June 12, 2011 Coats
Museum News
Coats had been a very busy town in the summer of 1920. The merchants had advertised in the “Harnett County News” in an effort to entice more people from throughout the county to come to Coats to shop. L.L. Stewart offered customers heavy and fancy groceries along with fresh fish. You might ask, “Did Mr. Stewart have electricity in his store in 1920 to keep the fish fresh?”
R.O. Stewart advertised that his store had all kinds of fancy groceries always on hand. Did you notice that both businessmen used the word “fancy” to describe their groceries? Would you not like to know what made groceries “fancy”?
A.R. Byrd told his prospective customers to wait for the arrival of the new Royal Samples before selecting their fall suit and overcoat. Mr. Byrd also offered “pressing neatly done at reasonable prices”.
Barnes and Holliday sold pianos, organs, new Edisons and New Home Sewing Machines. The company promised to deliver an Edison to a customer at the same price any catalogue house would. Were Sears and Montgomery Ward considered catalogue houses?
The Coats businesses had encouraged the people not send their money away when they could get the better service at home. Another of those businesses was the Roberts Auto and Electric Company which offered Fords, tractors, and auto supplies and also Ford repairing in their Coats business (Harnett County News, July, 1920).
You did notice the words “Electric Company”? Does that mean that the town residents had electricity in their houses, businesses and school? We know that the new brick school building is being built at this time—wonder if it is being wired for electricity. According to L.L. Levinson, he had some wisdom to share with readers in an editorial he wrote in the “Harnett County News”, August 11, 1920. He told the readers in Coats that they “had the golden opportunity now to get lights and power, and the conditions attached were reasonable.” Levinson continued that he felt that the investment would be good for the enhancement of Coats and would increase the value of the town and country property. He stated that loyal people would not stand in the way and cooperative effort would make the project a success.
Lights and power continued to make the news. Levinson was assured that there would be adequate electric lights and sufficient power to run the gins, mills, and plants, and sufficient energy to have electric lights for streets and buildings. Did you notice all of those words ended in “s”? That means more than one, right?
Who was going to supply this electric service? The Cumberland Railway and Power had submitted a proposal to furnish electric lights and power to the Coats community. Levinson recorded that that the enterprising business and professional men in Coats promptly met all the company’s requirements pertaining to the town itself. If the country met the terms of the company, lights and power were assured for the Coats community (“Harnett County News”, August 16, 1920).
Did this electric company come to fruition? The same edition of the newspaper told the folks around Coats “get your electric irons, washing machines, churns, fans, and various other objects that can save time and money for an electric and power system is coming to Coats soon.”
Did the Coats community get lights and power in 1920? This I will share. Allene Honeycutt in her book, “Remembering the Past”, wrote that the girls in her household had plenty of jobs when they were not in school. These jobs were before they had electricity so everything took so much more time and effort. They had to help with the washing and ironing and this was “something “with her large family. Recall there were 15 children in her family. The irons had to be heated on the stove no matter how hot it was in the summer. Clothes were made of cotton so that meant just about everything had to be ironed and a lot of things had to be starched and that made them ten times harder to iron. Allene said that it would take all day to wash and another day to iron. She remembered that the oil lamps had to be taken apart and washed so the globes would be clean the next night.
Sounds like the Turlington girls would have cherished the presence of lights and power on the W.H. Turlington farm.
Read next week to learn about feather beds and geese-picking as we travel through the Coats community in the summer and fall of 1920.
A special thank you goes to the volunteer who gave a memorial to the Coats Museum Endowment to honor the memory of Jonah C. Johnson, Sr. for Father’s Day.
Please be mindful that this “Coats Museum News” was published in the Daily Record in June of 2011.
Coats had been a very busy town in the summer of 1920. The merchants had advertised in the “Harnett County News” in an effort to entice more people from throughout the county to come to Coats to shop. L.L. Stewart offered customers heavy and fancy groceries along with fresh fish. You might ask, “Did Mr. Stewart have electricity in his store in 1920 to keep the fish fresh?”
R.O. Stewart advertised that his store had all kinds of fancy groceries always on hand. Did you notice that both businessmen used the word “fancy” to describe their groceries? Would you not like to know what made groceries “fancy”?
A.R. Byrd told his prospective customers to wait for the arrival of the new Royal Samples before selecting their fall suit and overcoat. Mr. Byrd also offered “pressing neatly done at reasonable prices”.
Barnes and Holliday sold pianos, organs, new Edisons and New Home Sewing Machines. The company promised to deliver an Edison to a customer at the same price any catalogue house would. Were Sears and Montgomery Ward considered catalogue houses?
The Coats businesses had encouraged the people not send their money away when they could get the better service at home. Another of those businesses was the Roberts Auto and Electric Company which offered Fords, tractors, and auto supplies and also Ford repairing in their Coats business (Harnett County News, July, 1920).
You did notice the words “Electric Company”? Does that mean that the town residents had electricity in their houses, businesses and school? We know that the new brick school building is being built at this time—wonder if it is being wired for electricity. According to L.L. Levinson, he had some wisdom to share with readers in an editorial he wrote in the “Harnett County News”, August 11, 1920. He told the readers in Coats that they “had the golden opportunity now to get lights and power, and the conditions attached were reasonable.” Levinson continued that he felt that the investment would be good for the enhancement of Coats and would increase the value of the town and country property. He stated that loyal people would not stand in the way and cooperative effort would make the project a success.
Lights and power continued to make the news. Levinson was assured that there would be adequate electric lights and sufficient power to run the gins, mills, and plants, and sufficient energy to have electric lights for streets and buildings. Did you notice all of those words ended in “s”? That means more than one, right?
Who was going to supply this electric service? The Cumberland Railway and Power had submitted a proposal to furnish electric lights and power to the Coats community. Levinson recorded that that the enterprising business and professional men in Coats promptly met all the company’s requirements pertaining to the town itself. If the country met the terms of the company, lights and power were assured for the Coats community (“Harnett County News”, August 16, 1920).
Did this electric company come to fruition? The same edition of the newspaper told the folks around Coats “get your electric irons, washing machines, churns, fans, and various other objects that can save time and money for an electric and power system is coming to Coats soon.”
Did the Coats community get lights and power in 1920? This I will share. Allene Honeycutt in her book, “Remembering the Past”, wrote that the girls in her household had plenty of jobs when they were not in school. These jobs were before they had electricity so everything took so much more time and effort. They had to help with the washing and ironing and this was “something “with her large family. Recall there were 15 children in her family. The irons had to be heated on the stove no matter how hot it was in the summer. Clothes were made of cotton so that meant just about everything had to be ironed and a lot of things had to be starched and that made them ten times harder to iron. Allene said that it would take all day to wash and another day to iron. She remembered that the oil lamps had to be taken apart and washed so the globes would be clean the next night.
Sounds like the Turlington girls would have cherished the presence of lights and power on the W.H. Turlington farm.
Read next week to learn about feather beds and geese-picking as we travel through the Coats community in the summer and fall of 1920.
A special thank you goes to the volunteer who gave a memorial to the Coats Museum Endowment to honor the memory of Jonah C. Johnson, Sr. for Father’s Day.
Please be mindful that this “Coats Museum News” was published in the Daily Record in June of 2011.
