Question: When did the W.T. Grant Co. come to Fresno? My late mother, Anne Forth, worked there as a young woman in the early 1940s and made the department store her career, becoming a store manager.

-- Sharen Whisenhunt, Madera

Answer: The W.T. Grant department store opened in Fresno in 1932 at 1022-24 Fulton St., between Mariposa and Tulare streets.

In September 1953, the store moved to 1227 Fulton St., between Merced and Fresno streets.

An advertisement in the Sept. 20, 1953, Fresno Bee said the new, larger location would feature "daybright fluorescent lights" and "meadow-fresh air conditioning."

The improvements were part of a $200,000 remodel, according to a Fresno Bee story. New stainless steel doors and a neon vertical sign also were added. The store had two levels -- ground floor and basement -- and a "luncheonette" with seating for 45.

The store sold clothing, fabrics and home furnishings.

An advertisement on opening day, Sept. 24, 1953, at the new location listed a 16-piece dish set for $3.33, full-size chenille bedspreads for $2.77 and women's sleeveless blouses for 77 cents.

The store also offered "handy credit billing" to customers.

In 1975, with more than 1,000 stores, the W.T. Grant Co. became the second-largest U.S. firm ever to file for bankruptcy.

Q: I have a coin and on the front it has "10c" and on the other side it says "Neil White Co. Fresno Cal." It is a real metal coin, possibly brass. Can you tell me anything about the company and the coin?

-- Matthew Magill, Fresno, age 11

A: The coin is a trade token issued by the Neil-White & Co. shoe store. Such tokens were used by merchants and saloon owners to trade for goods or services.

According to a 1945 obituary in The Bee, Luther P. Neil was born in Tennessee and came to Fresno as a youth in 1894. He got his first job two years later with the Philadelphia Shoe Co. on Mariposa Street.

Neil and John White opened a shoe store at 1937 Mariposa St. in 1901. White died in 1902, but Neil kept White's name in the company.

Neil's son-in-law, Lloyd Baird, owned Baird's Bootery. They became business partners and moved the store to 1106 Fulton St. in 1934.

A 1934 Fresno Bee advertisement for the store says, "Good Shoes Since 1901. We invite you to see our new fall window displays offering you shoes for the family made by the finest shoe craftsmen in the country."

In 1944, Neil and Baird moved the store to a larger building at 1354 Fulton St. between Tuolumne and Merced streets on what is today the Fulton Mall. The store carried "leading lines of men's and women's shoes, hosiery and purses."

The business moved to 1243 Fulton in 1964 and closed about 1968.

Q: What is the history of Woodward Park?

-- Robert Bashian, Fresno

A: The Woodward Park and Bird Sanctuary opened on Nov. 5, 1970, funded by a gift from the estate of late Fresno businessman Ralph W. Woodward.

Woodward and his brother, Roy, owned the Woodward Co., an agricultural implement firm that they liquidated in the 1930s.

Ralph Woodward also owned the historic Temple Bar Building at Mariposa Street and Van Ness Avenue in downtown Fresno.

Woodward died in 1961 at age 79, leaving $1 million to the city of Fresno to create a park and bird refuge. Trustees for Woodward's estate selected the land overlooking the San Joaquin River.

Woodward's will stipulated that only 20% of the money could be used to buy the land, so the city bought 185 acres with $269,000 from Woodward's gift and another 50 acres with $80,000 from the Rotary Playland of Roeding Park Trust Fund.

Two bird refuge experts designed a sanctuary in the southeast corner of the park, including a 25-acre lake with sloping banks and secluded islands where wild waterfowl can nest and feed.