Phone Booths Were Commonplace in Town

 The Citizens Telephone Company was started in 1921 by a group of Brevard businessmen.  Their main objectives were to provide electric telephone and telegraph lines, as well as light and power in Brevard and throughout Transylvania County.  Originally each purchased five $100 shares in the company.  J.S. Bromfield became the principal owner and operated the company.

The first switchboard was located in the McMinn Building.  Then for many years the company operated out of the old jail, located behind the current Transylvania Times office.

In 1936, Joseph H. and Charles W. Pickelsimer, Sr. bought the telephone company from the Bromfield family.  Initially they did not manage the business but after Joseph’s death in 1941 Charles became President and took over its operation. 

Phone booth, corner of South Broad and Jordan Streets, 1961.

In the early days calls were placed through an operator who rang the individual or business requested.  Beginning in March 1945 callers were asked by operators to provide the “number please.”  The Local History Room at the Library has a collection of Citizens Telephone Company directories.  The earliest is from May 1947 and lists the Transylvania Times phone number as 7.

Phone booth, corner of Broad and Main Streets, 1968.

On December 6, 1951 Citizens Telephone officially transferred service to their new Exchange Building with its modern equipment.  It was located on Probart St., also behind the Transylvania Times and is the office of Harris Architects today.

Phone booth and 31₵ gas,
corner of East Main and Johnson Streets.

These updates brought dial service to the county.  Each customer had been assigned a phone number beginning with the letters TU.  TU on a telephone dial is represented by the numbers 88, which is why many Transylvania County phone numbers begin with 88.  Customers now had rotary dial telephones and the need for operators to place calls ended.

The company grew rapidly, establishing service in Rosman in 1954 and continuing to expand throughout the county.  They opened their current office on E. Main St. in October 1962.  In 1971 party lines were eliminated. 

From the 1960s through the 1990s telephone booths were commonly located on street corners in downtown Brevard and in other busy business areas.   Today everyone has a cell phone and telephone booths are a rarity.

In January 2008 “one day shy of the 60 year anniversary of the day Charles Pickelsimer, Jr. went to work for his father” it was announced that the company would be sold to Comporium out of Rock Hill, SC.  Citizens Telephone Company had 80+ employees at that time.

The Library is interested in donations of Citizen’s telephone books prior to 1947 and for the years of 1948-1951 and 1961.

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 828-884-3151 X242.

Brevard Had Two Movie Houses in 1919

Early moving or motion picture shows were first presented in Brevard in 1907 by W.M. Bradley and Company.  Bradley offered moving pictures during the summer months for about four years.  They were shown in the Dunn’s Rock Building on South Broad Street.

In 1911 motion pictures were offered at the Court House, with the money earned going into a fund for clocks to be installed in the Court House tower.

Beginning in 1912 picture shows were presented in the Auditorium on the second floor of a new building on West Main Street.

A 1919 article in the Brevard News mentions that there are two moving picture houses in Brevard.  Vern Clement was the movie operator at the Auditorium.  His brother, Ted, operated a theater on the third floor of the Aethelwold Hotel.  These were all silent movies as sound was not introduced to feature films until 1927.

The Clemson Theater, 1930s.

On June 17-18, 1929 Verne and Ted Clement showed the first “talking pictures” in their theater on the corner of West Main and Caldwell Streets.  It was reported, “The Clemson, is the center of attraction just now, large crowds having attended Monday’s and Tuesday’s performances to hear and see the all-talking pictures.”  

The Clemson Theater got its name from Clement and Sons.  Frank Clement operated a jewelry and photo shop in the building with his sons’ theater business.

Clemson & Co-Ed Theaters, 1941

In 1938 the Clements bought the building next door to their theater and renovated it.  On June 26, 1939 the modern, air conditioned Co-Ed Theater opened.  It included a side entrance with a separate ticket office and balcony seating for colored people.

Bryan Shiflet, Vernon Davis and C.B. Carter purchased the Clemson and Co-Ed Theaters in 1942. Carter soon bought his partners out. He sold the buildings  to the City of Brevard in 1980.

The Clemson had closed in 1956.  After years of neglect, efforts were made by the Arts Council to renovate the Clemson in mid-1980s.  It was soon discovered to be too costly though.  The building was demolished in mid to late 1990s and the property remains as a green space downtown.

