In the October 1, 1914 edition of the Ridgeway Journal, when Ridgeway was just starting to get electric power, there was a short story about something new in town: “The Bartlett Implement Co. have erected an electric sign on top of their store building bearing the firm name. The sign contains eighty lamps and aside from the electrical equipment is the product of home labor.” The sign was built byW. Bartlett, W. L. Perkins, U. C. Eaton and Ross Wiley. It was the first of its kind in Ridgeway and the editors expected that others would soon copy him.
According to the 1914 Sanborn fire map, Bartlett Implement Company was probably located on the east side Main Street about half way between Vine and Walnut. Tracy thought that Shepherd Equipment was located in that area later.
On the same page, Bartlett’s also took out a nearly quarter page ad reminding their customers whose accounts were in arrears that “Oct 1 is here.” They wanted those accounts paid because they had already committed that money elsewhere. “It is not good business for you to let it run over and we have made such commitments that it would be bad business for us to allow it to run over.”
