The Fair Store, Huron, South Dakota

The Fair Store, in business for over 20 years in the store front many of us know as The Little Zee, was opened by Arthur F. Miller about 1909.  Initially opened on 3rd street between Dakota and Wisconsin avenues, the store outgrew the space within the first two years and moved to the ground floor of the Masonic Temple building at 4th and Dakota about 1911.

Miller and his wife, Albeane, came to Huron in 1906 from Tipton, Iowa where Mr. Miller ran a similar general merchandise store.  It appears that Miller worked for someone else before opening his own store in Huron.  The Fair Store was a huge success, eventually adding more departments including a grocery department when an addition was put on the building.   According to his obituary, the store was "one of the largest independent retail establishments in the city."


Miller was active in various civic events in Huron, and was a member of the Masonic order, Rotary club, as well as the Odd Fellows and Elk lodges.


Arthur Frank Miller was born at Baraboo, Wisconsin in 1866.   He married Albeane VanLeshout.   In 1932 he was diagnosed with carcinoma, and his health began to decline.  He was able to give less and less of his attention to his business, and his last 6 months were spent bedridden.  He decided to liquidate the business in October of 1933.  He passed away the following month.  His widow, Albeane, lived until 1951.  The couple had no children.  They were buried in Riverside cemetery.

Sources:

Evening Huroite, April 19, 1933, pg. 5
Evening Huronite, Oct. 03, 1933, pg. 6
Evening Huronite, Nov. 29, 1933, pg.1
FamilySearch.org family tree
Huron City Directories, 1909 - 1934
Huron Revisited