May 4, 2012 Coats Museum News
C.L. Wilson, a farm agent with Harnett County, announced that 32,868 bales of cotton had been ginned in 1927 in Harnett County as compared to 1926 when 42,034 bales had been recorded. Apples and most fruits yields were also below the 1926 yields. However, the gross value of the crops was ahead of the 1926 yields. Tobacco sold well at the markets in Fuquay Springs. Farmers had sold 5,064, 470 pounds for a net sales value of $1,179,998.63. That was the largest market in their history. What did the tobacco average per pound? (Harnett County News November 24, 1927).
Did Coats farmers sell their tobacco in Fuquay? I do know that the Coats Town Board of Commissioners held a special session and passed rules about buildings on Main Street and announced that no more wooden buildings were to be erected on Main Street and even the current wooden ones could not be repaired without the permission of the commissioners (Coats Town Board Meeting Minutes, December 21, 1927).
How many wooden structures were on Main Street in 1927 and was the Coats Post Office on wheels on Main Street in 1927? Are there any wooden structures there in 2012 and where is that old post office that was on wheels?
The year was 1928. Chrysler and Dodge merged. Amelia Earhart was the first woman pilot to fly solo over the Atlantic. Unemployment was a major problem with as many as 4 million out of work. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, a germ killer, by accident. Herbert Hoover won by a landslide over Alfred Smith to become president of the U.S.
On January 12, 1928, the Coats Town Board approved payment to Austin-Western Road Machinery Company for 15 culverts 10” in diameter and 7 culverts 12” in diameter. Do you remember reading in an earlier column about the ditches being full of water on the streets in front of the businesses in Coats?
Did Harnett County have a hospital in1928? Miss Virginia Stewart was very ill with appendicitis at Smithfield. Miss Annie Lee Keen spent the weekend with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joel G. Keen. Miss Buna Roycroft and Mollie Stewart went to Smithfield. Mr. and Mrs. R.O. Stewart had spent Sunday afternoon in Dunn. Mr. and Mrs. Mac Stewart had their daughter as a visitor. Miss Monnie Johnson had spent the week in Smithfield. The Y.M.A. of Coats Baptist Church met at the home of Mrs. W.E. Nichols. Mildred Parrish, Mallisia Cobb, Lerona Parrish, Cornia Pollard, Thelma Glover, Vonne Whittington and Mamie Cannady attended the meeting (Harnett County News January 26, 1928). Does that not read like one of Mrs. Belle Williams’s “Notes from Coats” columns from years past?
Does anyone know how many brick schools were in Grove Township in 1928? Do you recall what Grove school consolidated with the Coats High School Grove # 3 in 1927? The Harnett County News February 2, 1928 edition reported that Oakdale School had Mr. H.L. Nichols as principal with Mrs. Naomi Hudson, Mrs. Grace Matthews, Mrs. Cleone Packer and Mrs. Grace Thomas as teachers at the rural brick school on the Old Fairground Road but now the Bailey’s Crossroads Road. The other brick school of course was the Coats High School Grove #3 which in 1927 had welcomed the students from the Penny-Rockridge School which was located on the current Bill Avery Road.
On February 7, the Coats Town Board voted to move all obstructions in the way of highway #210 to give room for the full width desired. Where was this #210 road? Would it not have had to be in town for the town board to act upon the issue? Was the new road under construction from Erwin to the Wake County line to be called the #210 and not #55? The town board also passed a motion to get the price on building up, grading and graveling the Main Street of Coats (Coats Town Board meeting Minutes February 7, 1928).
Just for fun, let’s see what we could purchase for 67 cents in 1928. In February of 1928, one could buy a can of tomatoes for 9 cents, early June pears, 12 cents; a large can o f Pet milk, 12 cents: tomato catsup, 12 cents; and a 16 ounce jar of peanut butter, 22 cents (Harnett County News February 9, 1928).
Did Dunn have a movie theater in 1928? Are there any theaters in Harnett County in 2012? In February of 1928, Dunn had a theater called the Colonial Theater and it was located on Broad Street. It was also in this month that a midnight fire gutted it. The damage was extensive: $9,000.00 for fixtures and $2,000.00 for the building. The Metropolitan Opera House was to be leased from the town of Dunn by J.L. Lancaster while P.T. Massengill repaired the Colonial. An entire block of businesses had been threatened by the fire (Harnett County News February 23, 1928).
