Marcy, OH
At the edge of Fairfield County, four miles south of Lithopolis, sits a little village known as Marcy, Ohio.
It was never incorporated, so residents who live there simply refer to it as the Crossroads, because it separates Fairfield County from Pickaway County.
Every small village seems to have its own unique flair. For Marcy, it may be the village's only business -- the Marcy Store and Diner, of which the store portion has been open for more than 160 years.
On any given morning, expect to find a group of farmers, retirees and friends congregating around one big table drinking coffee and talking about life.
"(This place) has come to mean different things to different folks," said Bryan Black.
The 44-year-old farmer has lived in Marcy all of his life. The business is about half a mile away from his farm. Black and his older brother, Barry Black, also a farmer, are among the "regulars" at the business.
"For many of us, it's just a place to go get coffee in the morning," Bryan Black said. "I think it's great. We need as much community atmosphere as we have in this day in age. ... This is a part of Americana that we don't want to lose out on."
Owners Craig and Fran Goodyear are trying to preserve a piece of hometown history, by keeping the store open. They've owned the store for nine years and are just one of few owners to ever own the business.
The store was opened in 1840 by David Brobst, one of the early settlers of Marcy. His family operated the store for nearly 100 years.
"It's been here a long time," Fran Goodyear said.
Former Marcy resident Barb Moore remembers what the business was like, before the diner was added on. The 68-year-old moved to the area with her family at age 16.
"When our family first moved up there it was a little farm grocery store owned by Dorothy Swoyer and her family and they lived behind the store," Moore said. "It was just a little farm grocery store and people loved their eggs. They would come from Columbus and and around to buy their farm products -- mostly eggs."
The store had a small kitchen at that time and a lot of people would just visit the kitchen and talk and gossip about events, Moore said.
"They would talk and play cards there. It was mostly older people," said Moore, who now bakes pies for the diner.
Black said he remembers his father and grandfather going there to play cards in the store's kitchen.
"They would sit around a pot belly stove there to keep the place warmed up," he said.
Things haven't changed much today. With the addition of the diner, people just have more room to sit around and chat with friends.
Canal Winchester resident Roger Marshall meets up with several of his friends at 7 a.m. just about every morning. He doesn't know their numbers, but who needs a number when you see someone every day?
"I've been going there since 2000, ever since I retired" the 56-year-old said. "There's a bunch of good guys there. You just get in there and talk about stuff and solve the problems of the world."
The group tends to avoid politics, Marshall said.
"Everyone would be kind of mad at each other then, so we don't have much of that," he said.
When the Goodyears purchased the business, they had no idea all the history that lie at their front door.
A post office was once operated out of the store, with David Brobst serving as the first postmaster of Marcy, from about 1857 until 1893, the year he died. The post office stayed open two years after Brobst's death.
At his death, Brobst's wife, Celicia Brobst operated the store alone until her death in 1933. She was 88 years old.
Like the Brobst family and the owners after them, the Goodyears live in the house right next door to the business. Their house is not the original home, but lies on the same foundation as the Brobst home.
Some changes have been made to the business since the Goodyears took over. They had the gas station removed, replaced the old storefront, added pizza, a host of menu items and an ice-cream parlor.
Now the Goodyear children are part of the business, but they have no plans to one day run it, according to their mother. James Goodyear agrees.
"I don't think so," the 18-year-old said. "After coming in here and seeing them struggle for so long, I don't think I'd want to do it."
Originally published Sunday, January 23, 2005
http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/news/stories/20050123/localnews/1904855.html |
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