Looking At A Brief History of the Canteen Cafe

The Canteen Café, a long time fixture in downtown Brevard, opened in the summer of 1928 by W.E. “Elzie” Shipman.  Shipman only operated it for a brief time before selling the business to E.O. Shields of Rosman in the fall. 

Shields then sold the business to J.C. “Dock” Galloway who ran it for several years.  Galloway advertised the establishment as being of service to the Home Folks—52 weeks a year, 7 days a week, 20 hours a day.  Later advertisements stated they opened at 5:00 am and closed 2:00 am.  During the period when Galloway owned the Canteen he moved the business to the Weilt Building located on W. Main St. at the corner of the Times Arcade. 

In 1935 Lucien English purchased the café from Galloway who was retiring due to health issues.  After just five months English sold the business to V. Karl Twigg.  By Christmas 1936 Twigg had sold it to Hamilton and Patterson. 

The Canteen was once located were Mayberry's
Soup & Sandwiches is today.

In January 1938, Clyde Hamilton bought out Patterson.  A few months later he remodeled the former bowling alley located between Plummer’s Department Store and Farmer’s Supply on the north side of W. Main St. and moved the Canteen back across the street.  Hamilton and his wife, Hyburnia, would move the business one more time in May 1945 to the Bagwell Building on S. Caldwell St. behind Transylvania Trust.

In addition to serving year-round residents, the Canteen was popular with college students.  The business advertised every year from 1935-1949 in the Brevard College yearbook and often in the school newspaper.

The information for this article came from The Brevard News (1917-1932), The Transylvania Times (1932-1940), and Brevard College Pertelote (yearbook) and Clarion (student paper) all of which are available and searchable on digitalnc.org. 

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.