Today the old Co-Ed Theater is known as Falls Theater.

The Local History Room at the Library is interested in photographs or information about drive-in theaters in Transylvania County.

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 828-884-3151 X242.

Department Stores Were Main Street Fixtures

For many years Patterson’s and Plummer’s Department Stores were fixtures on West Main Street in downtown Brevard.

Plummer’s Department Store on West Main, 1941 

Henry Plummer and Fred Johnson opened Johnson and Plummer dry goods store in Brevard in 1911.   In 1914 Plummer bought Johnson out and continued to operate the store as Plummer’s.  In 1918 B.W. Trantham went into business with Plummer.  The store grew quickly and in May 1919 Plummer and Trantham Department Store moved to a larger building.  In 1922 the store again changed ownership and became Plummer-Cobble.  By the late 1920s it was just Plummer’s.

Robert Plummer took over the family business from his father under the name of R.H. Plummer Company in 1932.  In 1957 they began selling clothes and shoes exclusively.  Robert Plummer died is February 1969 and the store closed in 1970.

The building on the north side of West Main St. where Plummer’s was located for most of its existence was built in 1912 by Shipman, McMinn, and Weilt on the site of the old McMinn house.  The 3-story brick building had offices on the upper floors. 

The building also has a large auditorium, officially named “The New Auditorium”, on the 2^nd floor at the back.  It had a 40’ x 20’ stage, with space for an orchestra.  There were two dressing rooms and a property room.  Entertainment, consisting of “first class shows” or “first class moving pictures”, was offered every night throughout the summer.  A “first class moving picture machine” was installed in the gallery for the movies. 

The first performance in The New Auditorium was “An Evening in Dixie” presented by the United Daughters of the Confederacy as a fundraiser for the new U.D.C. Library.  The auditorium was also available to rent for meetings and performances when available. 

Today the exterior of the old Patterson building
has been restore to the way it looked prior to 1970
when this photograph was taken.

Alex and Bessie Patterson opened Patterson’s Department Store across the street from Plummer’s in 1940.  After Alex’s death in 1952, the Patterson’s son Ben managed the store and specialized in clothing.  At its peak in the mid-1970s Patterson’s occupied about 7,500 square feet and had entrances on both West Main (Ladies’ Apparel) and South Broad (Men’s Shop).  Patterson’s operated until 1989.

Alex Patteron’s uncle, Harry Patterson, operated a department store in Hendersonville for many years.  In 1922 he opened a second store in Brevard on South Broad St.  It closed in 1929.

Next week’s Picturing the Past article will feature the Clemson and Co-Ed Theaters.

Men's Department inside Patterson's.

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 828-884-3151 X242.

Building Facades Change Through the Years

South Broad St., early 1920s.

Comparing an early 1920s photograph of the buildings on the west side of South Broad St. with photos from 1940, 1968 and 2003 shows how the facades of the buildings have changed through the years.  The block is made up of four different buildings.

Starting at the Main St. corner the first building was constructed around 1900.  An early Glover photograph shows the two-story brick building with an ornate, false top on the front of building.  The false top was a popular architectural feature to give the appearance of a prominent, well-established business.

South Broad St., 1940s

Originally the front corner of the building was square with the entrance on Main Street.  By the late 1920s the corner on the main level was angled with windows around the door.  Over the years the building has been home to Davis-Walker Drug Co., Davis-Long Drug Co., Long’s Drug Store and Morris Pharmacy.  O.P. Taylor’s Toy Store has been located in the building for over 20 years.

The second building on the block was built by J.H. Pickelsimer in 1921.  There were three separate stores on the main level and offices on the second floor.  The exterior of the building has changed very little since it was built.  For many years Galloway’s Café was located there.  Diamond Rush Jewelers, which opened in 1995, is the longest existing current business in the building.

Third is the Dunn’s Rock Building, constructed in 1906.  It also has multiple stores on the main level.  From 1907 through the mid-1920s the Brevard Post Office was located in the south side.  For around 30 years Gaither’s Restaurant was located where Bracken Bakery is today.  As previously mentioned A & P was in the north side of the building for more than 20 years, followed by Crest Five & Dime from 1959-1970.

