Rural Missouri - May 2018 - 9

Left: Rosebud's merchants show off their wares, ranging from decadent desserts to antiques,
coffee and quilts. Above: Sherry Gooch creates a new arrangement at her shop called Relics.

Above: Antique hunters can ﬁnd thousands of items for sale in the many shops scattered around Rosebud. Above right: Antiques spill outside at Good Old Days Antiques and More on
Highway 50. Below: Tom Wright shows off his patriotism through the Pledge of Allegiance painted on the side of the Old Factory Antique Mall, which is housed in the former shoe factory.
who found rosebushes growing near the railroad they were extending westward
and thought it would be a good name for the town. When the trains stopped
running the town initially experienced tough times. But rather than give up,
residents found new ways to earn a living.
Besides the merchants listed by the mayor, Rosebud's guests can browse
concrete statuary at Pat's Place ranging from ﬁre plugs to angels. They can
buy a quilt from Quilts by Shirley or have their own top quilted. There are two
salons - Hair Haus and D's Salon - for those who want to spruce up after
shopping. New to the town is the Rosebud Vault Boutique which opened on St.
Patrick's Day.
"It seems to get busier and busier," agrees the boutique's owner, Trisha
Schmanke, who says the opportunity to buy the old Rosebud Bank building
for her new store was the chief attraction for her. "We are getting a lot of new
shops. I've always been into fashion and this is my calling."
The bank, which opened in 1912, still has its vault with the original safe
door and the lockboxes from when the building served as the post ofﬁce. The
vault is now a changing room and the lock boxes have been repurposed as part
of the store's display. It's typical of businesses in Rosebud that have not forgotten the town's 100-plus years of history.
At One Painted Girl Classy Uniques, Janet
Snider searches high and low for just the right
piece to turn into what she calls "perfectly
imperfect" furniture. She adds new life to old
furniture, painting them in unique colors and
repurposing them for modern use.
Even the numerous antique shops have specialties such as primitives, Indian artifacts and
collectibles. "I talk to antiquers who say there
is no competition in antiques because there are
no two that are alike," Angie says. "You might
want a little knickknack, and they might want
something big. There's always a million different things."
Tom Wright and Debbie Thorson offer booths
to dozens of vendors inside what once was the
town's shoe factory. On any given day, patrons
of their Old Factory Antique Mall might ﬁnd

anything from antique furniture to tools and horse-drawn farm equipment.
At Good Old Days Antiques down the road, Judy Shaffer is ﬁlling in for the
owner who just had back surgery. She says Rosebud is the kind of town where
people still take care of each other. "It has a small-town feel I didn't see in the
other places I lived," says this St. Louis transplant. "It's just unreal."
Asked what is the most unusual thing in the store, Judy replies with a smile.
"I just sold it," she says, pointing to an antique oak dresser with an unusually
tall mirror.
Besides working together to boost the economy, residents take care of their
own. A Christmas fundraiser features a gift basket of donated products that
is rafﬂed. Proceeds go to help needy families. This past year the rafﬂe raised
$2,700 which was used to help a family whose home burned and others.
"That's basically the point of our association," says Angie. "We help the community, make it a nice place to live. We try to make the town look nice. We try to
help if someone is sick or down or needs their water bill paid. Whatever needs
to be done."
This sense of community is related by others as well, including residents of
other area towns who bought welcome banners just because they wanted to be
part of Rosebud's small-town atmosphere.
"It's a community, much more than just a
town," Angie says. "People come from all over
and they like to feel part of it. And they are welcome. We have members of our association who
don't even live in Rosebud."
In the movie "Citizen Kane," Orson Welles
mysteriously whispers "Rosebud" on his character's deathbed, prompting movie buffs to
speculate what the word meant. Some residents of Rosebud like to think he was remembering their little town.
"Maybe he came through here? I'd like to
think that," says the town's mayor. "I do always
say we are like the center of the universe
because you can't go anywhere that someone
doesn't say 'I know someone who lives in Rosebud.' There's 409 people - how can everyone
know someone?"
MAY 2018 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - May 2018