I obviously inherited my love for old dealership buildings from my parents, because they snapped this photo the other day while passing through the village of Wilsonville, Nebraska:
Above that amazing arched doorway it reads, J.B. Andre ’07”
I did a little research, and it looks like J. B. Andre moved to Wilsonville from Marshalltown, Iowa in 1903 and opened a blacksmith shop. This 1907 building would have been ideal for that, and you can almost see the carriages rolling in under that beautiful arch.
It wasn’t long before Andre became interested in automobiles. One 1908 story noted that Andre was driving a new Mitchell, which, by the way, made a grand total of five automobiles in town. By 1912, Andre was selling Mitchells. He then moved on to selling Oaklands, Briscoes and Maxwells. By 1930, Andre was a Mopar man, advertising Dodge Brothers trucks in the 1930s and new Plymouths and Chryslers into the 1950s:
Finally, Andre signed off on this interesting bit of history that was published November 1, 1929, just days after the great stock market crash:
