Joseph Edward (Joe) Mangrum moved from Shreveport, LA in 1908 to join his brother, William (Bill), in opening Mangrum Brothers' Grocery Store in Whitewright, Texas.

Mangrum Brothers' Grocery Store, along with 60 or more buildings in Whitewright, burned in June, 1911. The fire originated from a trash heap behind a dry goods store. The only thing Joe Mangrum was able to save from his store was the cash register. Mangrum Brothers' & all of Whitewright, still considered it "home" & immediately began rebuilding their businesses. The stores were rebuilt with better & longer lasting materials. The Mangrum Brothers' store was located next to the Planters National Bank, where the Coffee & Pie Oh My Cafe is now located.

William Howard Harrison, age 16 is pictured in the old truck. He worked for the Mangrums delivering groceries. Joe Mangrum is pictured in the dark suit with his hand on dolly moving a sack of feed to the delivery truck. This photo says "First Truck" on the bottom, it was taken around 1917.

The store photo shows a man in a long coat, next to him is Joe Mangrum, George Gattis, and Bill Mangrum. This photo may have been taken in the early 1930's. Behind the men is the cash register. It was a very ornate cash register. A wooden wall phone, with a hand crank & black microphone, is hanged on the wall behind Bill Mangrum. The calendar on the wall indicates it was the thirtieth of December.

The phone number to the Mangrum Brothers' Grocery Store was # 35. Folks called in their grocery order and the order was placed in one of the baskets, pictured in the center of the floor. (The delivery person always brought the baskets back.) The order was always put on a "Charge Account." (The Mangrums ended up with a lot of unpaid charges.)

In the display case to the left, was the chocolate candy. The baskets, on left in photo may have held oranges, apples, potatoes & onions. The hard candy & tobacco were in the right display case. In back is where the farm feed & brooms were kept. The dry goods were upstairs. They sold crocks, churns, staples & supplies. The stairs going up to the "mezzanine" or balcony were scary, even back then. They put down some kind of colored sawdust on the wooden floors when they swept. It was to help pick the dirt.

The supplies came in on horse drawn buggies, then later by trains. They also had "Peddlers" who would fill their covered wagons with dry goods & staples & go out through the country "peddling" their goods. Most of the time the pay they received was chickens, eggs & butter. They kept the live chickens in a pen behind the store. The people bought the live chickens & processed them themselves.

Milk was not carried at the store. The Ice Truck delivered the ice for the iceboxes. The store had a peanut butter machine. They ground fresh peanuts & made peanut butter. It was really good. They had a coffee grinder. It was red & had a big container. Coffee arrived to the store in tow sacks and was then sold by the pound. Some people would have the store grind the coffee for them, while others had their own coffee grinders. The cheese came in big round wooden boxes. The store had a cheese slice. The cheese would be sliced and wrapped in paper.

Sometimes the store gave "Premiums." If you bought a given amount of groceries, the store gave away different items. One time they gave away a step ladder that made a chair & ironing board. They also gave away pitchers, sugars, creamers, trays & glassware.

The Mangrums sold their store in about 1937-8, reason unknown. Approximately a year later, Mr. Joe Mangrum opened a gas station/grocery store at intersection of S W corner in Bells. Later he bought the building which is now the Bells Snap Center for his grocery store. Joe never moved his home to Bells, from Whitewright. He loved his Bells store & the people. After Joe closed his Bells Mangrum Brothers' Grocery Store, he really missed it.

Due to health reasons, Joe moved to Sherman in 1958. If you would like to have your "Mangrum Brothers' Grocery Store" Rememberances, added, you may contact: PinBally@bellstexas.com by email.