Robert E. Lee Good was our first Clovis merchant. He was the fourth child in a family of 12 children. He was born on April 19, 1868 in St. Albans, West Virginia at his father’s farm, located on the Great Kanawha River.
Robert left home and arrived in this area in 1886. He was employed by the well-known San Joaquin Valley vineyardist M.F. Tarpey. The vineyard was located southeast of Ashlan and Clovis avenues. The San Joaquin Valley Railroad would build a depot there in 1892. In 1998, that historic Tarpey depot was relocated to the corner of 4th and Clovis, where it serves as our Clovis Tourist Information and Visitors Center.
Robert, who spent six years as foreman, remained at the Tarpey vineyard for 10 years. He soon realized that the numerous lumber men who brought lumber by team from the Sierra needed merchandise and supplies prior to reaching Fresno. He built a successful small cross road store near Tarpey.
Clovis was mostly a field of wheat when the San Joaquin Valley Railroad arrived in 1891. Robert decided to expand his business by moving closer to the foothill and mountain area. In 1895, he purchased three lots on the southwest corner of Fourth and Fulton and erected a small, 25X36 foot wooden building. His trade territory extended 25 miles north and 55 miles east. In 1900, he built a large brick building, 75X120 foot, plus a warehouse with the capacity to hold 4,000 sacks at the same location.
He carried a full line of dry goods, clothing, hardware, groceries and farm supplies. He was aware that his customers lacked cash, and he offered them credit until they harvested or sold stock. When he retired in 1917, his bad debt was only $700.
On Feb. 15, 1912, 273 of the eligible 600 voters approved the incorporation of the City of Clovis as a “dry” City. Robert Good was elected to the first board of trustees, or city council. The city was officially incorporated on Febr. 27, 1912.
The Board, 4th City Ordinance, ordained an additional election on the second Monday in April 1912. Robert was not elected. He served on the Clovis Union High School board from 1901 to 1908. He continued his love of farming by raising wheat and barley on 1,200 acres east of Clovis.
His four brothers, John, Sam, Henry and Charles, joined him in Clovis.
John E. and Sam Good arrived in 1896 and worked for Robert until 1904 when they purchased the B.K. Smith grocery store at the northwest corner of Clovis and Fifth. Sam soon left the partnership. The store was destroyed by fire in 1906. That same year, John built the two-story brick building and adjacent one-story buildings that remain the focal point of Old Town Clovis.
William J. Hutchison began working with John as a boy. He graduated from Clovis High School in 1916 and became John’s partner in 1920. He purchased the John Good store in 1945. The upstairs served as a dance hall and rooming house at that time. Tenants in the single-story stores were Johnson Insurance Agency, Alderman’s Barbershop and Whiton’s Cyclery.
In 1908, Sam Good opened a furniture/mortuary business on the north side of Fifth Street between Clovis and Pollasky just west of the alley. The business was not successful. That same year, he would purchase and dismantle a single-room house, used temporarily as a school, on the southeast corner of 3rd and DeWitt. He built a small home on the location for his brother Charles. The house remains today.
Sam purchased the historic 1902 Hoblitt Hotel at the northwest corner of 4th and Pollasky in 1941. Dr. Wilbur Lose operated the Sierra Vista Hospital at that location until 1945. Sam sold the building to Harry and Letty Rasmussen in 1964. The Victoria Rose Cottage and the Clovis Community Redevelopment Agency presently occupy that historic building.
Henry Good worked for his brothers Robert and John. In 1910, he established the Clovis Furniture Co. that would eventually occupy Robert’s location at 4th and Clovis Avenue. Ralph Wheeler became his partner in 1920.
Alice, the sister of the Good brothers, married John E. Burke, who served as our justice of the peace from 1923 to 1944. Their family home, significantly remodeled, is on the northwest corner of Woodworth and Fifth Street