See the Silver Dollar Display! At Wall Drug!

[jtryka]

For any of you that have traveled much in the central US, through the Western states, you must have heard of Wall Drug. They have signs all over the place, there's even one here in Elkhart saying that Wall Drug is only 979 miles away. Well, when I moved out from Washington, I took I-90 the whole way and passed right through Wall, S.D. so I had to stop, if for no other reason than to see the "Silver Dollar Display" I read about on a sign in Montana.

 

As the story goes on the little pamphlet that hand out, they used to stock silver dollars in their cash drawers in the early days, especially as they were heavily used in Montana and Wyoming. As time went by, the traveling public refused to accept them in change, so they decided to save a bunch. Once they got $650 worth (that's at face remember) they took up too much space so they stopped. After the 1960s, they virtually disappeared from circulation, and since so many youngsters were unfamiliar with this piece of our history, they decided to mount the silver dollars in dollar sized holes un the counter of their cafeteria, under a sheet of plexiglass, so everyone could look at them. There are 612 mounted in the counter with dates ranging from 1878 to 1928. And they provide this small pamphlet with not only the story of the display, but a history of our currency from before the founding of our country focusing mainly on the silver dollar, including references to early dollars, and even the Golbrecht patterns, all the way up to the end of the Peace dollars.

 

It was a very neat display, they weren't cleaned en masse, but appeared as they would in their cash drawers, and they didn't appear to be permanently mounted (read: glued). It's just interesting to me to see how long these coins actually circulated, especially since they were still spending 1878 Morgans into the 1930s and 1940s!

[Leothelion]

Thanks for the adventure! I'll need to see that someday. Wall drug? The name does sound familiar.

 

Leo

[CarlWohlforth]

Hey, that is cool! You see so much more of America when traveling by car than you when you fly. Especially if you get off the interstates.

 

There is a restaurant here off a major highway (5) that has an absolutely incredible collection of metal lunch boxes. Every cartoon character you remember and all the ones you ever forgot from the '70s (also earlier and later) are there.

[DonHeath]

That really is a cool story. It's fun to find the unexpected. I remember the silver coins going away, and at the time, I thought most of it was pretty boring. The worn out Washingtons and Franklins were not much to look at. The Peace dollars I found were too valuable for me to keep. A dollar was a huge amount of money for a kid that earned 25¢ cutting grass. My grandfather saved a few for me that I still have. He put away a 93 Columbian half from circ, a 92-CC Morgan in VG, and about 20 silver Kennedy halfs in a cigar box in the wardrobe. The Morgan was the core of my early collection.

[solid]

I'd never head of that - thanks for sharing!

 

Ken

[Leothelion]

I'd never heaRd of that - thanks for sharing!

 

Ken

 

Leo