Waggener High School - RingBrothersHistory.com

The Voice Of St. Matthews, January 3, 1957: Highlight 1956Mallon Plan, Church Growth, Court Decision Highlight 1956The Charley Ruff Sing Co. on St. Mathews Avenue was doubled in size in November.Commonwealth Moves: Other business news; The Phillips Shoe Shop on March 1 held it formal opening in Wallace Center.That same day, Reed Furs formally opened at 3620 Lexington Road. It was St. Matthews first fur shop.On April 12, Richman Brothers opened its men’s and boy’s wear shop in the Shelbyville Plaza.On May 1, Miss Mary Jean Kempf, assistant cashier of Citizens Fidelity Bank and Trust Co. of St. Matthews transferred tothe Colonial Federal Savings and Loan Association, St. Matthews. Miss Kempf had started work at the bank in 1940 whenit was known as The Farmers and Depositors Bank.Also on May 1, the Caudill Chevrolet Company became the Pendergrass Chevrolet Co. J. I. Pendergrass, vice presidentand general manager, announced he had bought the stock of president Arthur Caudill for an undisclosed price.The St. Matthews branch of Commonwealth Life Insurance moved from Breckenridge Lane to new offices at 4404 ShelbyvilleRoad.A new Jones Apothecary opened at 4402 Shelbyville Road on May 17, under the manger-ship of John Peak.In July, Henry Showers, after years of being active in St. Matthews business, announced “I’m really retiring this time.” Mr.Showers had come out of retirement the year before to open the Garden Center, which handled trees and plants for thelawn.(It was the property on which the Center was located, on Wallace Avenue across from Wallace Center, that the proposedManufacturers Exchange Building was to be built.)The California Shop in August went out of business and its location in Wallace Center was taken over by another woman’sapparel firm, the Dwight Thomas Shop, Managed and owned by Virginia Thomas, the incoming firm had been located formany years in the Highlands.A new hi-fi phonograph and record shop, called the Turntable, opened in September in the renovated former American LegionHall, 135 St. Matthews Avenue.The manager of the Sears-Roebuck store in St. Matthews, Norman Ackerman, on October 1, was elected president of theSt. Matthews Business Association. He succeeded Richard Wheeler, owner of Canary Cottage.In November, Theodore Hattemer opened two businesses at Lagrange and Shelbyville roads. They were the Mystick TapeProducts co. and the Theodore Hattemer Co., the last to handle shower enclosures , room dividers, and folding doors.Civic Club Active: The Year 1956 was an active one for the civic organizations of the community.And it was an important one as new ideas were tried and proven, new groups formed, and new goals were reached and surpassedby old groups.Prevalent throughout was a note of success and accomplishment.Outstanding was the humanitarian response to the crises in Hungary.In December, as the big year drew to a close, the St. Matthews Rotary Club created an original idea in the “Go Hungry ForHungary” project.It was a dinner for club members and guests without food, the cost of the plate going to CARE for aid to the starving Hungarians.In the same month, the theme was adopted by Middletown Rotarians and the ideas shoed promise of mushrooming into anational project.Also concerned with the Hungarian situation, the St. Matthews Jaycees began negotiations with the State Department tbring a Hungarian family here to live.The Jaycees also took 160 underprivileged children on a Christmas shopping tour, providing each with a $5 bill out ofMarch of Dimes donations.Courtesy Contest: In November, the Rotarians started the Courtesy contest to remind “as many people as possible in allwalks of life to be courteous and kindly…..”The Greater St. Matthews Democratic Club filed Articles of Incorporation in Frankfort.