Volume 2 , Issue 8

Eagle Furniture Store Undertaking

R.O. Renfrew and Dyas Gadbois, the proprietors of the Eagle Furniture Store, were both young men who came here at the opening of the strip and resided in Alva (Oklahoma) since that time. About 1901 they bought the Eagle Furniture Store from Devine & Matthews who had established the store some years before. Since taking control, Renfrew & Gadbois steadily increased the business and conducted the place in such a way that in 1904 they were recognized as the leading Furniture dealers of Woods County. They prided themselves on the good grade of goods they handled, and their trade evidently appreciated their efforts to improve the grade of furniture sold in Alva during that time, by giving them a constantly increasing business.

On account of the complete stock they carried, they had built up a trade with residents of neighboring towns, making frequent shipments over the Santa Fe and Choctaw railroads.

They represented at Alva such well known manufacturers as: S. Karpen & Bro., -- Upholstered Furniture; Gunn Furniture Co., -- Sectional Book Cases; Hoosier Manufacturing Co. -- Hoosier Kitchen Cabinets; Old Hickory Chair co., -- Hickory Furniture; A. O. Schram & Son, -- Schram Spring Rockers; New Home Sewing Mmachine Co -- Sewing Machines.

They made a specialty of framing pictures and in 1903 they had used more than three thousand feet of picture mouldings, making nearly five-hundred picture frames, and they at all times carried in stock about two thousand feet of picture mouldings.

According to the Alva Pioneer Souvenir Edition, dated January 1904, this up-to-date firm also handled a full and complete line of Undertakers Supplies. Their undertaking business increased to such proportions that in 1903-04 it became necessary for them to move their stock of Undertaking goods into a separate building where they had fitted up the nicest and most complete Undertaking parlor to found in Northwestern Oklahoma.

Mr. Renfrew and Mr. Gadbois were both funeral directors and held Embalmers license issued by the Territorial Board of Health. They used the latest methods and were constantly on the alert to raise the standard of the profession. The Alva Mutual Burial Association organized earlier selected Renfrew & Gadbois as their official Undertakers.

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