Coats Museum
News-April 24, 2011
Last Thursday afternoon, several Coats Museum volunteers opened the museum by appointment for some visitors from Michigan, New York, Dunn, Erwin and Benson. They were seeking information on the Colville family and the location of the Jessie J. Adams residence and dairy that once operated in the town.
The visitors admired the fountain on the Heritage Square and seemed interested that the brick were made in the early 1900’s at a brick mill located a mile and half from Coats. We shared with them that the brick had once been part of a commercial building on Main Street in Coats and that Mack R. Hudson had saved them when the building was renovated for the technology company, Applied Computer Technologies (ACT) which was started by Kent Hudson and Carsie Denning, Jr. Mack cleaned the old mortar from each brick and donated them to the Coats Centennial Project in 2005. Kent donated the beautiful fountain which is enclosed with the brick to honor his parents, Mack and Juanita Hudson.
Most of the commercial buildings on Main Street of Coats were constructed from the brick made at the Coats Brick Mill. Recall from earlier columns that former Mayor P.F. Pope was in charge of the mill and also that the year 1919 was not a good business year in our county. On March 1, 1919, J. Bryan Grimes, N.C. Secretary of State, posted a Certificate of Dissolution in the “Harnett County News”. Grimes wrote “whereas, it appears to my satisfaction, by duly authenticated record of proceedings for the voluntary dissolution thereof by the unanimous consent of all stockholders, depositors in my office, that the Coats Brick Company, a corporation of this State, whose principal office is situated in the town of Coats, County of Harnett, State of North Carolina, (P.F. Pope being the agent and therein and in charge thereof, upon whom process may be served), has complied with the requirements of Chapter 21, Revised 1905. ” Was this before the Bank of Coats closed and N.T. Patterson committed suicide?
This dissolution of the brick company impacted the Coats community since the company had employed 25 workers. Mark Parrish shared that his granddaddy Henry Parrish made his first dollar carrying brick to construct the business buildings in Coats. Henry hauled the brick to Coats by the wagon load on the bumpy roads with mudholes filled with broken brick. Mr. Parrish was paid 10 cents a load and could usually carry four loads a day. Some of these brick were used in Coats while others were shipped to other points by the Durham Southern Railroad because Dan Stewart wrote in his autobiography, “Thank You Lord for a Good Life”(12) that he was a hod carrier. A hod was a cradle with a pad under it and a long handle that came down in front. Brick were laid in the cradle and then carried on the shoulder up walkways to the scaffolding. Stewart would take a load of brick on his shoulders and carry them up to the brickmasons and keep them supplied so they could build. He recalled that brick were transported to town via horse and wagon and were carried to a boxcar. Stewart would stand in the boxcar and someone would hand him about five or six bricks at a time. He would take them to the end of the car and then continue until the car was loaded. He recalled that it was hard work and that the brick were heavy for him. He said that he would work for twelve hours a day, six days a week for $7.20 and was happy to get it.
Some of our readers will recall the names of Louis and Marvin Johnson who were town businessmen. While the brick mill was in operation, the elder Johnson worked for seven dollars a week. Ed Pollard’s dad worked there also and he remembered his father getting a side of meat for a week of work. The mill was not without danger because the late J.D. Norris remembered that his brother-in-law lost a leg while working there. Was there a house for workers to stay in when they were not working one of the two shifts?
Did the mill close in 1919? Some say it did not close until 1926 and closed then because water seeped into the clayhole making it impossible to get enough clay to fill the company’s orders. Is there a Clayhole Road in the same general area of the brick mill?
Did someone buy the brick mill? This I do know. Voters in the Coats Grove 3 school district voted to issue bonds to build a three level brick school. The “Harnett County News” (July 27, 1920) had an article in “Coats News” by L.L. Levinson that the $60,000 school was looking great despite lack of materials. In the same article, Levinson wrote that “Jasper P. Lee, H.C. Roberts, and W.W. Wiggins had formed a brick making company. They will manufacture sand-cement brick about a mile and half from Coats where the soil is adapted for this purpose.”
Is this the same brick mill or is this the mill that was said to have closed in 1926? Would the brick to build the Coats School come from this mill? This I do know. Professor Odum left Coats to accept a position as superintendent of the Zebulon Schools. The Coats School building was completed and opened in the spring of 1921 and the total cost being $55,000. C.O Small was principal in 1920; however, T.T. Lanier was the first principal in the brick building.
Join us at the museum from 2-5pm on Sunday, May 1st to meet Dr. Bill Pauley who will have a book signing and reading of his novel “The Dream” about a WWI veteran who returns home after the war.
Please be mindful this article was published in the Daily Record on April 24, 2011.