G.I. Smith is a name that is still recognized by older residents of Harnett County. Mr. Smith, owner of the formula brand and trademark of “Tobacco King”-America’s best tobacco fertilizer- advertised in the March 1, 1928 Harnett County News that N.E. Barnes of Coats, N.C. sold his crop of 1926 tobacco lugs at an average of $40 per hundred pounds. In 1927, Mr. W.E. Godwin of Benson, N.C. sold his sand lugs for $36.00 per one hundred pounds. In 1927, Mr. Joseph H. Penny of Coats, N.C. received a clear check of $1,080 on each ton of fertilizer used. In the same year, Mr. Lonnie Pope of Benson, N.C. sold his entire crop at $40.00 per hundred pounds. Lastly, Mr. M.S. Denning of Coats, N.C. received a clear check of $416.00 with the use of 5 bags of tobacco fertilizer on one acre (Harnett County News March 1, 1928). Now we know a few of the early tobacco farmers in the Coats area.
When did people have mailboxes in rural areas and when was the first inter-American highway proposed for the Western Hemisphere? Read the column next week to discover the answers.
A special thank you goes to Mack and Juanita Hudson for their Coats Museum memorial donation to honor Roy Nordan. A thank you to Larry Wilson Johnson (Class of 1956) from Front Royal, Virginia and his son, Jim Johnson, of Harrisonburg, Virginia for their visit to the museum on Saturday to check out some Johnson history and to locate the cemeteries where Larry’s great-great grandparents were buried. He expressed thanks to the many people who have worked to make the Coats Museum happen. He also has written “Liberty Man”, a social studies book about the American Revolution in which he uses Abel Johnson, his great -grandfather seven times removed and who was a Militia Soldier as the character to educate the home schooled student about that era of our history.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COATS MUSEUM NEWS APPEARED IN THE DAILY RECORD ON MAY 4 OF 2012.
C.L. Wilson, a farm agent with Harnett County, announced that 32,868 bales of cotton had been ginned in 1927 in Harnett County as compared to 1926 when 42,034 bales had been recorded. Apples and most fruits yields were also below the 1926 yields. However, the gross value of the crops was ahead of the 1926 yields. Tobacco sold well at the markets in Fuquay Springs. Farmers had sold 5,064, 470 pounds for a net sales value of $1,179,998.63. That was the largest market in their history. What did the tobacco average per pound? (Harnett County News November 24, 1927).
Did Coats farmers sell their tobacco in Fuquay? I do know that the Coats Town Board of Commissioners held a special session and passed rules about buildings on Main Street and announced that no more wooden buildings were to be erected on Main Street and even the current wooden ones could not be repaired without the permission of the commissioners (Coats Town Board Meeting Minutes, December 21, 1927).
How many wooden structures were on Main Street in 1927 and was the Coats Post Office on wheels on Main Street in 1927? Are there any wooden structures there in 2012 and where is that old post office that was on wheels?
The year was 1928. Chrysler and Dodge merged. Amelia Earhart was the first woman pilot to fly solo over the Atlantic. Unemployment was a major problem with as many as 4 million out of work. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, a germ killer, by accident. Herbert Hoover won by a landslide over Alfred Smith to become president of the U.S.
On January 12, 1928, the Coats Town Board approved payment to Austin-Western Road Machinery Company for 15 culverts 10” in diameter and 7 culverts 12” in diameter. Do you remember reading in an earlier column about the ditches being full of water on the streets in front of the businesses in Coats?
Did Harnett County have a hospital in1928? Miss Virginia Stewart was very ill with appendicitis at Smithfield. Miss Annie Lee Keen spent the weekend with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joel G. Keen. Miss Buna Roycroft and Mollie Stewart went to Smithfield. Mr. and Mrs. R.O. Stewart had spent Sunday afternoon in Dunn. Mr. and Mrs. Mac Stewart had their daughter as a visitor. Miss Monnie Johnson had spent the week in Smithfield. The Y.M.A. of Coats Baptist Church met at the home of Mrs. W.E. Nichols. Mildred Parrish, Mallisia Cobb, Lerona Parrish, Cornia Pollard, Thelma Glover, Vonne Whittington and Mamie Cannady attended the meeting (Harnett County News January 26, 1928). Does that not read like one of Mrs. Belle Williams’s “Notes from Coats” columns from years past?
