Klamath Heritage: The Gun Store

Klamath Heritage: The Gun Store c. 1910

Klamath County Museum’s Photo of the Week for March 3, 2019, is an undated image showing the interior of The Gun Store, a fixture in downtown Klamath Falls through most of the 1900s.

The Gun Store, opened in 1909 by Barney Chambers, was easy to spot because of a huge artificial gun that was suspended over the sidewalk in front of the store. The inside of the store was a virtual museum of mounted wildlife specimens.

This undated photo appears to show the interior of the store at its original location in the 1910s and ’20s at 619 Main Street. It moved to various other locations in the downtown area over the years. Along with firearms and ammunition, the store offered boots, clothing, tents and other outdoor gear items.

Besides the assortment of mounted animals, visitors to the store could occasionally see the skins or heads of impressive kills made by local hunters. A newspaper story in 1946 nostalgically recalled the store’s early days:

“A pot-bellied stove, the warm acrid smell of skins drying, the jargon of men from the woods, Indians, trappers, hunters and above all the bustling salesmanship of Barney Chambers. These are the memories of The Gun Store, an institution of ‘the good old days’ of Klamath Falls.”

In later years Chambers expanded into various lines of clothing. Chambers retired in 1929, and died in 1937. The store continued operating for many years under other owners, including O.K. Puckett, Fred Houston, Frank Drew, Cecil Drew, Neal and Holly Drew, and Debra and Craig McGeary. The store, having been renamed All Season Sports, closed in the mid-1990s.

Information provided from the Klamath County Museum.