For more than 100 years, five generations of the Anderson family operated Newton's oldest retail business on Main Street. Founder Phillip Murray Anderson began in 1892 by selling newspapers on Santa Fe trains, then opened a newsstand in 1894 in an 8' x 16' piano box at 420 Main with help from his mother, Clarissa. In 1900 the business moved to a double storefront at 422-424 Main, on the present site of the train depot, and those buildings were later sold to the Santa Fe when the store relocated to 522 Main in 1928. Phil M. Anderson became Newton's first dealer of Victrolas, G.E. refrigerators, Eastman Kodak photo finishing, Hallmark cards, fireworks, and school books. The store moved to its current location in 1938 in a limestone and brick building erected in 1883, whose interior retains its original ceiling fans, wood floors, metal ceilings, and gas radiators. Phil E., the third generation, began work there in 1931 and remained a mainstay of the business for more than 61 years, while his children Dodi, Jon, and Brad worked in the store during their school years. His son Phil III, the fourth generation, joined the business in 1958, and Milton, Murray, and Clay of the fifth generation began their retail careers there while in junior high school. Family involvement remained a trademark of the Anderson family's success.