From Canton’s Grocery Store to Vis Major Brewing Company

August 25, 2023

When Lindsay Clanton arrived in Omaha at 28 years old, he started a family business that would serve as an anchor of the community for the next 70 years.

Clanton was a Tennessee native who first relocated to Texas where he operated a grocery store until 1908. For reasons unknown, he left the Lone Star state and headed north where he settled in Omaha and opened a store in the heart of Sheelytown at 2364 S. 29th Street, just down the road from Dinker’s. By 1913 he relocated his young family including wife Helen, and sons Gus and Elmer, and his business to 3501 Center Street.

Early exterior of Clantons courtesy of Restoration Exchange Omaha.

Clanton’s grocery store advertised it as “the store for good things to eat.” The store was located on the first floor of the eastern side of the building while the western side served as a soda fountain offering homemade ice cream. The Clanton family lived upstairs in a four-bedroom apartment. Rumors suggest that during Prohibition, its basement even served as a speakeasy.

Inside of Clantons courtesy of Restoration Exchange Omaha.

Like many grocery stores at the time, Clanton’s allowed frequent customers to charge purchases to an account and settle up later. Parents often sent their kids to the neighborhood grocery for milk, bread, and other essentials. It also offered delivery, first by horse and wagon and then truck. Already popular with neighborhood kids for its soda fountain, the store became even more so with the opening of Center Theater across the street in the 1950s. At that point, kids often made a stop at the store to buy candy for a penny and then take it to the show.

East side of the building show the second floor apartment where the Clantons lived.

In 1955 a frequent customer-turned-bandit walked in and asked 74-year-old Clanton to fill a bag with money. Noticing the man had a gun, Clanton went for his own which he kept in a nearby grocery bag. A skirmish ensued and while the bandit made off with his gun, he did not get a dime from the cash register. Before passing away in 1958, Clanton said it was the only time he had been held up.

1968 photo of Elmer Clanton from the Omaha World-Herald.

Having watched their father operate the store for decades, Gus and Elmer were well prepared to take over. They continued to do so even as large supermarket chains started to take an increasing share of the grocery business. Clanton’s managed to co-exist for a time, due to its convenience, service, delivery and charge accounts. While the chains offered many different brands, the variety of merchandise was the key for the neighborhood grocery store, which also sold pharmaceuticals, hardware, and cosmetics. Clanton’s was particularly well known for their freshly ground and cut meats and homemade ice cream, with the Halloween-flavored variety being difficult to keep in stock.

1989 photo of Elmer Clanton from the Omaha World-Herald.

When Gus passed away in 1979, his widow, Ruth, partnered with Elmer and kept the store running. Clanton’s was a true family business as Elmer’s son and even his grandson worked for the store. It has been said that the Clantons ran the store as if they were running a shelter, given that it was a safe haven for an entire neighborhood. Clanton’s closed its doors for good in 1989 when Elmer retired. When he passed away in 2002 he was remembered as someone who volunteered not only time and money to his community but also set an example for morality while serving as a role model for young people. All of his pallbearers were one-time clerks who worked in his store.

3501 Center St following the renovation by Vis Major Brewing Company.

The building remained largely vacant for 26 years. That changed in 2015 when Tom and Lindsey Clements decided to repurpose it for use as Vis Major Brewing Company. As a part of an extensive renovation, they repurposed items such as pews, light fixtures and an old confessional from St. Anthony’s Church. They retained the original wood floors and repurposed old tin ceiling panels as an accent behind the bar. Now the space where the grocery store once stood acts as a taproom for the craft brewery and the soda fountain has been repurposed as overflow seating and a party room. The second-floor living quarters of the Clanton family is available for rent as an Airbnb.

The interior of the brewery showing the old confessional and tin ceiling that now accents the wall behind the bar.

It is fitting that the Clements family, taking their lead from the Clanton family before them, restored this building to act as a third space for the community. The investment in this building, at the heart of two of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, has served as a catalyst for the redevelopment of the small business district between the park to its east and the country club to its west.

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