Historic Receipts
During the summer of 2024, volunteers at the Raupp Museum cataloged and digitized over 450 receipts from Buffalo Grove’s first general store, the Firnbach and Raupp General Store, from between 1919 -1920. The General Store operated in Buffalo Grove from the 1860s to 1960s. For many years it was the post office and polling place in town. In the early 1900s, it was also the first and only place in town to have a telephone.
Museum volunteers learned many new things about the different goods available for sale in the store while working with the historic receipts and did research to learn more about those goods. In this exhibit, they share some of the interesting things they learned.
There’s no sugarcoating it – this title is corny!
By: Dalia Heller
What kind of candy did people living in Buffalo Grove eat in 1919?
Here’s one thing you might have in common with many early Buffalo Grove residents – a sweet tooth! Several Firnbach and Raupp General Store receipts list candy, abbreviated as “cdy,” sold for as little as 5¢. Some well-known modern candies were already available in 1919, such as jelly beans, Tootsie Rolls, and Hershey’s chocolate. However, one sweet may have been especially popular in towns like Buffalo Grove – candy corn.
Originally called “Chicken Feed,” candy corn was invented in the 1880s at a time when corn was typically used as feed for farm animals rather than for human consumption. Consequently, the candy was marketed to rural farming communities across America, of which Buffalo Grove was one.
It wasn’t until the 1950s that candy corn became associated with Halloween. During this time, trick-or-treating became popular, and consumers gravitated towards this harvest-associated candy for the autumn holiday. The candy corn business began to boom, exploding from its humble origins in farming towns like Buffalo Grove into a multi-million dollar industry.
To this day, the primary candy corn manufacturer, a company called Brach’s, remains faithful to the recipe that Buffalo Grove residents would have tasted in 1919.
Rub-No-More
By: Yoshetha Ramprasad
Originally known as Summit City Soap Works, Rub-No-More is a vintage washing powder that was very popular in the early 20th century.
- However, within a couple years of the company’s venture, it faced a large debt crisis of $18,000, and was burnt down two years later.
- For a change in leadership, the company was then bought by the Berghoffs; a family of German immigrants who owned a popular brewery in the city.
- Under this newly established management , the company was renamed to Rub-No-More and was back on its feet.
- According to an old issue of the Fort Wayne News, Rub-No-More was a “labor saving compound” that “cleaned the working clothes of a mechanic as well as the finest linen of the household, without much rubbing.”
- Free samples of the soap were provided to every family in Fort Wayne.
- The company also got a new logo, iconically known as the two elephants logo, which depicted an adult elephant as a washerwoman who was washing the child elephant.
The Real Shoppers of Buffalo Grove, 1919-1920
By: Talia and Ari Duvel
Explore the real purchases from Firnbach and Raupp General Store receipts. Purchasing and pricing trends of clothing reveal interesting details about daily life over 100 years ago.
Fly Paper
By: Katie Lawless
Just like us today, the people of the past struggled with pests such as flies, and would find ways to try and prevent them from swarming their homes and other structures. Looking though old receipts from the Buffalo Grove general store, it is evident that many people would buy fly paper in order to control the annoying insects. People at the general store would usually pay $0.05 for 1 fly paper, which would be about $0.91 today.
Most fly papers made around the 1920s were manufactured by a brand called Tanglefoot. The formula for Tanglefoot was a mixture made with castor oil, resins, and wax. The brand patented the formula in 1877. This year the Tanglefoot Company would have been 140 years old, however in 2009 it was sold to Contech Enterprises of Canada.
Fly paper is an effective way of catching the annoying insects, but the way we use them today is a little different than they did back in the 1919s. Today people tend to go for fly traps that lure insects and bugs in by light rather than fragrance/ sweetness. A common product is Zevo, which uses a blue and UV light system to bring flying pests into the contraption which has an adhesive pad on the inside.
Fly paper often consists of some sort of sticky paper covered in a substance that’s sweet and strongly fragranced. If you wanted to make your own fly paper, follow these directions from Architectural Digest (Lutz, 2024):
- Cut some strips of heavy paper into 6–10 inch pieces. Poke a hole at the top of each and thread some string through it, making a loop.
- In a saucepan, combine equal parts water, sugar, and honey. Heat this mixture until it is well-combined. Let it cool.
- Once the mixture has cooled, dip the pieces of brown paper into the mixture and coat each side well.
- Hang the coated strips over a baking tray and allow them to dry. Once they’ve dried, they will be tacky to the touch.
- Hang the dried sticky flypaper anywhere where you see flies in your home.
Bluing
By: Hannah Bergman
As a common household product in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, bluing was a laundry product used to enhance the appearance of fabrics, especially “whites,” to make them look even brighter. The product came in a variety of forms, varying from a liquid to sticks, balls, cubes, powders, and more. No matter the form, it would be mixed into cool water, turning it light sky blue, for laundry to be briefly dipped into and then hung. However, the laundry process called for this step to occur after the washing of clothes in hot soapy water and a thorough rinsing of it, often two times.
In its variety of forms, as well as packaging sizes, up until around the 1930’s bluing could be found anywhere from $0.05 to about $0.25. Today bluing can still be used and purchased but for a lot more. For almost half a century, “Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing” ranged from $0.15 to $0.25 for a 10 oz bottle, and today can be purchased in an 8 oz form for $6.00 on their website. Here in Buffalo Grove, receipts indicate the bluing that was purchased was sold at the Firnbach and Raupp General Store for $0.10, but does not mention a specific brand of bluing. To gain a better understanding of the change in pricing in Buffalo Grove, if one were to order a bottle of “Mrs. Stewarts Bluing,” without including factors such as shipping and tax, the $0.10 to $6.00 price of bluing is a 5900% increase.
Laundry will always remain a staple part of human nature in its relation to both hygiene and appearance, making it important, as well as interesting to continue learning about. Having an understanding of bluing allows us to acknowledge and appreciate how the process has changed and evolved over time, and continues to grow today and in the future!
Feeding Buffalo Grove in the 1910s
By: Jonathon Franke Gordon
Do you know where your food comes from? On these maps find out what people would’ve eaten in Buffalo Grove in the 1910’s and where it would have come from.
National Map
International Map
Are you interested in volunteering at the Raupp Museum? Fill out a Volunteer Information Request Form or email museum@bgparks.org.
