10/13/2026
Wright & Dunham Hardware & More
Wright and Dunham Hardware -
A Hometown Family Store -
Erie, Kansas
Researched & Written by Anita Harvey McDaniel
MEMERIE Historical Museum @ 403 S. Main St., Erie, KS
Wright & Dunham Hardware was a long-standing fixture on Main Street in Erie, Kansas, known as a community hub for local farmers and residents.
There was something in that store for everyone; from toys for tots, home decor, furniture, washing machines, furnaces, and MUCH MORE!!!
Wright & Dunham operated out of the historic Brick Block built on Main Street around 1885 (which in the middle of the 20th century also housed neighbors like Miller’s Meat Market, Richey’s Drug Store, and the Allen State Bank.
Earlier, the building and related hardware, implements and/or furniture names at that site included: Dutton, Alderson, and Cravens. These stores and some other short lived ones were very important to Erieites for housekeeping, agriculture, metal work, and a miriade of other every day items.
In October of 1944, Hollis Dunham and Jimmie Wright purchased the Cravens Hardware & Sheet Metal Co. store and took it over, renaming it and operating it as Wright & Dunham Hardware & Leather Goods.
Jimmie Wright had been a shoe and boot repairman on his own in the Sentinel Building before this merger and he managed the store.
Wright & Dunham General Hardware & Supplies: The store sold a wide variety of tools, farm supplies, and repair items. Local residents remembered it as a dark, spacious, and classic old-fashioned small-town store with creaky wood floors.
Jimmie Wright’s Shoe and Boot Cobbler Shop was located in the north end and back section of the store.
Various local people and family members; such as Johnny Lindquist, William “Bill” Harvey and Lewis Whitworth worked in or helped out with the cobbler shop and on the sales floor through the middle of the 20th Century.
Wright & Dunham was Well Known as a Gathering Place and a common destination for local farmers to visit and talk with the owners, Hollis and Jimmie, while they ran errands or shopped nearby businesses on Main Street. People speak about the fragrance of leather and the sounds of the creaky 100 year old wood floors.
The original 1885 Brick Block building housing the 100+ year old store eventually was demolished, but memorabilia and artifacts from the business have been preserved. For instance, an antique Wright & Dunham hardware store signs and tools and information can be found in the MEMERIE Historical Museum @ 403 S. Main St., Erie, KS.
What do you remember or what stories have you heard about this ICONIC Building??
***Judy Altom: I remember our trips to the store. My last dealing with them was in 1973 when we bought a well pump to put in the Boomer School well. My father let us use the well until we could get rural water at the old Hatcliff house. In the 50’s, Glenn McKinney (Note: Jack McKinney also worked there) worked there and helped me saddled the c**t Daddy had gotten me from Cecil Volmer for $6.
***Lindsey Shetlar: I was in Wichita last month and stayed in Hotel at Old Town, it was an old Keen Kutter warehouse, and they have antiques set up in display cases, I snapped a picture because on was an old hardware store sign (WRIGHT & DUNHAM) from Erie!
I thought it was neat, there were a lot of neat displays, I should have taken more pics, just was surprised when I saw this sign, I'd assume this hardware store is from before I lived in Erie, but felt like it was good material for this group! The website is neat for the hotel also! https://www.hotelatoldtown.com/
***Ron Brogan: The displays have been there for some time. We stayed at the Hotel 6-8 years ago and saw them.
Photos:
1. Original Wright & Dunham photo with the 1867 Erie Hotel, 2nd building built in Erie reflected in the left front window.
2. Wright & Dunham store cleaned up by Nancy Womeldorff Calkins
2-3- Keen Kutter displays with WRIGHT & DUNHAM HARDWARE LABEL
- located at the MemErie Historical Museum @ 403 S. Main St., Erie, KS.
If you look closely at the left front window you can see the 2nd oldest building built in 1867 behind the Sentinel Buidling. It was the Erie Hotel and moved to this location in 1919.
***Carrie Greenwood Swaney: That's my Grandpa Hollis' store- many great memories of Erie.
***Kay Wilson: I remember the fragrance of leather and the music of the creaky wood floors! Sweet people.
***James Daggett: Jimmy Wright and Hollis Dunham ran it. Jimmy also had a shoe and boot cobler shop in the back. I believe Johnny Linquist worked there also.
***Judi Clement: I think my uncle, Lewis Whitworth, worked the cobler shop there, too, after he returned from the war….would have been in the mid/late 40s. Boy, I remember that store being there…..all the farmers went there while their wives were grocery shopping.
