White General Store is one of Swedesburg’s treasures

The Samuel L White General Store building is part of the Swedish Heritage Museum in Swedesburg. White originally purchased a lot in Swedesburg in November 1875 and then built a store there. The exact date of the opening of the store is unknown.

Jacob E. Connor (1862-1949) was a local lad at the time who loved to read. He would read any book he could buy or borrow, and he encouraged Mr. White to set up a library in the little store. White did just that, and now visitors to the Swedesburg museum can see a registry of the people who borrowed books from the store’s library from 1880-1885.

Jacob would go on to graduate from the University of Iowa, travel the world, write articles for National Geographic Magazine, and eventually become the US consul in St. Petersburg, Russia, from 1909-1914.

For many years, White’s store was used as a storage area for surplus merchandise when another, larger store was built next to it in 1927. Today, Samuel White’s store has been refurbished and is an important part of the museum, giving visitors the opportunity to see what a general store looked like more than 100 years ago.