[ Maple Hill is showing signs of growth ]

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Feb 8, 2002 by Capital-Journal

See MAPLE HILL, page 2

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See MAPLE HILL, page 5

Maple Hill: Lower taxes, location helped contribute to expansion

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Maple Hill: Clubs, organizations, day care centers abound

"Anybody who moves out here will be well pleased."

ART ADAMS III

mayor of Maple Hill

Story and photographs

by John E. Chambers

Special to The Capital-Journal

MAPLE HILL --- Many of this city's 500 residents consider the town to be a bedroom community, but it has been showing both business and residential growth in the past few years.

Banker D. Max Fuller, chairman and majority stockholder of the Stockgrowers State Bank, gives examples of both business and residential growth. He said the town "has grown quite a bit the last five to six years" and has added 35 to 40 new houses in the past seven years.

His own bank is an example of business growth. A native of Ottawa County, Fuller came to Maple Hill 22 years ago when he bought the bank.

He had been in banking since 1970, and he had a goal of owning his own bank. Then, the Maple Hill bank came up for sale.

Stockgrowers State Bank in Maple Hill and its Paxico branch, which it acquired 13 years ago, now have assets totaling $25 million. The bank built a new building two years ago. Now it is buying another branch bank in Alma, a Gold Bank, that has another $25 million in assets. That acquisition will be final about April 1, Fuller said.

Another expanding local business --- one that took a temporary setback Feb. 2 --- is the Maple Hill Market and Deli and Puffy's Steak and Ice House. It is a side-by-side grocery store and popular eating place. Both are owned by Jim Puff and his wife, Patti. The Steak and Ice House brings crowds from miles around.

Residents say there isn't a parking place available downtown on Friday and Saturday evenings. Jim Puff said the crowds on those evenings total 450 to 700 people.

Because of the popularity of the establishment, Puff had just expanded it for the fifth time. His new banquet room had added 150 chairs to his previous 194 and 30 seats more were planned. But on Feb. 2, a vacant building next door collapsed under ice and snow and fell into Puff's front dining area. Puff has had to close the restaurant for about two months for repairs. The grocery reopened this week.

The kitchen has the capacity to produce food for even more customers.

Puff said a restaurant should have enough seats so people can sit and visit. He figures the business turns a table about twice a night.

Puff was a union meat cutter in Topeka before he and Patti came to Maple Hill. In 1987, they opened the grocery store and deli, which then had two tables and five bar stools in back. In 1993, they began expanding the deli. They opened the restaurant, preparing steaks and providing lunches for a private school. They then started the catering business.

Puff caters large corporate banquets, wedding receptions and other events for miles around. His restaurant and catering business helps keep the small grocery store afloat. A grocery store in a small town always has to battle for survival, he said.

The grocery, restaurant and catering business hires about 25 employees, most of whom are part time. Eight of the employees are full time. Four of the employees are cooks.

The Ice House got its name from the part of the building that in the old days was a public bath house, Puff said. Customers who complained in winter about the temperature in the bath house began referring to it as the "Ice House."

Puff said he has had lots of offers to move the business elsewhere, but the lower taxes in Maple Hill, the location between Topeka and Manhattan, as well as the fact that people like to get out of town for dinner, all have combined to keep him in the smaller town.

His growing business is demanding. Puff puts in at least 16 1/2 hours of work seven days a week --- from 6:30 a.m. to as late as 11 p.m. some days.

"There is no such thing as a 40-hour-a-week job if you are going to be successful in business," Puff said. "And you have to reinvest in the business. You have to continually spend money."

Attracting new businesses is a part of the economic development of the community. Maple Hill has attracted a business that began 10 years ago in a Lawrence garage and grew into an international business at Forbes Field in Topeka.

Print & Finishing Equipment Inc., owned by Steve and Michael Miller, had outgrown its facility at Forbes and was looking for a larger facility for their growing business. They found a suitable building in downtown Maple Hill, one with 27,000 square feet of floor space. They bought the property and moved into a renovated office and attached warehouse.

Their main reason for locating in Maple Hill was the lower price of real estate, said Steve Miller, the company president and sales manager.

The brothers also found Maple Hill "very helpful in the move and in making us feel welcome."

That move was a big one.

After the company had moved 34 semi-trailer loads of equipment, more than that amount still has to be brought to Maple Hill.