***Dan Smith: My step father-in-law (Otis Brasier) worked there for years.
***Phyllis Coomes: Fun memories of going in with mom and brother to take shoes to be repaired.
***Bill Payne: Fun memories of going in with mom and brother to take shoes to be repaired.
***Linda Van Leeuwen Peterson: Always enjoyed going in there. Hollis was great!
***Ronda Greve Stevenson: Thank you for sharing. It's interesting to me the collectibility and movement of these artifacts. Everyone wants to relieve small town, simpler times through these items.
***Nancy Dague: My Aunt Naomi Simmons curled my straight hair and took Susan Ruth and I to Wright and Dunham's to get professional pictures taken. I was 4 or 5 yrs.
There was a white floor scales near front door to weigh on.
***Lyle Hurst: I remember as a kid going in and their was a set of scales right by the front door. I always got on them. That was really cool. And the creaky floors. Taking my shoes in and have Jim Wright fixing them up. Quite the place.
***Sandy Engles Casteel: 🦋💖💖 This week a vivid childhood memory had me doing a google search to find out when Smiley Burnett came to town in Eire KS. I was there. (Yes I am an old fart) In that search I stumbled upon this site. What a treasure trove of most excellent history, pics and comments for someone who spent some of her formative time in Erie. When my dad ,Talmage Engles, gradated from Kansas State he took the job of Neosho County 4-H Club Agent. I think that would have been abt 1950 because I was kindergarten age. I vaguely recall going into a "store" with the folks that had big white scales that I loved to climb onto. But I distinctly remember Richeys Drug store and DR Weir's office The drug store fed my even then comic book compulsion. DR Weir ace-bandaged my shoulder when I broke my collar bone being pushed off a bed when playing 'king on the mountain' with neighbor brothers Jimmy and Danny Arnold. And the doc was the tending physician at the birth of my sister 1951 and brother 1954 (St St Mary's Hospital in Parsons, I think?) Scary flood water drive to Parsons in 1951. And drought and heat in 1954. No AC in the house so mom would damp mop the hardwood floor and my sis and I , in just our panties, would lay as flat as we could on it fin front of a fan. When we first moved to Erie we lived in an apartment over an 'older' woman's garage, . My 5 year old self thought she was ancient. and she grew the most beautiful purple pansies. We moved to a non descript little rent house , then the one next to the Arnolds and behind us some of the Richey family with a mysterious rock fence and usually leaf- filled fish pond stoking our spooky imaginations when we couldn't stand NOT to climb over. Brother came along and we moved to a house that sat on the west side of Main Street as you went south out of town. This was the scene of the damp -mopped hardwood. The last place was an awesome house the folks bought right across the street north of the school. Some years ago , taking the long route from OKC to Ottawa where I went to high school, I made the current owner of the Erie house a bit nervous when I parked outside and took pics. Loved that school and thought my second grade teacher MS Kitchen was the most beautiful woman a seven year old had ever seen. But back to Smiley Burnett...I remember "like it was yesterday" being on Main Street for a big celebration and EATING BEANS!!! My current detective work has me realizing that it must have been the Old Soldiers and Sailors Reunion?? So many more memories and people swirling in my head but for now will leave you with a couple of life coincidences. Being a 4-H family we had a meeting at the Johnson farm. Patrick was in my class and I really had a crush on him. We also went to Rock Sprigs 4-H Camp. I originally rode the group buss to get there but dad took his car in case of emergency. One night Patrick , sleeping on the top bunk, dreamed he was diving into the swimming pool and broke his arm when he it the floor. That called for a trip back for maybe further medical attention and I didn't quarrel a bit when dad suggested I go hone with them. It wasn't until many years later in telling this story to my sons one of them asked "Is that where I got my name" dud it occur to me that Patrick could have been lurking in my brain🤔🥴 . One final tale regarding the Richey family. I own a business in which over the years we have furnished and serviced indoor plants in offices and buildings. My younger days had me calling on Globe Life Insurance in downtown OKC. It was our client for several years. I knew the last name of one of the executives was Richey. But it wasn't till one day seeing in his office a "coffee table" book titled Erie Kansas that I asked about his possible connection. Turns out he was Ron Richey, uncle of Mary Richey who was a grade ahead of me. and of course of Richey Drug Store, comic book heaven. Now I have the urge to dig out the school yearbooks I have up to my sixth grade when we moved to Lyons. So glad they included grade school along with senior high. I need a refresher on names and faces. 🥰💖🥲🦋
***Lonnie Yarnell : I remember they used to sell dynamite
***Ton & Deb Shaw: Getting shoes re-soled at Wright and Dunham was pretty special. when i was a farm kid from Galesburg it was almost as good as new shoes
