On the dirt streets of Marengo way back in 1922, Israel Levin and his wife Francis peddled work boots and bib overalls to the farmers of Marengo and Riley townships. They sold button shoes and cotton stockings, flannel shirts and dresses to farm wives and children. Today on the concrete highway 23, their grandson Robert does pretty much the same thing. "We still sell the Oshkosh B'Gosh bibs and the American made work boots, but we also carry Sportswear and Airwalks"

In this day of franchise stores and towns that pretty much look the same from one strip mall to the next, Levin's Shoes & Dry Goods, just like the town, Marengo, retain a distinctive homey and personal air. "Sure we carry a lot of nationally recognized brands such as Levi's and Hush Puppies, " said Levin, "but where else can you get 'Romeo slippers' or wool long-johns?"

From Israel and Fanny driving to the farmhouses in their Model-T truck, the downtown store was left in the capable hands of their son Ralph and his wife Toby, until the '80's when Robert took reign. Founded in 1922 by his grandparents, Israel and Fanny Levin, Levins Shoes & Dry Goods is the oldest store in town.

Ralph became heavily involved with the store at the tender age of 7, when his father died in an automobile accident in 1932. His wife, Toby, joined him there on the day after their wedding in 1948 and his son Robert has been a fixture since returning from teaching position in Oregon about six years ago. In 1984, Robert, then 36, bought the business.

Like his father, Robert never intended to take over the store. But he's back, equipped with philosophy and art history degrees from Beloit College and a master's degree in business from Portland State. The store was the furthest thing from his father's mind, too, when he graduated from Marengo Community High School. He worked at the store for six years before going to college. Ralph attended the university of Wisconsin, University of Minnesota and later the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a degree in business administration.

"In high school my prophecy said I would be one of the leading merchants on State Street, and I thought all the time 'no way'." Ralph said. "When I went to school I wanted t major in physical education and minor in business. Then I started to get serious about the future."

Ralph realized that in 1942, the starting salary for a physical education teacher only was $800 a year. Besides, he knew the business and the community well.

"I've always felt comfortable here", he said with a reflective smile. "I'm a native Marengoan."

It hasn't always been easy, however. Bernard "Mark" Anthony, an old friend now living in Denver, remembers the lean years during the Great Depression. "He had to fight (to stay open)," Anthony said. "He kept things in order when they were getting out of order."

That meant taking eggs in trade-up until the price fell to 8 cents a dozen and Levin couldn't sell them anymore. It meant working long hours, up to 15 hours a day. Still, Anthony said he was not a bit surprised to return after 40 years and find the store, still in the same location at 212 S. State St.

"This was Levin's Dry Goods store and the is what it was going to stay as far as I was concerned," he added. "I never thought it would be anything but Levin's Dry Goods."

Ralph said the store first opened at 221 S. State, which houses the law office of Robert Becker. Ralph's uncles had stumbled upon an old Army-Navy store for sale there and urged their brother, Israel, to move out from Chicago and set up shop. They did just that.

In August 1922 Grant Highway had just been paved. A couple of the other main downtown streets were brick, Ralph added, but most were just dirt-lined with hitching posts and watering troughs for horses. His parents, and Ralph later on, carried different brands still available today. But the basic focus hasn't changed much -- quality shoes and clothing, personal service and reasonable prices.

The Levins took that philosophy with them when they moved to 204 S. State in 1929, and when they moved to their present location in 1941. While the Levins have had several offers over the years to expand, Robert is satisfied with keeping the store where it is.

"It seems to me there always will be a need for small stores," he said. We emphasize quality, price and service. Customers get individual attention. " Levins even orders merchandise with particular customers in mind.

"It has always been a family store, " Toby said, "and we'll always be in Marengo."

Reprinted form THE MARENGO-REPUBLICAN NEWS ------------------------------------

Three generations of Levin's have provided the Marengo area with good service, selection and competitive prices in dry goods over the last 7 decades.

Founded in 1922 by Israel Levin, the familiar downtown business has seen its lean years, but has always survived through the sound business practice of providing its customers with the best available goods at the best prices.

"My father was a construction foreman in Chicago," said Ralph Levin, now retired from the family business. "He decided to make the move out here in'22 and leased the building at 221 S. State.

"US20 was still under construction," remembers Ralph. "It was the first cement highway in Northern Illinois. Ill. Rt. 23 was still gravel, except where it ran through town. That was brick. As soon as he opened the dry goods store he bought an old Ford panel truck and began making deliveries all over the area. It was a sort of traveling extension of the store for farmers who needed things, but couldn't come into town during the week to get them.

"This was a real farm town then. We stayed open until midnight on Saturday night because that was the farmers' social time. They'd come into town and exchange news while the shopped. Things were quite different then. I was seven years old, and the official 'gopher'."

Ralph described the downtown area as having horse troughs and hitching posts, like something out of a Remington painting. He talked about the depression years.

"We moved the store in 1929 to 204 S. State, an address that no longer exists. Things got really lean about 1932," he said. "we would take produce and eggs in trade for goods. Eggs were going for 10-12 cents a dozen, but we'd give 14 cents a dozen in trade goods. Things got so bad we started getting crates of 24 dozen eggs at a time, and we could no longer get rid of them. We were pretty much stuck with them, and most of them went bad. The kids took to painting things like "Beat Harvard" on them, and taking them to football games!"

Ralph added, however, that things could have been worse for Marengo during the Depression. "This was a dairy town," he said, "And there was always cash business going on. So much so that men used to hop trains to come out here (from Chicago) to work for room, board and Laundry. If they were really good, and reliable, some of them got an additional $5 a month for their work."

