Clovis businesses celebrate 75 years

In 1929, a small-town newspaperman came to Clovis from Kansas to start a dynasty. Not only did Mack Stanton combine two weekly newspapers into a daily — the Clovis Evening News Journal at 215 Main — he also created a printing plant to do commercial printing at 313 Main and he called it Clovis Printing Plant.

Stanton hired A. W. “Pete” Anderson to run this print shop.

Stanton sold the CNJ in 1930 to the J. Lindsay Nunn group. It’s assumed Anderson purchased the print shop from the new owners of the CNJ in order to publish a weekly paper in competition with the daily. Then Stanton repurchased the CNJ in 1933, but a year later sold out to R. C. and C. H. Hoiles of California. Stanton was suffering ill health.

One of the lasting legacies of Stanton’s ownership was his daughter, Kathryn, who in 1935 married Bill Bomar, manager of J. C. Penney in Clovis. She began gathering news items for her father and soon was called “Scoop” by him. She also wrote a column called Pen Feathers. “Scoop” remained in Clovis and lived an active life. She died on Feb. 25, 2000, at age 84, outliving her husband by 10 years.

Stanton died in 1938 at age 56. He had been flown to St. Louis for brain surgery, but he became a victim of a malignant tumor. During the years in Clovis his wife Ruby kept the books for the paper and gave him support and encouragement for his determination to give Clovis the best newspaper in the state.

In 1946, the Clovis News Journal moved to Sixth and Pile. In 1956, the print shop, which had also started an office supply business at 313 Main, split from the office supply company.

Jack Siddens and his partner Jason Hicks and his sisters moved the print shop to 117 W. Grand and renamed it City Printing, Inc. In 1958, Joe Fahnert, a CNJ engraver, bought City Printing, Inc. In 1973, David Rael and myself bought City Printing. I retired in 1994 and now David and Gloria Rael own City Printing, Inc.

In 1955, Ed Manson and Eula Mattingly sold their interest in the office supply store to L. W. Oswald and Carl and Emily Bledsoe. The office supply was renamed Clovis Office Equipment Co. in 1962 and needing more room was moved to 509 Main. Carl Bledsoe and Jimmy Brown became the owners.

On April 1, 1971, Marvin Floyd Holland, from Plainview, purchased the Clovis Office Equipment Co. In 1972, needing more room, Holland move his store to 601 Pile where it remains today. Marvin Holland ran the store, which is now called Holland’s Clovis Office Equipment Co., until he died on May 11, 2003.

His son, Randy, now runs the business, specializing in office supplies, printing, and copiers. Several years ago Marvin Holland began a print shop to do commercial job printing. One of the major pieces of equipment purchased by this office supply company was a wide format printer to print giant photos, such as the ones furnished by the High Plains Historical Society that are on display in the long hallway outside the city commissioners’ meeting room in the north end of Clovis-Carver Public Library. Randy will continue to make these large prints from the historical society’s photo files which will be for sale with a good portion of the income going to the historical society.

Since these three businesses relate back to Mack Stanton’s management skill in1929, Holland’s Clovis Office Equipment Co., under the direction of Randy Holland, is honoring the 75th anniversary of these three businesses.

An open house will be held at Holland's on July 23. The Clovis Chamber of Commerce will provide a ribbon cutting, starting at 10 a.m.

Don McAlavy is Curry County’s historian. He can be contacted at:

[email protected]