This story is published in partnership with Ozarks Alive, a cultural preservation project led by Kaitlyn McConnell.
ELLINGTON — There isn’t a standalone sign out front, but instead one on the front of a building tells that Baker Auto Parts & Supplies is a landmark.
It’s conveyed in just two words: “Since 1916,” the faded sign says.
The words caught my attention one day as I drove through Ellington, a small community in southern Reynolds County. That trip was on a Sunday and the store wasn’t open, but I made a vow that the next time I was in town and they were open, I’d inquire about the history of the business in the distinctive stone building.
A few weeks ago came the day when I gripped the old-fashioned door handle and walked inside.
There I met Jeff and Annabelle Lanham, a husband and wife who represent the third generation of the family to run the shop. They share that it was Ellis Baker, Annabelle’s grandfather, who was just 21 when he began the business more than a century ago.
“We have had multiple businesses at one time, but this has been here since 1916,” Annabelle said from behind the counter.
Located on the outskirts of Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the town of about 790 is much smaller and sleepier than in days when there were dozens of businesses, a hospital and a telephone exchange, and the train ran through the middle of town.
The train long ago trundled away, but a few businesses — including that telephone exchange — still sit near Main Street. One is a boutique called The Old Jefferson, which resides in what was once the town’s hotel. Another is Baker Auto Parts & Supplies, as it’s currently known.
While the Lanhams run the shop nowadays, I learn from them that Nina Baker — Annabelle’s mother — is the best person to speak to regarding its history. Now 93, Nina has been connected with the business since the mid-1950s, when she married Willard Baker, one of the shop founder’s sons.
Down the street, I open the ornate wrought-iron gate and am welcomed into Nina’s home.
After we settle in her living room, Nina pulls out vintage news articles about the business, which began soon after her father-in-law graduated from the David Rankin School — today Rankin Technical College — in St. Louis.
“It was made of rough-sawed lumber, and held a very limited amount of equipment,” she read from a 1991 story about the shop, published upon its 75th anniversary in the Reynolds County Courier newspaper. “(Ellis Baker) worked on about anything that came along. Steam engines were used to power sawmills and timing a steam engine was an art for him as he became a perfectionist on timing them. If you needed a shaft, you went to Ellis Baker, and he built it for you. In those days, they were not manufactured.”
Shortly after the shop’s start, World War I came along and Ellis was drafted. The business closed while he was away, but reopened in 1919. The new start led to a number of significant changes in the years ahead.
They went from the Great War to the Great Depression, which hurt work to the point that Ellis’ brother-in-law ran the business — which had expanded to sell Buicks — while he worked as the Civilian Conservation Corps leader at Big Spring, and later as superintendent at Alley Spring. At the time, both sites were Missouri state parks and hosted CCC camps working on projects under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” program.
Ellis returned to Ellington in 1938. World War II brought a new chapter for the business through contracts from the federal government and Class A Manufacturer status.
“At that time, all manufacturing efforts for the USA went to the war effort,” the aforementioned article noted. “This opened the door for Bakers to machine, or build sawmill parts, farm equipment, or whatever needed made; and the business grew accordingly.”
By the 1950s, Nina Baker had married into the family. She caught the eye of Willard Baker while working as a waitress, and the couple ultimately wed and had two children.
“I guess I was in my junior year when we started dating,” she said. “I worked in the restaurant and it was across from the shop. He kept coming in and kept coming in there, and finally he asked me for a date. I said, ‘Well, my dad won’t let me date until I’m 18, but we’ll see.’ Dad said, ‘OK.’”
Joy and tragedy were mingled in the years to come. The shop was soon a three-generation family business after the birth of Clarence Willard “C.W.” Baker, Nina and Willard’s son who became known as “the boss” at Baker.
“When he was about five or six, he began going to work with his father,” said Nina. “He had coveralls like his Dad and the rest of the men that worked in the shop. He started getting his coveralls so dirty; someone asked him how did he get so dirty? He said, ‘Working in the shop.’ Come to find out, behind the shop they were pouring their old motor oil and dirty stuff off the greasy floors, and he was rolling in that to get dirty so it looked like he worked.”
Those smiles turned to sorrow in 1966, when he died of encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.
“This was a sad time for everyone, because everybody knew him for miles and miles around,” Nina said, the emotion of the tragedy still painful today.
That devastating reality followed the death of Ellis Baker in 1963. The passing of both the first generation and grandchild left the second — Walter and Willard — to run the business. Their wives had their own occupations; Nina worked at Black River Electric Cooperative and her sister-in-law Mary Jane was a teacher. However, they ultimately joined the family businesses in various capacities as well.
That era, one that began prior to those tragedies, saw growth, evolution and innovation through a number of business endeavors. In addition to manufacturing and auto parts, Baker sold insurance, had a trucking line, sold radios and televisions, and had a hardware store, among other efforts. During lead mining in the 1960s, Baker was heavily involved through welding and machine work.
“Bakers later built a number of dynamite wagons for Ozark Lead Co.,” noted the article about the company’s history. “They were used to haul dynamite down into the mines. The wagons had rubber tires and a lid about eight feet long. They were built so the dynamite could not charge in transport.”
After both of their husbands passed away — Willard in 1994 and Walter in 2008 — Nina and Mary Jane oversaw the various enterprises themselves until 2013, when they split the businesses. Mary Jane took the hardware operation — which was later sold — and Nina took the auto parts store, machine shop and gas business, which she still owns.
Back at the shop, the aforementioned Jeff Lanham now runs the business day-to-day. He and Annabelle became more involved in the operation about a decade ago, but got even more integrated “a couple of years ago” when employee Richard Massie retired after about 40 years of service.
While the business has had to evolve, some elements feel from the past. In the back remains the machine shop that could tell history if whirring were words. There are tools left over from telephone linemen, a potbelly stove and tools on a shelf to fix a Model A.
“When you bought a Model A Ford, they gave you a bag of tools to go with it,” Jeff said. “Apparently they broke down quite regularly.”
Other moments of the past stand out because they’re part of the present, such as hand-written receipts and charge accounts for customers.
“We still hand-write all of our tickets out,” Jeff said. “We didn’t have a computer system until about six, eight years ago.
“Local people, they just come help themselves. Then they’ll come up there and either tell me what they got or they’ll write it down and I’ll catch them later. Pretty laid back around here.”
One of those customers is Ryan Chilton, who notes the support of the store in his projects — both in knowledge and also simple presence.
“I’d be an hour away if I needed to get something somewhere else,” said Chilton.
Other customers manifest as contractors.
“We’ve got a big contractor in here putting in new telephone poles,” Jeff said. “Contractors come through, they’ll come by.”
And as the store updates as it must to evolve, there are still hometown details like knowing neighbors and their families.
“You missed your wife,” Annabelle said to a customer. “She was in here earlier. She said you and the grandchild were taking a nap when she left here last.”
As the customer departed, he marked both one more and one less, reminding one of a changing world.
“With the times, it’s hard to keep up nowadays,” Jeff said. “About every five or 10 years, you’ve got to regroup and update.
“It’s just a matter of time before places like this are out of business. Computers make it really rough on small people.”
