January 9, 2012 Coats Museum News
Having government in our lives is nothing new. Last week you read that the town leaders mandated where fish salesmen could sell their fish on the streets in Coats and that one commissioner was responsible for building two public outhouses for the folks in Coats.
On March 2, 1926, the Coats town commissioners voted unanimously at the meeting on that date that a traffic sign be placed at the intersection of Main Street and McKinley Street and should post –KEEP TO THE RIGHT. Was this action necessary due to an increase in automobile traffic on the dirt streets of Coats? Had arguments or accidents occurred at that intersection? What was the condition of the streets in 1926? The town minutes of the board meeting of March 2, 1926 give us a glimpse of one problem on the streets. A.F. Grimes, street commissioner, was directed by the board to arrange drainage of standing water through the north of Mr. Honeycutt’s place and to make appropriate bridge for the same. Questions-Who is this “Mr. Honeycutt”? Was the hill located across from Grayflex once called Honeycutt Hill? Were the streets maintained by manual labor, mule and man, or mechanical devices?
Some of the older residents of the town shared with this writer in 2003 that they recalled deep ditches on the side of the dirt streets when they were growing up in the town. When did hard surfaced streets and stoplights come to town? That information shall come to you at a later date.
We can conclude that many of those individuals who traveled those streets were the same ones who would be classified as patrons of the Coats High School. The Harnett County News April 8, 1926 edition shared that some patrons and friends of the school were offering prizes for the purpose of encouraging certain activities. Former Harnett County Sheriff John McKay Byrd who was serving as president of the Coats P.T. A., had offered ten dollars in gold for the best boy student and Mrs. Edna Roberts had countered the offer with a $5.00 prize for the best girl student. Do you wonder why more for a boy than the girl? Was this awarding of prizes for the best in a particular grade? I do know that Messers Guy Stewart, W.E. Nichols, and J.C. Graham promised to give one dollar each for the best performance in Declaiming, Reciting, and Debating. These prizes were to be awarded at the May Commencement of the Coats High School.
Do Americans still observe National Egg Day in May? It was observed in 1926 on May 1st when the nation was asked to pay homage to the lowly hen and her products. Those of us who grew up with chickens in the yard or pen can recall those memories of watching the mother hens with their chicks as they scratched into the dirt for the young ones to peck out bits of nutrition. Likely some of you might recall that your moms made small cages from tobacco sticks to protect the young from foraging predators who could snap up a biddy in the blink of an eye. Did your family have the glass jars that had special lids that contained space to hold water from which the young chicks could drink? Did you wonder why the little biddies would put their peak into the water and then tilt their head up and back to swallow the drink? Have you heard the words “chicken hawk”? Were they known for flying high over the barn yard and then out of nowhere they had scooped up a chick with its mighty claws and flew off to enjoy its meal. The folks in 1926 knew how important the chicken was to the owners of them. The lowly chicken provided food on the table morning, noon and night and on many occasions the extra eggs or chickens were used to barter for other items in the stores.
In 1926, the farm family had likely watched their chickens and farm animals with a very sharp eye because the projection for prices of tobacco and cotton would be low in the fall. The warning was that if provisions were not made for food and feed crops, hardships on some farms would occur (Harnett County News April 8, 1926).
Did that warning come early enough that the farm family knew that more blackberries and cherries would have to be picked to make jelly and jams, that more apples had to sliced to dry or cooked into sauce, that more peaches had to be canned or pickled, and that more Irish potatoes had to be scraped and preserved in jars and more sweet potatoes put into “tater hills” to supplement the jars of corn, peas, squash, beans and other vegetables that were canned and stored on pantry shelves. Was there frozen food preservation in Coats in 1926?
For sure there was much sweat and toil on the farms but this had not prevented the schools from asking for support of school events. They were asked to take off one night and watch the “Kentucky Belle” being presented at Coats High School on April 6th. There was a large crowd of enthusiastic onlookers who watched Misses Hermie Williams, Nellie Penny, Louise Parrish, and Mr. Cortez Williams. Miss Estelle Burt made up the characters; Mrs. J.O. Sutton directed and Miss Elizabeth Masten coached the choir. The proceeds amounted to about $55.00 which went to the school (Harnett County News April 8, 1926). If the admission was a dime how many people might have attended if children were admitted free?
Read next week to learn more of school happenings and get an update on what is going on with the county commissioners and the road commissioners in Harnett County and whether their dealings affected the folks in the Coats area.
A very big thank you goes to Mike Norris from Mike’s Auto Parts in Coats for his gift to the Coats Museum of a 1957 calendar which advertised the Ennis Hardware Co. in Coats. Was this Chester Ennis’s store? Tommy and Judy Williams Ennis will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary on January 13th and some friends have given a contribution to the Coats Museum Endowment to honor the couple’s big day.
Please be mindful that this article was published in the Daily Record on January 9, 2012.
