Sadewhite Motor Company
902-904 Main Street
Goodland, Kansas
"J.C. Sadewhite remodeled the building at 904 Main in 1947. J.C. moved back to Goodland, one door north of Harley Atkinson’s office, from Burlington, CO where he had been associated with the Sim Hudson Motor Co. J.C. had been appointed representative dealer for the Kaiser and Frazer Motor Corp. of Detroit, MI. The building had been built in an L shape, and the remodeling made the building one of the newest and most modern in this part of the country. The building faced two streets, and it afforded ample show room and work room. The Main Street section housed the display room, the office, and a section of the workrooms. Three apartments were in the second story of the building, and each apartment had a living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and breakfast nook. The body shop was in the west part of the building. George Conley was added to the force to take care of the under sealing, polishing, and waxing of the automobiles. They handled Kaiser and Frazer automobiles, and they later added Willis (sic) Jeeps. They had the regular Jeep, station wagon, truck, and universal Jeep. They also handled the parts for the different lines of cars, trucks, and Jeeps. Also in 1947, J.C. purchased the Ford automobile and truck agency for Sherman County from Davis Motor Co. Davis Motor Co., which had handled the Ford automobile, truck, and tractor agency for several years, continued with the tractor line only. J.C. had been the dealer for Quonset buildings, but he stopped selling Quonset buildings and gave up the Jeep franchise when he took over the Ford dealership."
It is not entirely clear how long the Willys line was offered, although a starting date was inferred after the 1947 remodeling. Although specific dates are given for construction details of the buildings, the subsequent product references may not necessarily be in strict chronological order. However, the last sentence is clear that the line was dropped after picking up the Ford franchise in 1947.
Please note that the first mention of the name "Sadewhite Motor Co." does not occur until 1956 in the above reference. While J. C. Sadewhite was listed as the proprietor of the Willys dealership, the company name may have been different during that time frame.
The same source also has a separate page covering the history of the Thompson Building at 1216-1218 Main St. The building once housed the above-referenced Davis Motors, selling Ford vehicles and Massey-Harris agricultural equipment during the 1930's and 40's.
Davis Motors is mentioned here, as an aside, based solely on one sentence in the Thompson Building history:
Unless this refers to the waning days of WWII, I do not believe that new Jeeps (or Army supplies) were available for sale to the general public. "Jeeps" may have referred to small tractors, as was common usage at the time, but this still wouldn't explain the mention of Army equipment available for public sale during wartime. Another possibility is the time frame may have been in the immediate postwar period when new Jeeps and military surplus supplies were on the market. Further research is welcomed.