WATERTOWN. -- American flags wave beside the door and rubber boots, as well as high leather boots hang from the door jams of the Irwin store in the little village of Stone Mills, a mile off the Watertown-Clayton highway.

A grocery store has been on that site, rather a general country store, since 1832. The first store still remains, center of the stone building. In the passing years two wings were built, so the building now has a broad frontage.

John Irwin, 81, still carries on, after 61 years in the store, which his father the late W. B. Irwin took over in 1875. Mr. Irwin plans no retirement. "Only the sheriff or the undertaker can stop me". he says.

There is no likelihood of the sheriff coming, for the Irwin store has been profitable many years. On the second score Mr. Irwin is a vigorous man apparently with many years ahead of him.

Just who established the store in 1832 in the little farming hamlet is not definitely known, altho records of the community indicate the store operated that year. Like other buildings of the early days of the community it was built of stone. It is believed that D. H. Lingenfelter was the proprietor in those early days. Later a Mr. Harger ran the store, and still later, in civil war days, E. G. Brown, father of the late Senator Elon R. Brown.

Starr and Mansfield operated it prior to its purchase by W. B. Irwin, who had been a farmer near Lafargeville. James Green was a proprietor during the 50s and added the western wing for a bar room. He ran a hotel at the time. Now the former bar room is the bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Irwin and the center of the building is their home.>/P>

The present store in the east wing was built by Starr and Mansfield. The Masonic lodge of Depauville built the second story of the east wing, and had its quarters there for years. The lodge united with Starr and Mansfield in putting on the roof.

John Irwin came into the store when his father took it over. He has been there since. Some years ago his brother, William Irwin, came into the store with his brother.

The store is the center of activity of the Stone Mills community. It is the real old type store where plus the groceries and clothing there may be found all farming implements, horseshoes, axes and saws. It was long the postoffice and John Irwin was postmaster 30 years until the establishment of rural free deliveries. The nearby residents still leave their mail there for collection.

John Irwin says there is only one other resident of the village now there who lived in Stone Mills in 1875. He is T. E. Ackerman. The old stone Union church, and the old school house, still in use, and a stone house, now owned by Dr. A. L. Tinkess, Watertown, are the only buildings left of the original village.

John Irwin operates the store and the gas station. The farmers come in, buy their groceries, fill up the gas tanks, and John doesn't forget to hand the children who come with their parents sticks of candy.

He and Mrs. Irwin have traveled widely. They have been to Europe, Africa, California, Panama, and to the West Indies.

His grandfather, John Irwin, came into the Black River country about 1830 settling in the Lafargeville section as a farmer. The Irwin family came from Orange county and members of the family served in the Revolutionary war. Grandfather John Irwin served in the war of 1812 and was given a land grant of 160 acres. He never utilized the grant, but the document is in the family records, and only a few years ago William Irwin was informed by the federal officials the grant was still good on any federal owned land, open for settlement.

John Seeber was the maternal grandfather of the Irwin brothers. He was a blacksmith from Montgomery county and Will Irwin said that he liked to travel and see the country. It took him seven years to learn his trade.

"Whenever he got a little money ahead he started for some new spot." said Will. "He came up to Lafargeville when John Lafarge, the land owner, bought his ten mile square acreage in this territory. John Seeber sharpened the tools for quarrying the stone that went into the famous old Lafarge mansion. Then he settled in the community.

Stone Mills is a quiet little community, with broad prosperous farms surrounding it. The Irwin store, a striking structure, with its broad stone front, stands in the center of the community.