Alderman Works in House of Art

At first sight, it seems like an ordinary Western store. Black and taupe cowboy hats and Double H boots line the walls. Racks of leather belts stand expectantly next to silver belt buckles; the back shelves are devoted to tack and feed. The air smells vaguely of a farm.

But look around, talk with the man who owns the store; there is much more here than meets the eye. Right away, one discovers there is something unexpected in the closed portion of the Pinebrook Western Store. Past the sign for the “Fitt’ In Room,” owner Russell “Monte” Gifford houses a wall of art. There are breathtaking landscapes here: snow-capped mountains with towering pine trees, peaceful lake scenes, fields and green valleys.

It is not the collection of a famous artist. Gifford’s wife, Margaret, who passed away three years ago, made the works. Gifford, local Alderman of Ward 3, has photographed her paintings and hung them on the wall so they will not be lost. Ask Gifford about the Pinebrook Western Store and he is quick to offer, “This was my wife’s store.” 

Pointing to the shelves piled high with feed, he acknowledges that the store today in no way reflects how his wife used to run it. “I’m trying to get my life directed now,” he said. “I’m finally getting a little past my loss.” 

For Gifford, the store serves a double purpose. It is a place to preserve the memory of his wife, as well as meeting place for people who drop by to talk.

Russell "Monte" Gifford relaxes with a cup of hot coffee beside a warm fire in the back room of his Pinebrook Western Store in Galesburg. Friends and customers often stop in to chart, many bringing gifts for the proprietor.

Coming of Age

When Gifford was two years old, his father was transferred to Missouri by the Pet Milk Company.

In 1937, the family moved to Galesburg and by 1951, Monte had married and built a home for his wife simply by reading a “how-to” book. The couple had two children, a boy and a girl.

In 1956 Gifford began his career at what was then Admiral. By the time he retired 31 years later, the plant had undergone numerous ownership and name changes; now it’s Maytag-Galesburg Refrigeration Products.

Gifford was a senior evaluation engineer of the air conditioners manufactured at Admiral.

“Production engineering has its design side and its evaluation side,” Gifford explained. His job, as an evaluation engineer, was “to prove or disprove what the design side had done.”

He later applied the same principles to engineering refrigerators.

Though his job was sometimes demanding, Gifford remembers the values that united his family.

“We went to church together and went shopping together,” he said. “We always ate dinner together. We have lived as a family totally… totally.”

Pinebrook

In the 1970’s, Gifford and his family began another journey, which led them to their own business. Gifford’s young daughter received an Arabian stallion as a gift from a friend and his wife came across a pregnant mare. There was no room for horses at the Gifford household in southeast Galesburg, so the family bought a barn and cared for the horses together.

Around the same time, in 1971, Gifford first ran for alderman. He won when he promised to look into the upkeep of an abandoned historic brick building on Pine and Brooks Streets. Built in 1896, it had once housed a doughnut shop, a second-hand furniture shop, a grocer, and several apartments. When Gifford bought it, the building was in bad shape.

“It was closed and vandalized, a real drag to the neighborhood,” Gifford said. “People wanted to do something.” He restored the two-story brick building by tearing down two attached buildings and a little courtyard. He made repairs to the roof and “gave the front a facelift.” 

The revamped building was the perfect place to hold excess horse gear and feed. In a time when supplies were hard to come by, Gifford would buy 500 pounds of feed at a time. He simply moved pounds of it as it was needed to the barn.

When his daughter began to enter in horse shows and contests, opening an equine and farming equipment store seemed to be natural. In 1974 Monte and Margaret opened the Pinebrook Western Store. From the beginning, Margaret played a strong role in the family business. She worked at the store full time, though her husband often would come in after working at his “day” job.

“She kept this place running,” Gifford said. “She had such a wonderful way with people.”

Challenging times hit the family in 1977 when Gifford received a job offer in Addison, Michigan. He took it tentatively, hoping his wife would move. Margaret, however, was dedicated to the store and to Galesburg. Gifford recalled how he would drive home every weekend, except for one when a blizzard roared through, to give his wife a break from the store.

“It was hard. I was pathetic,” he said, laughing. After ten months he quit the job and returned to Galesburg.

Works of Art 

Though she was busy running the family store, Margaret found time to express her artistic side. She loved to paint landscape scenes but also painted historic buildings such as the old Galesburg post office. Her studio was in the east side of the building.

“When she wasn’t working out front she would come back here,” Gifford said.

Today Margaret’s studio is largely a storage area, although her easel and palette still rest by a red brick wall. Her paintings that used to hang around the store are now lined up neatly under a counter for safekeeping. Gifford took them down to photograph them and preserve them. He said that Margaret had already given some away.

Gifford has no plans to re-hang the paintings. However, he does plan to clean up the storage area of the store to make it open to the public.

“I’m working on several projects,” he said. Though these plans are mostly secret, Gifford admits that he will display a partially complete home-built airplane. This is just one way that he will use the space for the community.

Alderman Gifford already uses most of the Pinebrook Western Store for the neighborhood’s needs. There is a common meeting place at the back of the store, next to a cozy wood-burning stove. A neighbor helped set up the old-fashioned stove, and other neighbors donated the wood to supplement the high cost of heating bills. All that is missing is a pickle barrel and a checker board.

 People from all over Galesburg come to talk to Gifford about neighborhood problems. Many voice their concerns or complaints over the phone. Some people call him at home in the middle of the night to talk. He doesn’t mind.

“It’s my nature to respond,” he said. “If I’m going to represent people, I’ve got to listen to them.” 

The Pinebrook Western Store will continue to serve the community’s needs, be it shopping for a new pair of boots or a gathering place for the residents of Ward 3.

For Gifford, the shop means just a little bit more, a reflection of the past, as well as a symbol of his determination to remain involved as the future unfolds. “I keep the doors open because I’m determined that they’re open,” he said; somehow, you know he means it.

Stacia Falat, Class of 2002, is from Crystal Lake, IL. She is a Research Support Specialist for the Department of Defense National Security Education Program, Washington, D.C. © The Register-Mail, March 24, 2002.