Porter Brothers Store

You could buy just about anything in a general mercantile at the turn of the century

Photo Courtesy of Zoe Marlowe
This building had large plate glass windows so that you could see everything the store offered for sale. And they sold everything! Except alcoholic beverages of course!

This was the second store that the Porter Brothers built in Rhyolite. This one had a basement, large show windows, and sometimes they used the first floor for dances. By the standards of the day, it was an extremely large store.

One of my favorite stories here concerned one of the Porter Boys and we'll call her Mrs. X to save embarrassment. Anyway, Mrs. X walked her little poodle everyday right by the Porter Brothers Store. And everyday the dog would take a leak on the middle post of the store. Being tired of cleaning up the mess, one of the Porter boys hooked a copper wire and a battery to the center post. Well, I imagine you can guess what happened next. It really was a sight to see that ball of fur yipping and running down Golden St. with Mrs. X behind it. No, the poodle was not injured, but it never, ever, came near the Porter Store again.

The Porter Brothers also owned a warehouse and lumber yard in Rhyolite. They were very popular, but were also known as practical jokers. If anything strange but harmless happened in the town, it was a good bet that one of the Porter Brothers was behind it.

Time is short and we must push on. Last stop on the tour is the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad Depot.


Porters arriving in Rhyolite Link to Larger Picture Porter Store 1906 Link to Larger Picture Porter Store 1959 Link to Larger Picture Porter Store 1995 Link to Larger Picture

Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad Depot, next stop.

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