In 1908, Frank Zimmerman and Adam Cyr formed a partnership and bought Louis Erlenwein’s meat market. By 1913, the business closed; and Zimmerman decided to purchase half interest in Tom Nicholson’s “City Meat Market” – housed in the Hotel Casey (Boardwalk Square).
Nicholson and Zimmerman had a 41’x44’ barn built near the Golden Rule Livery Stable on Railroad Avenue facing the GNRR tracks in 1915. They had the barn moved to an empty lot behind the Hotel Casey a year later.
In 1916, three brick buildings were constructed in the middle block on the west side of Main Street – Moore Brothers for a clothing store, Nicholson and Zimmerman for City Meat Market, and the Enterprise Group for Bonners Ferry Herald Office. (Two become the Georgia Mae Plaza and one is Pace-Kerby).
Frank Zimmerman bought Tom Nicholson’s interest in the City Meat Market in 1923 (100 years ago). On May 1, 1956 the City Meat Market closed its doors. Over the years, the building housed: Bonner Bakery, City Bakery, and Taft’s Variety. It burned in 1989 along with the building originally owned by the Moore Brothers. The site was acquired by Stan DeHart and is now the beautiful park on Main Street known as the Georgia Mae Plaza.
In the City Meat Market photograph, Tom Nicholson attends to a customer, and Frank Zimmerman is behind counter on right, ca. 1916. (Note: Look at the reflection in the mirror attached to the front of the counter. You can see the feet of the photographer!)