Last Thursday afternoon, several Coats Museum volunteers opened the museum by appointment for some visitors from Michigan, New York, Dunn, Erwin and Benson. They were seeking information on the Colville family and the location of the Jessie J. Adams residence and dairy that once operated in the town.
The visitors admired the fountain on the Heritage Square and seemed interested that the brick were made in the early 1900’s at a brick mill located a mile and half from Coats. We shared with them that the brick had once been part of a commercial building on Main Street in Coats and that Mack R. Hudson had saved them when the building was renovated for the technology company, Applied Computer Technologies (ACT) which was started by Kent Hudson and Carsie Denning, Jr. Mack cleaned the old mortar from each brick and donated them to the Coats Centennial Project in 2005. Kent donated the beautiful fountain which is enclosed with the brick to honor his parents, Mack and Juanita Hudson.
Most of the commercial buildings on Main Street of Coats were constructed from the brick made at the Coats Brick Mill. Recall from earlier columns that former Mayor P.F. Pope was in charge of the mill and also that the year 1919 was not a good business year in our county. On March 1, 1919, J. Bryan Grimes, N.C. Secretary of State, posted a Certificate of Dissolution in the “Harnett County News”. Grimes wrote “whereas, it appears to my satisfaction, by duly authenticated record of proceedings for the voluntary dissolution thereof by the unanimous consent of all stockholders, depositors in my office, that the Coats Brick Company, a corporation of this State, whose principal office is situated in the town of Coats, County of Harnett, State of North Carolina, (P.F. Pope being the agent and therein and in charge thereof, upon whom process may be served), has complied with the requirements of Chapter 21, Revised 1905. ” Was this before the Bank of Coats closed and N.T. Patterson committed suicide?
This dissolution of the brick company impacted the Coats community since the company had employed 25 workers. Mark Parrish shared that his granddaddy Henry Parrish made his first dollar carrying brick to construct the business buildings in Coats. Henry hauled the brick to Coats by the wagon load on the bumpy roads with mudholes filled with broken brick. Mr. Parrish was paid 10 cents a load and could usually carry four loads a day. Some of these brick were used in Coats while others were shipped to other points by the Durham Southern Railroad because Dan Stewart wrote in his autobiography, “Thank You Lord for a Good Life”(12) that he was a hod carrier. A hod was a cradle with a pad under it and a long handle that came down in front. Brick were laid in the cradle and then carried on the shoulder up walkways to the scaffolding. Stewart would take a load of brick on his shoulders and carry them up to the brickmasons and keep them supplied so they could build. He recalled that brick were transported to town via horse and wagon and were carried to a boxcar. Stewart would stand in the boxcar and someone would hand him about five or six bricks at a time. He would take them to the end of the car and then continue until the car was loaded. He recalled that it was hard work and that the brick were heavy for him. He said that he would work for twelve hours a day, six days a week for $7.20 and was happy to get it.
Some of our readers will recall the names of Louis and Marvin Johnson who were town businessmen. While the brick mill was in operation, the elder Johnson worked for seven dollars a week. Ed Pollard’s dad worked there also and he remembered his father getting a side of meat for a week of work. The mill was not without danger because the late J.D. Norris remembered that his brother-in-law lost a leg while working there. Was there a house for workers to stay in when they were not working one of the two shifts?
Did the mill close in 1919? Some say it did not close until 1926 and closed then because water seeped into the clayhole making it impossible to get enough clay to fill the company’s orders. Is there a Clayhole Road in the same general area of the brick mill?
Did someone buy the brick mill? This I do know. Voters in the Coats Grove 3 school district voted to issue bonds to build a three level brick school. The “Harnett County News” (July 27, 1920) had an article in “Coats News” by L.L. Levinson that the $60,000 school was looking great despite lack of materials. In the same article, Levinson wrote that “Jasper P. Lee, H.C. Roberts, and W.W. Wiggins had formed a brick making company. They will manufacture sand-cement brick about a mile and half from Coats where the soil is adapted for this purpose.”
Is this the same brick mill or is this the mill that was said to have closed in 1926? Would the brick to build the Coats School come from this mill? This I do know. Professor Odum left Coats to accept a position as superintendent of the Zebulon Schools. The Coats School building was completed and opened in the spring of 1921 and the total cost being $55,000. C.O Small was principal in 1920; however, T.T. Lanier was the first principal in the brick building.
Join us at the museum from 2-5pm on Sunday, May 1st to meet Dr. Bill Pauley who will have a book signing and reading of his novel “The Dream” about a WWI veteran who returns home after the war.
Please be mindful this article was published in the Daily Record on April 24, 2011.
