Dahlgren: Main Street and Western Auto

I took a walk down Main Street Dahlgren, Illinois a couple weeks ago and wanted to capture a bit of the small town character. A few buildings stuck out to me, so I took a closer look.

Western Auto

Goin Enterprises is listed as an auto parts store, but like many rural hardware stores, it probably sells a wide variety of things. Appliances, lawn mowers, and as we'll soon learn, furniture are among the things that are probably included. While Goin has been around for decades, I'm not sure if they go by Western Auto now, like the sign says or not. It represents the kind of home town hardware store almost every southern Illinois town had at one time.

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Side Building

Just off to the side is this building. It doesn't seem to have been occupied for a long time, but still stands strong with its ornate construction and stylish windows. A look down the side shows just how big this building really is.

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Corner Building

This building on the corner stands aged, but proud from afar. Yet once you get up close, you can see time has taken its toll. Peeking through the corner door, we can see the roof is completely caved in.

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Building On The End

This corner building on the far right is interesting. You can see faint lettering saying what you'd think said "Coin Bros", if you didn't know about Goin Enterprises. So we know it likely once said "Going Bros" instead. I peeked through the window and you can see the building is full of new recliners, looking like a furniture store. The door is apparently no longer used, so the building probably is an extension of the Western Auto store now.

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• Photographed on March 10, 2018 by @soill
• Dahlgren, Illinois
• Google Maps Location
• Google Street View