Cunningham Feed Store -- Arapahoe business stays open, changes clientele

The 127-year-old downtown-Arapahoe building that housed Cunningham's Feed and Produce for 50 years has been transformed by Kevin and Mitzi Urbom of Arapahoe and Lyndzie Holtze of Wilsonville into "Cunningham's Feed -- Bakery, Grill and Bar." (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette) [Click to enlarge]

ARAPAHOE -- During its heyday last century, Cunningham's feed store on Arapahoe's main street sold livestock feed by the train-car load.

Now, 60-some years later, the building is still called Cunningham's and is still selling feed -- although not in the same massive quantities, and its clientele are people, not cows and horses.

In an eight-year-long process, Kevin and Mitzi Urbom of Arapahoe and Lyndzie Holtze of Wilsonville have transformed "Cunningham's Feed and Produce" into "Cunningham's Feed -- Bakery, Grill and Bar."

The original store. (Photo courtesy Cunningham's Feed archives) [Click to enlarge]

Kevin said that an early Arapahoe businessman built the wooden corner-lot duplex structure between 1882 and 1885. At one time, half of the building was used by a cleaner and the other half by a grocer.

In 1946, Sam and Helen Cunningham bought the building for a feed store and to purchase and resell cream and eggs from area farmers.

At the time, Kevin said, Arapahoe stores stayed open late on Saturday evenings, and area farmers stopped first at Cunningham's to deliver their cream and eggs. After an evening of shopping, visiting with neighbors, catching a movie, farmers returned to Cunningham's at 11 p.m. to get their egg checks, he said.

During his busiest years, Sam Cunningham bought feed by the train-car load, Kevin said, and stacked it in the south half of the store. In the basement still today are the cedar timbers that Cunningham placed every eight feet in a grid pattern to reinforce the store's floor.

In 1996, Sam turned the business over to his son, John, who operated it for a couple years before closing the doors.

When the Urboms bought the building, in 2001, they discovered damage caused by disuse, rain and snowmelt -- but, oh, what original features and what potential.

"There was lots of water damage," Kevin said. "The center wall was rotted, there were broken rafters and the roof was collapsing." Kevin had done home renovation projects before, Mitzi said, "but nothing this extensive." Lyndzie added, "This was bad ... "

Kevin had concrete poured for a new foundation, trussed the rafters, and put in new windows and exterior doors. He rebuilt the fallen west end. They used original hinged French doors -- discovered during some demolition in the west end -- to widen the doorway between the north and side sides of the building.

Kevin pulled up all the original wide-plank pine flooring and installed new joists and a subfloor, and then planed all the planks, relaid and varnished them. The ceilings -- wainscoting on the north and tin on the south -- are original.

The walls of the north room were sheathed with a shiplap paneling that Kevin removed and re-invented as baseboard, window and door trim, booths and the bar. "We used every bit of it," Kevin said. "All we had to do to it was varnish it."

After eight years of renovation, the north side of the 127-year-old building houses the new "Cunningham's" bakery and kitchen, the south side the restaurant and bar.

The Urboms' and Lyndzie's original plans didn't include a bakery, but "to avoid picketing," Kevin says with a grin, they added a bakery for those who remember the couple's popular downtown bakery, a victim of a multi-structure fire 14 years ago.

Mitzi and Lyndzie bake doughnuts and rolls in the bakery, and Kevin bakes bread, including all the breads, buns, rolls and croutons for the restaurant. Nancy Holliday is the restaurant's cook.

"Starters" in the restaurant include nachos, wings, onion rings, smoked fries and mini cheddarwurst.

The restaurant serves certified Angus beef (CAB), featuring prime rib on Friday nights. Entrees include New York strip, sirloin and kabobs; burgers include "The Feed Burger" and "The Whole Farm." Seafood is highlighted by fish tacos, halibut and shrimp.

Dessert is peanut butter pie, key lime pie, Bailey's cheesecake, turtle cheesecake and cheesecake scoops.

Lyndzie's brother, Jeremy Clouse, a graphics artist living in Milwaukee, Wis., created the menu and the Cunningham logo.

The bakery is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 7 a.m. until 11 a.m. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Thursday, from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, from 5 p.m until 11 p.m. (with a limited bar menu from 9 p.m. until closing).

Cunningham's is located in downtown Arapahoe, at 603 Nebraska Avenue. The phone number is (308) 962-7373. Reservations are appreciated, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings.