By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Common Council recognized Bradley’s Department Store and the Delavan-Darien High School wrestling team at its meeting on Feb. 23.
Mayor Ryan Schroeder honored Bradley’s with a Mayoral Proclamation recognizing the store for serving the Delavan community for 169 years. The store is thought to be the oldest continually running department store in the state and one of the oldest in the nation.
The Bradley’s era came to an end as a clothing store in January as the building was sold to Fred Gahl, who plans to turn the store into an outlet for his estate liquidation business. While Gahl said he plans to keep the Bradley’s name, the merchandise sold there will be different than it has been in the past.
Schroeder’s proclamation said Bradley’s had occupied the space at 222 E. Walworth Ave. since 1874. Bradley’s got its start as a small tailor shop operated by William Wallace Bradley in 1848. Bradley introduced ready-to-wear stock to the store in 1852 making clothing available for men to purchase in Delavan for the first time. The building Bradley’s occupied until January was erected next to the original Bradley’s in 1874 to make room for assorted dry goods that were added to the store’s inventory.
In 1887, W.W. Bradley and his two sons-in-law, W.H. Tyrell and J.J. Phoenix, formed W.W. Bradley & Company, Inc. In 1903, Merrick and Parson bought the store when the operations of Bradley’s Knitting Mill began to require the full attention of the store’s owners. The Bradley’s tradition was continued by the Boughton family (1918-1951), the S.G. McKoy family (1951-2011), and Lois Stritt (2011-2021.) Bill and Diane McKoy and Stritt were present at the meeting and presented with framed copies of the proclamation.
Schroeder thanked the McKoys and Stritt for their efforts to keep Bradley’s a Delavan historic downtown destination for 70 years and he proclaimed Feb. 23 to be “Bradley’s Day”.
The Delavan-Darien wrestling team was also honored last week for its historic season. The Comets were Southern Lakes Conference, WIAA regional champions and finished second at the WIAA sectional, one spot away from qualifying for the state wrestling tournament.
Three Comet wrestlers advanced to the individual state tournament. A fourth would have qualified in a non-COVID year, but the number of participants was reduced because of the pandemic.
Senior Mason Hennessey finished as state runner-up at 106 pounds, junior Cole Hanson took fifth at 170 pounds, and junior Owen Chelminak qualified at 160 pounds but did not place.
Schroeder said the team represented the Delavan-Darien community very well. Coach Clay Nelson said leadership is what makes a team successful and this team had a lot of that. He also thanked the school, the community and the Booster Club for all of the support the team received during its run.
“This was a great group and we will have a great group coming back next year,” Nelson said.
Read more coverage from the Feb. 23 meeting in the March 4 Delavan Enterprise.