Does anyone know how many brick schools were in Grove Township in 1928? Do you recall what Grove school consolidated with the Coats High School Grove # 3 in 1927? The Harnett County News February 2, 1928 edition reported that Oakdale School had Mr. H.L. Nichols as principal with Mrs. Naomi Hudson, Mrs. Grace Matthews, Mrs. Cleone Packer and Mrs. Grace Thomas as teachers at the rural brick school on the Old Fairground Road but now the Bailey’s Crossroads Road. The other brick school of course was the Coats High School Grove #3 which in 1927 had welcomed the students from the Penny-Rockridge School which was located on the current Bill Avery Road.
On February 7, the Coats Town Board voted to move all obstructions in the way of highway #210 to give room for the full width desired. Where was this #210 road? Would it not have had to be in town for the town board to act upon the issue? Was the new road under construction from Erwin to the Wake County line to be called the #210 and not #55? The town board also passed a motion to get the price on building up, grading and graveling the Main Street of Coats (Coats Town Board meeting Minutes February 7, 1928).
Just for fun, let’s see what we could purchase for 67 cents in 1928. In February of 1928, one could buy a can of tomatoes for 9 cents, early June pears, 12 cents; a large can o f Pet milk, 12 cents: tomato catsup, 12 cents; and a 16 ounce jar of peanut butter, 22 cents (Harnett County News February 9, 1928).
Did Dunn have a movie theater in 1928? Are there any theaters in Harnett County in 2012? In February of 1928, Dunn had a theater called the Colonial Theater and it was located on Broad Street. It was also in this month that a midnight fire gutted it. The damage was extensive: $9,000.00 for fixtures and $2,000.00 for the building. The Metropolitan Opera House was to be leased from the town of Dunn by J.L. Lancaster while P.T. Massengill repaired the Colonial. An entire block of businesses had been threatened by the fire (Harnett County News February 23, 1928).
G.I. Smith is a name that is still recognized by older residents of Harnett County. Mr. Smith, owner of the formula brand and trademark of “Tobacco King”-America’s best tobacco fertilizer- advertised in the March 1, 1928 Harnett County News that N.E. Barnes of Coats, N.C. sold his crop of 1926 tobacco lugs at an average of $40 per hundred pounds. In 1927, Mr. W.E. Godwin of Benson, N.C. sold his sand lugs for $36.00 per one hundred pounds. In 1927, Mr. Joseph H. Penny of Coats, N.C. received a clear check of $1,080 on each ton of fertilizer used. In the same year, Mr. Lonnie Pope of Benson, N.C. sold his entire crop at $40.00 per hundred pounds. Lastly, Mr. M.S. Denning of Coats, N.C. received a clear check of $416.00 with the use of 5 bags of tobacco fertilizer on one acre (Harnett County News March 1, 1928). Now we know a few of the early tobacco farmers in the Coats area.
When did people have mailboxes in rural areas and when was the first inter-American highway proposed for the Western Hemisphere? Read the column next week to discover the answers.
A special thank you goes to Mack and Juanita Hudson for their Coats Museum memorial donation to honor Roy Nordan. A thank you to Larry Wilson Johnson (Class of 1956) from Front Royal, Virginia and his son, Jim Johnson, of Harrisonburg, Virginia for their visit to the museum on Saturday to check out some Johnson history and to locate the cemeteries where Larry’s great-great grandparents were buried. He expressed thanks to the many people who have worked to make the Coats Museum happen. He also has written “Liberty Man”, a social studies book about the American Revolution in which he uses Abel Johnson, his great -grandfather seven times removed and who was a Militia Soldier as the character to educate the home schooled student about that era of our history.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COATS MUSEUM NEWS APPEARED IN THE DAILY RECORD ON MAY 4 OF 2012.