The Modern Grocery Comes To Town

This ad photo from the 1959 Doniphan Centennial Book contains plenty of nostalgia - from the phone booth on the right to the prices of the sale items in the window. Lanson Phillips’ IGA Super Market was located on the north side of the courthouse square next door to the Doniphan Telephone Company. In more recent years the building has housed a counseling center and a church. Opened by Phillips in 1951, the store was heralded as Doniphan’s first self-service market complete with shopping carts and electric door openers. By 1963, he built a larger store with parking for 100 vehicles one block west where Country Pickin’s Flea Market is today. If you would like to see more sights from Doniphan in the 1950s and 60s, come to the Ripley County Historical Society’s film night at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, in the DNAP Community Center, 105 Washington St.