Israel Levin passed away in 1932 and the children, Ralph, Herman, and Norma, helped their mother, Fannie Levin, run the store.

In 1941 the Levins moved one more time, this time to their present location at 212 S. State. said Ralph, "It used to be 3 businesses, 208, 210, and 212 S. State. But we remodeled the whole thing and dropped it down to only one entrance, 212."

Ralph went off to college, leaving Herman and Norma to help their mother. He played fullback for theUniversity of Minnesota, and returned in 1945 with a degree in Business Administration. It was Herman's turn to go to school, and sister Norma went to California. That left Ralph to run the family store, because in 1948, Fannie Levin retired to California t be with Norma.

1948 was a big year for Ralph for another reason. It was the year he married Toby Shussin and the two settled down, minding the store and raising six kids.

"You know all six of the kids helped in the store at one time or another," said Ralph. "Mary is a doctor in Chicago, Robert is now owner of Levin's, Barbara works for the Cook County Department of Health, Paul is a social worker for the state of Illinois, Trina is a teacher in Sturgeon Bay and Seth is an assistant television producer for KTCA in Minneapolis/St. Paul. At one time, believe it or not, we had six children in college at the same time!"

Ralph served on the Marengo City Council and the Marengo Community High School Board during the 60's and 70's. He turned the business over to son Rob in 1984. "Robert is progressive minded," said Ralph, "and a good boy!"

Today, under Rob's experienced hand, Levin's is looking to the future. "Marengo has changed tremendously since my grandfather and grandmother started this business," said Rob. "It was a farm community then, and still is to a certain extent, but there's a growing diversity that needs to be served as well.

But we'll never forget our roots, and the personal service people have come to expect. When I go on buying trips, I actually make purchases with certain people in mind."

Rob has expansion plans in the works. He said, "Eventually we plan to build off the back of the store, facing the parking lot. It will look like a store front though, giving the impression of a mall. We're going to utilize much of that space to expand our shoe department and sports apparel."

Rob and Ralph said they owe a deep debt of gratitude to the long years of service an loyalty of two, special employees, Carol Johnson and Fern Kunde.

--REPRINTED FROM THE MARENGO STAR
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When Levin's Dry Goods opened in 1922 there were hitching posts and a water trough along the dirt and brick Rt. 23.

Ralph Levin was 7 years old, by age 8, Levin was helping his father, Israel Levin, around the family-owned store.

"Marengo was definitely a farm town, " said Ralph. Although the depression hit northern Ill. pretty hard, the predominately dairy farm areas, like Marengo, were at least somewhat spared because people were at least earning a monthly paycheck.

Mid month were always milk check days, when farmers were paid by the dairies, according to Levin. As a result, it was around this same time that the merchants like Levin, would hold sales.

Durring the height of the depression, Levin recalls, his father used to accept farm produce in trade, including eggs. "things got so bad, men used to come out looking for a job just for room, board and laundry," Levin said.

After his father died at a very young age in 1932, Levin's mother, Francis, operated the store. As a high school student in Marengo, Ralph was very involved with sports and considered a sports-related career, although many of his classmates saw him differently. "When I was in high school, the class prophecy was that I would end up one of the leading merchants on State Street," Levin said. "I kept thinking 'No way, that's the last place I want to be."

In college, he played football and majored in physical education at first, planning to eventually go on to be a teacher. After an adviser told him the opportunities for a Jewish coach of teacher would be slim without moving to a larger city, Levin finished his education in business administration.

"I was always a small-town boy," said Levin, who returned to Marengo to work at his family's store. In 1941 he took over the business from his mother who died in 1979.

Ralph and his wife Toby, operated the store in much the same fashion as it had been. Their own six children all helped out in the store, just as Ralph had as a boy. Each went on to college and graduate school, building lives of their own.

In the early 80's, however, their second oldest child, Rob, followed in his father's footsteps when he took over operation of Levin's Dry Goods. "Robert was the very last one that seemed to show any interest in continuing to run the store," said Ralph, "When they were growing up, the other children always showed a willingness to help. He never refused, but he was always reluctant."

Like his father, Rob, had plans of his own. A Philosophy and Art History major with a masters in business administration, Rob had relocated to the pacific northwest where he intended to stay, until one day his parents called him to inquire whether he had any interest in operating the store.

"The store's always been a part of the family," said Rob, who admits he probably fooled himself into thinking he would give it a try for a while, Knowing all along it was a permanent move. "In the back of my mind, I knew someone had to take care of it." he said.

As the years passed, the store, which originally sold work boots and bib overalls to farmers, diversified into other lines, including flannel shirts, cotton stockings and dresses. Today, Levin's still sells Oshkosh B'Gosh bibs and American-made work boots, but also offers brands such as Woolrich and New Balance Athletic shoes.

"I tend to be conservative and stick to the old farm trade," said Ralph. "Robert tended to expand and become more modernized." "I think we 've sort of adjusted along with the times, " said Rob. "But it's getting tougher for a small retailer." Obtaining certain products, for example, can be next to impossible when you're not buying in large quantities. Getting Levi's clothing lines in the store is one challenge Rob has been successful in achieving.

"Generally you have to be a step ahead of the trends, which is easier when you're small," Said Rob.

And like his own father before him, Rob's 8-year-old son, Nicolai, and 5-year-old daughter, Melinda, come to Levin's Dry Goods after school each day to hang out and help their dad.

"It's the same sort of stuff I imagine I did" Said Rob, who operates the store with the help of his mom and dad and two employees.

--REPRINTED FROM THE HEART OF MARENGO