 

A metal awning stretched nearly the entire block on South Broad St. in 1968.  

Sometime in the mid-1950s the Dunn’s Rock Building received an extensive facelift when the detailed brickwork was removed and the front was painted white.  Today the exterior appears to be two completely separate buildings.

South Broad St., 2003

The final building on the block was built in the late 1920s.  Varner’s Drug Store, under three different owners, occupied this building from 1942-1993.  D.D. Bullwinkel’s opened there in 1994 and Rocky’s Soda Shop a year later.

Next week Picturing the Past will start down West Main St.

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 828-884-3151 X242.

East Main Street Has Been a Busy Place

The Aethelwold Hotel shortly after completion. 

Around 1900 John McMinn built the Aethelwold Hotel on the corner of Main and Broad streets in the center of town.  The main entrance into the lobby was near the middle of the Broad St. side of the building.  Hotel rooms were located on the second and third floors.

Numerous early businesses  were located on the main level through the years.  These included Brevard Banking, Deaver & Loftis Grocers, Galloway, Duckworth & Co. (Real Estate), Morris Fred (Dry Goods), a barber shop and a pool room.

T.W. Whitmire behind the Waltermire Hotel lobby desk.

In November 1919 T.W. Whitmire purchased the hotel for $22,550 from McMinn’s estate.  Whitmire renamed it Waltermire in memory of his son Walter.

The Waltermire continued to operate as a hotel into the mid-1900s.  Brevard Hardware was located on the main level from the mid-1940s-1970.  In 1956 Mrs. Alma Cox purchased the building and moved her jewelry store in beside Brevard Hardware.  Brevard Jewelers closed in 1993. 

Tim Hall purchased the old hotel from Mrs. Cox and has worked to restore it since, including replacing the third floor which had been removed.

An article in the November 3, 1960 Transylvania Times states, “The gigantic job of removing the third story of the Waltermire hotel here in Brevard is now underway.  This work is being done in order to make the building structurally safe and help in eliminating a potential fire hazard.  Recommendations regarding the renovation work were made by the town manager, the Brevard building inspector, the fire chief and inspectors of the North Carolina Department of Insurance.  When the upper story is removed, the floor of the third story will become the roof deck.”

Early wooden frame stores on East Main.

In the early 1900s Weilt’s Clothing was located in a two-story wood frame building next door to the Aethelwood.  Other wooden structures down East Main housed a grocer and a dry goods business.  Between 1924 and 1931 these began to be replaced by brick structures.

East Main, south side, 1941.  Farmer's Federation, Feed & Seed at the corner
of Main and Gaston was a two-story wood frame structure at this time.

Stores between the Aethelwold and the alley over the years have included A & P, Austin’s Studio, Cato’s, Fall’s Landing, McBride’s 5₵ to $1.00 Store, Pender’s, Western Auto and various other businesses.

The building that is currently the home of Jaimes Creole Brasserie was B&B Feed and Seed in the late 1920s, Whitmire Motor Sales in the 1930s, Houston’s Furniture from 1941-1990, and from 1991 until 2005 Grover’s Office Supply.

Belk’s Department Store opened in a new store next door to Whitmire Motor on March 14, 1940.  It was there until moving to the Forest Gate Shopping Center in 1993.  Today the Brevard Antique Mall is located in the building.

Trantham’s department store was on the corner beside Belk.  It had moved to that location in 1939 but the store dated back to T.E. England’s general store established in 1885.   Trantham’s closed in 1976.

The next block also had wooden stores.  Around 1950 Farmer’s Federation, Feed & Seed and Western Auto opened in a new brick building on the Gaston St. corner.

North side of East Main in the early 1950s.

 On the north side of East Main St. there were not any commercial buildings past the Library and the Courthouse prior to 1950.  Pearlman’s Furniture, Dixie Home Super Market, Duke Power and Schulman’s shared the brick building constructed about 1950 for many years.  Later Dollar General, Rick’s Furniture and others were in this location.  Love’s Jewerly, originally Parson’s Jewelry, is a separate building and was built around 1958. 

A look back at downtown Brevard will continue on South Broad St. next week.

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 828-884-3151 X242.