I spent years walking the aisles of Marsh Supermarkets, buying my groceries there, and digging into the company’s history. Recently, all of that curiosity and familiarity converged on a single realization: if I truly wanted to understand the Marsh story, I needed to see where it all began. My search led me to Salem in Jay County, Indiana, where I found the Marsh family’s first store.
If you’re from Indiana, chances are you remember Marsh Supermarkets. For many, Marsh wasn’t just a grocery store- it was a huge part of our lives! My Grandpa Pop started out unloading railcars in high school and worked his way up to Warehouse Superintendent before he retired. Over the years, most of my family worked there, too. For the longest time, Marsh was the only place we shopped. When the chain sold out, it felt like losing a piece of home.
All of that history got its start with Wilmer Marsh, who was born in Randolph County in 1876. Between 1900 and 1912, he and his wife, Cora, raised a large family of seven children- Treva, Olen, Dale, Merritt, Thorold, Ermal, and Estel.
In 1922, Wilmer made a decisive move: according to local accounts, he traded his eighty-acre farm to William Morehous, a merchant in Salem who operated a store in the bottom story of the town’s Odd Fellows lodge1. The deal, legend has it, was about more than land or money: Wilmer believed the mercantile would offer his children valuable firsthand experience in the world of business2.
Some of the Marsh brothers stayed close to home, helping their dad run the grocery store, while others took to the roads in a huckster wagon, calling on customers scattered across the countryside3.
That routine came to a sudden and violent end in 1923, when Wilmer was shot in the head during an attempted robbery by three bandits4. In a twist that sounds almost too sensational to be true, one of the suspects was later identified as One-Arm Wolf- an associate of Al Capone5!
Wilmer Marsh survived the robbery and recovered, but stepped away from the grocery business in 1928. His break didn’t last long, though: later that year, he was back at it with a new store in nearby New Pittsburg. The Marsh family’s ambitions only grew from there: in 1929, they launched another store in Ridgeville, and Ermal Marsh returned home from his first year at Ball State Teacher’s College to help keep it running6.
From those modest beginnings, Ermal Marsh opened his first grocery store in Muncie in 1931- remarkably, while he was still a student at Ball State7. His first true supermarket followed in 1947, when the first Marsh Foodliner opened at 1623 West Jackson Street in Muncie8. Unfortunately, Ermal Marsh died in a 1959 plane crash. Presidency of his company first passed to his younger brother Estel, then to Ermal’s oldest son Don.
What started as a single, scrappy operation eventually grew into a sprawling retail empire. By the time the company was sold to private investors in 2006, Marsh had expanded far beyond its original footprint, encompassing sixty-nine Marsh Supermarkets, thirty-eight LoBill Foods discount stores, eight O’Malia’s Food Markets, 154 Village Pantry convenience stores, two boutique Arthur’s Fresh Markets, along with a catering operation and several florist shops9.
Although the Marsh grocery in Salem was never part of Ermal Marsh’s greater portfolio, it still deserves a place in the story. That small-town store represents the seed from which everything else grew! Long before supermarkets, Foodliners, and Village Pantries spread across the region, there was Wilmer Marsh’s store in Salem: a modest beginning that set the tone for a company that would go on to shape how millions of Midwesterners bought their food for generations.
Sources Cited
1 Routledge, R. (2005, December 11). Marsh roots go back to New Salem. The Muncie Star Press. p. 23.
2 (See footnote 1).
3 Estel V. Marsh (1989, September 21). The Muncie Star. p. 6.
4 Portland Short Notes (1923, December 22). The Muncie Star. p. 12.
5 (See footnote 1).
6 (See footnote 1).
7 McBride, M. (2000, May 13). For Ross, business as usual. The Muncie Star Press. p. 19.
8 BSC Scholarship Created in Memory of Ermal Marsh (1963, February 3). The Muncie Star. p. 25.
9 Heinekens, N. (2006, May 4). Marsh signs buyout offer. The Indianapolis Star. p. C1.
A fascinating story. Made me think of my fathers general store in Greensboro for the mid 60s though the eights, but, we never got rich, ha!
Great writing as usual Ted, you have a way with words and should considers writing books.
I have written 18 since I turned 69 four years ago, and started writing.
Wow! Eighteen!
I’m slowly working on a couple of ideas…maybe I’ll get something done this year.
I was just think, a story on the long defunct but small Matthews markets in Anderson would be interesting. I worked in on of their stores in 1976-78. Located in the 1500 block of Jackson street. At one time they had four locations. I’m not sure when they all closed, as I had left the area. I have lots of memories of those stores from my days in Anderson.
I’ll get on it! Sounds good!
I aslo just read that the Marsh company was the according to Wikipedia “first grocery store in the world to use a bar code scanner. The first item scanned was a ten-piece pack of gum.[8] One of the first scanners used to scan bar codes at the supermarket can now be found in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.[9]”
Yep! Juicy Fruit. The Yorktown Historical Society has one of two commemorative plaques issued for the occasion. I’ll have to grab a photo of it next time I’m there.
This was a fun one! It was hard for me to imagine all of what Marsh was starting from this one little seed, but it sure grew into an empire!
Indeed!
Awesome story Ted. Thanks. Bob
Thanks, Bob!
I was raised a couple miles from Salem and New Pittsburgh. I shpped in those store after the Marsh family sold them. Although i also shopped in Marsh stores in Muncie and Portland. I was also taught by a Marsh relative. My Dad was grade school friends with Don Marsh. A good history.
Very cool! Thanks for the additional info!
Just a little note: this Salem is in Jay County, Indiana; not Washington County, Indiana. It is also the reason the little community in Randolph County is called South Salem. 🙂
Updated for clarity!
Also, a side note, because of these robberies, the Marsh’s started the IGA, banding small grocery owners to procure items together for their stores and organize some protection with each other as well with law enforcement. There is more to this story, contact the Randolph County Historical Society. There is more info also in the 1992 county history book about it. 🙂
Sounds good! I’ll hit the historical society up.
I love a good origin story!
Same!
Ted,
My grandfather, William Chancie Morehous and his brother Calvin, who lived in the house, just south of the store, operated the business as partners. Calvin died an early death and that’s when my grandfather, Chancie, sold the store to Wilmer Marsh. About 1956, my parents, Howard and Ruthann (Morehous) Sipe, bought Calvin and Nella’s former house at auction from another family and lived there until 2014. It was a nice little town to grow up in, and I made several trips to the store for my mother and to buy pop and candy bars. We always called it North Salem. A previous name for the burg was Jordan.
Wow! Thank you for that information!
This is a great origin story for something that became omnipresent in Central Indiana. It is amazing to think that the generation before me shopped at stores like this. One was down the road from the farm where my mother grew up in Paulding County, Ohio.
It’s hard to believe how barely removed we are from places like this!
My family lived in this store apartment in the 70s. My youngest sister was born while we lived here in 1975. They ran the store for awhile, then it closed down, and we just lived there. Lots of memories!
Wow, thanks for filling me in. What a great story!
Ted – My grandfather, George Carey. owned a grocery in Bluff Point during the early days of Marsh. I don’t have details but at one point he was asked to become a part owner in Marsh – he turned it down because he didn’t have the money to invest.
Very interesting!