The Lusk Herald, July 7, 1938

V and G Dress Shop and Merit Cleaners, located 3 doors south of the Wyoming Theatre suffered heavy damage from fire and smoke . The fire was mainly in the north portion of the building, housing the dress shop. The Dress Shop is operated by Georgia Johnson and the Cleaners by Clem Burge.

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The Lusk Herald, July 14, 1938

Merit Cleaners plan to reopen for business in the near future as damage from the fire is being repaired. The Dress Shop operated by Georgia Johnson was a complete loss and will not be reopened. the blaze was thought to have started by spontaneous combustion.

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A Dry Cleaner Likes Horses

Clem Burge is in the cleaning business, operating the Merit Cleaners in Lusk. During the week, he works like the devil trying to keep folks around Lusk looking nice in their clothes, but on Sundays and holidays he likes to fool around with his horses. Clem goes in for spots in horse flesh just like he goes after spots on clothes.

Now Clem is a family man and his family likes horses too. Here we have Alice, Judy, and Clem admiring a spotted colt.

(P.S. : The latest addition is son Dickie who arrived too late to be photographed for this book but nevertheless he is a very important part of the family. The next picture shows one of Clem’s stallions.

Clem maintains that a man ought to have a hobby. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So – he gets his recreation with his nags. (He really has fine horses, several Palominos and a number of Arabian breeding.) Clem also enjoys fishing and hunting when his business gives him a chance.

In the last year Clem has been enlarging his business considerably and the firm has moved into a nice new building of which Lusk can be justly proud. The building had to be constructed under handicap because of the shortage of material and with the boom in post- war construction, laborers were difficult to find.

The amount of equipment in the cleaning plant has been doubled and, all in all, it is now considered one of the most outstanding dry cleaning establishments in Wyoming.

Clem must go in for building as well as dry cleaning and horses, for he had built a new home in Lusk also.

A community is made by the efforts of its citizenry. Progress is not made by folks setting still or dying on their feet. Just as the old days found travelers seeking new frontiers, so we must have today folks seeking to find new businesses, investments and enterprises.

The world is always changing, and change is the most constant thing we have. Men who are successful recognize that they must keep abreast of the times. To remain stationary is to rot.