Having government in our lives is nothing new. Last week you read that the town leaders mandated where fish salesmen could sell their fish on the streets in Coats and that one commissioner was responsible for building two public outhouses for the folks in Coats.
On March 2, 1926, the Coats town commissioners voted unanimously at the meeting on that date that a traffic sign be placed at the intersection of Main Street and McKinley Street and should post –KEEP TO THE RIGHT. Was this action necessary due to an increase in automobile traffic on the dirt streets of Coats? Had arguments or accidents occurred at that intersection? What was the condition of the streets in 1926? The town minutes of the board meeting of March 2, 1926 give us a glimpse of one problem on the streets. A.F. Grimes, street commissioner, was directed by the board to arrange drainage of standing water through the north of Mr. Honeycutt’s place and to make appropriate bridge for the same. Questions-Who is this “Mr. Honeycutt”? Was the hill located across from Grayflex once called Honeycutt Hill? Were the streets maintained by manual labor, mule and man, or mechanical devices?
Some of the older residents of the town shared with this writer in 2003 that they recalled deep ditches on the side of the dirt streets when they were growing up in the town. When did hard surfaced streets and stoplights come to town? That information shall come to you at a later date.
We can conclude that many of those individuals who traveled those streets were the same ones who would be classified as patrons of the Coats High School. The Harnett County News April 8, 1926 edition shared that some patrons and friends of the school were offering prizes for the purpose of encouraging certain activities. Former Harnett County Sheriff John McKay Byrd who was serving as president of the Coats P.T. A., had offered ten dollars in gold for the best boy student and Mrs. Edna Roberts had countered the offer with a $5.00 prize for the best girl student. Do you wonder why more for a boy than the girl? Was this awarding of prizes for the best in a particular grade? I do know that Messers Guy Stewart, W.E. Nichols, and J.C. Graham promised to give one dollar each for the best performance in Declaiming, Reciting, and Debating. These prizes were to be awarded at the May Commencement of the Coats High School.
Do Americans still observe National Egg Day in May? It was observed in 1926 on May 1st when the nation was asked to pay homage to the lowly hen and her products. Those of us who grew up with chickens in the yard or pen can recall those memories of watching the mother hens with their chicks as they scratched into the dirt for the young ones to peck out bits of nutrition. Likely some of you might recall that your moms made small cages from tobacco sticks to protect the young from foraging predators who could snap up a biddy in the blink of an eye. Did your family have the glass jars that had special lids that contained space to hold water from which the young chicks could drink? Did you wonder why the little biddies would put their peak into the water and then tilt their head up and back to swallow the drink? Have you heard the words “chicken hawk”? Were they known for flying high over the barn yard and then out of nowhere they had scooped up a chick with its mighty claws and flew off to enjoy its meal. The folks in 1926 knew how important the chicken was to the owners of them. The lowly chicken provided food on the table morning, noon and night and on many occasions the extra eggs or chickens were used to barter for other items in the stores.
In 1926, the farm family had likely watched their chickens and farm animals with a very sharp eye because the projection for prices of tobacco and cotton would be low in the fall. The warning was that if provisions were not made for food and feed crops, hardships on some farms would occur (Harnett County News April 8, 1926).
Did that warning come early enough that the farm family knew that more blackberries and cherries would have to be picked to make jelly and jams, that more apples had to sliced to dry or cooked into sauce, that more peaches had to be canned or pickled, and that more Irish potatoes had to be scraped and preserved in jars and more sweet potatoes put into “tater hills” to supplement the jars of corn, peas, squash, beans and other vegetables that were canned and stored on pantry shelves. Was there frozen food preservation in Coats in 1926?
For sure there was much sweat and toil on the farms but this had not prevented the schools from asking for support of school events. They were asked to take off one night and watch the “Kentucky Belle” being presented at Coats High School on April 6th. There was a large crowd of enthusiastic onlookers who watched Misses Hermie Williams, Nellie Penny, Louise Parrish, and Mr. Cortez Williams. Miss Estelle Burt made up the characters; Mrs. J.O. Sutton directed and Miss Elizabeth Masten coached the choir. The proceeds amounted to about $55.00 which went to the school (Harnett County News April 8, 1926). If the admission was a dime how many people might have attended if children were admitted free?
Read next week to learn more of school happenings and get an update on what is going on with the county commissioners and the road commissioners in Harnett County and whether their dealings affected the folks in the Coats area.
A very big thank you goes to Mike Norris from Mike’s Auto Parts in Coats for his gift to the Coats Museum of a 1957 calendar which advertised the Ennis Hardware Co. in Coats. Was this Chester Ennis’s store? Tommy and Judy Williams Ennis will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary on January 13th and some friends have given a contribution to the Coats Museum Endowment to honor the couple’s big day.
Please be mindful that this article was published in the Daily Record on January 9, 2012.