A Photo of Old Clifford

 

 

The town of Clifford where I grew up evaporates with each passing year.  Although the population has remained relatively stable for many years, the town rose in the 1880s and peaked sometime before World War Two. In my youth, it was constantly bantered about how wild a town Clifford had been with several saloons, many elevators, and thriving businesses. This was largely because of the Jones Bonanza Farm just a few miles out of town, whose ruins unfortunately have not survived. Growing up in the ruins of a boomtown, decaying infrastructure was my playground and I have continued to search for the lost legacy of that time.

The elevator in the center of the photo below sits on the Clifford Farmer's Co-op Elevator site, which now dominates the town and the region as one of the most enormous elevators by volume in the area. My grandparents lived for many years in a house, one of the few that still stands, across the street from the old livery stable in the back of the photo. The stable stood until just a few decades ago.

This photo is from sometime after 1900 when the A.T. Krabbel store on the far right of the image was built. The store burned down in the late 1970s. As a kid, it was a place to go with a few nickels, get candy, and hang out with Grandpa, who worked in the hardware store. As an adult, I think back to the old, style hardware store, every imaginable thing packed floor to ceiling next door to the old-style grocery, probably mostly stayed the same since they were built.

To the far left, the awning of a store is just as visible as the boardwalk. I can't remember when it was torn down, but as a kid, the block-long brick buildings were fun to sneak into because they were filled with old stuff of all kinds, like a closed-up antique store.