"Gimme a plug of Greenville tobacco" and a couple of Daniel Boone cigars.....those were familiar items "traded" at the general stores inn the 1890's in Harlan. Cigarettes were an oddity then. From all over the country people brought in their wares to exchange for things they didn't have.

Eggs brought a dime a dozen and for 12 cents or a little more, a pound of coffee could be bought or exchanged. An old timer from the head of Catrons Creek was known to bring homemade cheeze into the general stores regularly.

This particular general store shown here was at one time owned by Daniel, Cam Ball and Steve Cawood. A part of the upstairs was used to store wool, feathers, opossum furs, coon hide and wildcat hides.

"I've seen 20 bushels of chesnuts on the floor up there," an old timer said.

Buildings Easily Moved

In days gone by it was easier to move a building than to build a new one. The two-story frame building shown here was orginally built 75 to 80 years ago near the site of the Margie Grand Theatre. It was owned by Will Noe.

The first floor was used for a general store and the upstairs for a school room. A large "pot belly" stove furnished heat. The long, tapering stove pipe often became clogged with soot.

The teacher assigned two small boys to clean it out so it would "draw." The two decided upon the quickest and easiest method. At dinner time they went down to the store and bought a nickle's worth of black powder, put it in the stove pipe and lit it. You know what happened? It blew the caps to the ceiling but cleaned out the pipe.

The building was sold to Cam Ball, Daniel Ball and Steve Cawood. The owners decided to move it "a little further down town." They chose the vacant lot on the corner of Central and First Streets where the Modern Electric store is today.

A team of oxen drug the building down thrrough the "court house square," and placed it on the vacant lot facing First Street. Here the orginal Harlan Supply Company "set up business."

Fain Anderson clerked in the store. It was one of the largest stores in town. Steps at the left of the building which were orginally used for the school room, led to the telephone exchange on the second floor. Mrs. Mary Beatty Smith "worked the switch board."

Salesman visited the stores in Harlan about twice a month. The big orders were shipped to the nearest depot which was Hagan, Va. Charlie smith, Nath Mitchell, John Pope, Hamp Smith and many otheres hauled"goods" to Harlan. Wagon hauling was a "big business" in those days.

Post Office Erected

A short distance out the road near the Court Cafe site was anothr general store belonging to J.K. Bailey, grandfather of Dr. Clark Bailey. A short distance out the road was Jim Skidmore's general store. It was built around the year of 1875.

At the corner was Dave Smith's store building. after a few years in the "goods business" he put up the post office. Many prosperous years went by. In 1912 Cam Ball saw fit for a bigger and better store building.

The "goods" was moved to a frame building on Central Street while one of he first bricks in Harlan was being elected. The old Harlan Supply moved back into the new building and remained there many years until it went out of business.

Sunday August 2, 1953

Volume 52 Number 178

Pages 1 & 8

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