The research takes years, but the result is worth it, as the Stanley Area Historical Society recently presented two local businesses with history boards on their buildings. The research was done by Betty Plombon, while putting together of the boards themselves was done by Judy Judnic. The two businesses receiving the boards were Stanley Truck Sales of 515 North Broadway and The Muffler King of 301 East Maple Street, both in Stanley. Plombon shared a little of what went into making the history boards.

“Well the research took years,” she said of finding out the facts behind each building’s history. The boards, meanwhile, took considerably shorter, about a month.

“Judy did the layout and putting the backgrounds on,” Plombon said of her helper in the enterprise.

As to the Halterman board, Plombon said they had been asking questions when they moved into the building, while for The Muffler King it was similar. So what might one learn from such an endeavor? We asked the Wundrows, hearing back from Todd on how it started for his own business and what the boards had done.

“While having a conversation with Betty Plombon at the beginning of the year, I had asked her if she had knowledge of more history of this shop location as I had been curious about it for some time,” Wundrow said. “Some things that I learned as a result of the board were some of the services provided and products sold at this location over the years,” he said. “Russ and Elaine Paul, whom we purchased the shop from, had told us some of the history, but learning more about who else previously owned the shop was interesting. There are only a handful of owners from the 1930’s until 1944. Since 1944, there have only been three owners of the business location, myself included, and we three have all continued the title of the Muffler King.”

Top photo: Stanley Area Historical Society (SAHS) intern Eric Mehnerdt (left) takes time to present Syndi Halterman (right) of Stanley Truck Sales and the Halterman family with a history board on the building at 515 North Broadway. Bottom photo: SAHS intern Eric Mehnerdt, Betty Plombon, Misty Wundrow, and Todd Wundrow take a picture with a history board that Plombon helped prepare for the Maple Street business, with help from Judy Judnic. Photos by Joseph Back.