Along in 1892, three young Danish boys got an urge to leave their native land and sail on the big adventure to the new world called "America." The parents of one of the boys objected strenuously and forbade their son to make the trip. The other boys, one of whom had an uncle living near Denmark in Lincoln county, decided to make the trip alone. One of these boys was Chris Munch, who has remained to make his home here since. The other boy moved to other parts and Mr. Munch has lost track of him.
Mr. Munch was employed as a clerk in a store in his native Denmark, and his first employment here was on a farm. Finding farming a little too strenuous he decided to come into town and look for work. W.D. Morgan, an early day mayor of the town, and prominent civic leader, offered Mr. Munch a job in his store which was located in a frame building on the site of the present building that now houses Mr. Munch�s dry goods department. Not being very familiar with the King�s English as it was spoken out here in the wide open spaces, he worked as a bookkeeper for Mr. Morgan until the latter decided to close out his store.
Mr. Munch then took a position with Al and Mose Shire, but was unable to get along with Mose so he quit and went to work for Herzberg�s who operated the "Chicago Bazaar" in the building now occupied by Liggett�s and the Roach Theater.
When the Herzbergs left Lincoln Mr. Munch decided to open a business of his own. Working for $20 a month he hadn�t been able to save up a lot of money but he took the long chance and started in business in the building now occupied by Dodge�s barber shop and the Weir Jewelry. He had a pretty small stock of goods to start with and so decided to call his new venture the "Small Store," a name that cause d a good deal of merriment among the citizens.
After operating his own business for some time, Mr. Morgan, in the meantime, had erected the stone building now occupied by Mr. Munch and induced him to move his store to the location which has since been the home of the Eagle Store. How he came to call his place of business The Eagle Store is as much of a mystery to Mr. Munch as it is to anyone else. It was just one of those things in the way he explains it.
So after 48 years of bucking the ups and downs of the mercantile business in Lincoln as related above, Mr. Munch is this week advertising a sale to close out his business and the passing of the store will be regretted by many Lincoln county people whom it has served for so many years. Mr. Munch�s health has not been of the best for the past few months and he feels that is is about time he slows down and takes life a little easier.
Mr. Munch has always taken an active part in the affairs of the community and has contributed his share in both time and money for the betterment of upbuilding of the community. During his long residence here he has accumulated a rare fund of information concerning the history of the community that few men now here possess.
Mr. Munch is undecided what he will do when he closes out his business but fortune has not been too unkind to him throughout the years. He has a number of farms in this locality which he can look after and other interests that should take up a good deal of the slack in his leisure time. He has never visited his native land since he left there some 58 years ago and the fact that he has two sisters living in Denmark, whom he has not seen in all those 58 years, may bring on an urge, if everything turns out all right next year, to pay them a visit.
Mr. Munch has taken a notable part in the business and social life of Lincoln county and now that he is retiring from active duty the many friends he has made and served throughout almost a lifetime will wish him many pleasant years ahead in the peaceful and happy surroundings in which he has been a part for so many years.
In looking back over the years Mr. Munch says he has had a lot of fun in operating his stores as well as a lot of grief, but the two have about balanced themselves and he is well satisfied with the results. There has been nothing much of an outstanding nature to record over the years, Mr. Munch says, but there have been many changes along the main street, both in faces and businesses. When he first started work in the stores, they opened up at daylight or earlier in the morning and remained open until 10 to 11 o�clock at night. There was little in the way of amusement as there is nowadays and the stores were sort of a meeting place for the men folks of the country side at least, to while away their idle time in recounting the events of the day and the telling of tall yarns, a time in which Mr. Munch likes to refer to as the good old days.