors have an opportunity to step into the past and see the way things were in country stores and the living quarters that were almost always built above them in the early days of Alger County by heading for Traunik, which is located in the southwestern part of the county at the junctions of H-01 and H-44. They'll have no difficulty spotting this freshly painted white structure right next to that intersection.

Once inside they will encounter sights and smells which will send those old enough to remember some of those times oil a pleasant nostalgia trip and will help younger ones understand why their elders have the pleasant memories they do.

The counter across which tons of groceries and other goods available in general stores of the time were passed is still there, sanded down and refinished to look just the way it did when various members of the large Mikulich family stood behind it to "wait on" their customers. So is the large butcher's block in the meat room at the back of the store, and the little post office in the northwest corner, where "waiting for the mail" was all elaborate social ritual after 1927, when the community was granted post office status.

Shelves built into the cast and west walls of the store are still there, as are the glass showcases through which this writer remembers peering at jackknives, pocket watches, and other items that every farm boy of the time wanted to have. Of special interest is the decorative metal ceiling, which the Morgans worked so hard to restore to its original appearance.

To all those things which were part of the original store Dee and Bill have added much that gives the business their own personal touch, always keeping in mind the need to be faithful to the period they were recrcating.'I here is a nickel-plated stove right next to the post office boxes and an old woodfired cook stove which was purchased from the store seventy years ago and donated to the Morgans for display purposes.

Dee Morgan has been a collector of artifacts of the period for a long time, and many of them grace the upper shelves in the store. The rest of the shelves, the interior of those showcases, and any other space available to display merchandise is filled with items for sale that were carefully selected to be in harmony with the overall motif.

When visitors have completed their visit of the store, they are invited to tour the living area above it. A small charge is made for these guided tours, conducted by Dee, who shares a bit of the history of the store and the area, and explains the significance of some of the artifacts on display.

It is in these living quarters that Dee's collecting talents really bore fruit for her, because she was able to furnish the three bedrooms, the dining room, living room, and kitchen so authentically that visitors will have no difficulty imagining themselves "dropping in" on the owners for a brief visit. One can practically hear the sound of small children playing in the first bedroom with things on display there, on the floor, on the bed, and anywhere else a child might have placed them.

And the Morgans' efforts to locate appropriate furniture and other artifacts to help capture the flavor of that era continue. Just recently, after a long and sometimes frustrating search, Dee found an old wooden icebox, which she and Bill sanded down, refinished, and then placed in the kitchen up stairs.

Dee's wish list is still long, however. She would like, for example, to find a youth bed, perhaps bunk style, which would have been used back then, as well as a couple of captain's chairs to place next to the old wood stove in the store.

Morgan's Country Store and Museum will continue to be a work in progress for some time, so folks who dropped in there once will have new things to see on their next visit. The Alger County Historical Society urges support of efforts of the Morgans and others in the county who are helping us make history come alive. We see efforts like these as important adjuncts to our efforts to do so in our new heritage center. The store is open, by the way, from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday through Friday and from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. on Saturday right up until Christmas Eve.