The Wish Book

The Farmers Book, the Big Book, the Wish Book, the Dream Book or better known as the Sears and Roebuck Catalog. Every household within five hundred miles of Chicago would receive one. In its height, the catalog produced 10,000 copies a day. There were fall and spring editions. It weighed six pounds, had 1,500 pages with some 150,000 products and reached more than twenty million Americans.

Richard Warren Sears, of Minnesota, wrote nearly every word of the Sears Catalog, largest retail empire of the world. As a boy he was fascinated by the railroad. This was during a time when the railroad was the only way in and out of rural America. Isolated farm kids looked at the train in awe and had connection to other parts of the country. At age 19, Sears worked in a railroad depot. A shipment of pocket watches was left unclaimed and Sears struck a deal with the manufacturer. He immediately sold out and sent for more. After six months, he made the sum of five thousand dollars. Richard Sears was a super salesman, one of the best ever and the catalog was his store window.

It contained everything a person would need or want. From the kitchen sink to school bells, shoes, clothes, guns, tombstones, pianos, candy and even houses! During the 1890s, a nation of mostly farmers, the catalog brought the outside world to the doorsteps of rural America. Material pleasures were few, and the Wish Book provided families with a new friend. It would bring the material world to the simple families. It was all the things dreams were made of.

In the Horton Bailey Store, north side of the Osceola square, you could find such a catalog. Horton Bailey was born in Burlington, Iowa June 24, 1861. In 1895, Bailey entered the furniture business in Osceola, along with being an undertaker. This is the same building that would be home to future businesses including Hylton Foods, White’s Furniture and Flowers N More, just to name a few. Other such businesses moved into the town. A Sears store was opened in 1966 on the south side of the town square. It was owned and operated by Robert Pool and his wife. JC Penney opened a store on the east side of the square along with a Montgomery Ward on north Main St near the railroad tracks. All offered a catalog service. Shipments of wishes would arrive at least twice a week. During the Christmas season, a special Toy Wish Book, would be distributed. The catalog itself was like a present arriving in the mailbox. It often caused civil discord between anxious siblings, waiting to flip through the catalog in hopes of circling their Christmas dreams.

In early 1990, the catalog saw distress. The successful book was rubbed out by large department stores offering the identical items for less cost. The Sears and Roebuck Catalogue dissolved its famous service in 1993. After one hundred years, the Sears legendary book had come to a close.