November 15, 2013 Coats Museum News
Farm ponds were a big thing in the late 1940’s. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that farmers and ranchers had built 20,000 of them in 1947 (Dunn Dispatch March 31, 1947).
Do you recall reading about the two students competing for the World Peace speaking award? Wilma Dew and Alice Johnson were top winners at Coats and Alice became the grand prize winner of the $10.00 and medal. Alice was the daughter of Jonah and Alice Thornton Johnson, Sr.(Dunn Dispatch April 3, 1947).
The Oakdale School area lost another of its most prominent leaders. Mr. Rodophus D. Ennis, 69, died after an extended illness. He was an organizer and charter board member of the Dunn Production Credit Union. He also served on the Coats School Board of Education. He was the son of the late John Austin Ennis and Winnie Ennis (Dunn Dispatch April 3, 1947).
Wake Forest, a college of highest esteem, had two from Coats among its numbers-Cecil Fuquay and George Thomas Smith (Dunn Dispatch April 7, 1947). Were these men relatives?
Let’s check out the local cafes and markets and see how many are in Coats in 1947. Coats Café, Mack’s Sandwiches, City Market, E.H. Honeycutt Market, Johnson Market, Ryals Brothers, Byrd Market and Grocery, and W.M. Keene Grocery and Market were named in the paper (Dunn Dispatch April 7, 1947).
The late Joseph A. Lee shared his memories of the 1930’s and 40’s of the Main Street of Coats. Joe recalled that he moved to Coats after his father died on February 23, 1937.He lived with his grandfather, William G. (Bill-Dad) Williams, who he remarked was the most honorable man that he had ever known in his entire life. He lived with his granddaddy for 15 years. At age 77, Joe shared the following memories of the town of Coats.
“It seems that I can still hear the whistle of the old Durham and Southern train as it cuts through our town leaving behind smoke and cinders along the tracks. Mr. Gunter was the station master and his son Billy Gunter was my best friend. You could buy tickets to all towns between Coats and Durham. A ticket was just 6 cents."
“One day Granddaddy took me to Ms. Lucy Kelly’s famous little post office “on wheels” and asked for a Social Security card for me. Oh, yes, he taught me to work also. He taught me the value of a dollar. In those days his electric bill never exceeded $1.00.
“I never realized that for the next thirty-seven years I would be working on Main Street in my town, Coats.
“We had a very efficient police force. Our Chief of Police, Mr. A.J. Godwin, who policed the town without any form of transportation was our entire police force. We had no fire department or rescue unit. The entire town was furnished water by Mr. Fred Byrd’s water system, originating from a surface spring located below Gift Primitive Baptist Church. The water from the spring was captured into an octagonal cement cistern and pumped into a tank high up beside Mr. Byrd’s cotton gin. Many families, including mine, had a well where water was drawn up with a bucket and tickle.
“My first job was shining shoes on Main Street on Saturdays, the busiest day of the week. After seeing how hard I worked, Mr. Charlie Williams hired me to work in his and Aunt Sheba’s Store, keeping the drink box loaded and well iced. Their store was located beside Mr. Oker Keene’s dry goods store. On the other side of Mr. Oker’s store was a market owned by Mr. Walter Keene.
“On the east side of the railroad tracks were markets almost identical and owned by Mr. Joel Ennis and beside it was one belonging to Mr. M.E. Ennis.
“We did have some professional people in our town. Up over City Market were the offices of our dentist, Dr. Garner Fuquay, and the law office of Mr. Bernard McLeod.
“Our town hadn’t seen much progress as far as roads being paved back in the 30’s and 40’s. Main Street was quite dusty. I was hired to work in Mr. Clyde Grimes Department Store which later became Mr. Thad Pope’s store on the north side of Main Street. Here I kept things dusted and swept. Looking out the front of Pope’s store looked like an old western town with a shed type awning overhanging the side walk of Mr. Malcolm Stewart’s store across the street. Between the posts supporting the awning were two benches that were called “lazy benches” that always had some geezers sit and whittle and spit tobacco onto the street.
“On the west side was a store owned by Mr. W.E. Nichols and was called Coats Mercantile. Mr. Alger Avery and Mr. Thomas Williams worked there. There were also lazy benches here in front of this store. An alley separated Mr. Malcolm Stewart’s store and Dr. F.H. Fleming ‘s office. Down this alley on the right was the town jail where Mr. Godwin locked up the town drunks and all evil doers of the town.
“After a few months of folding clothes, I became tired of the customers continually unfolding them, so I went to work at the largest market on Main Street-City Market which was owned and operated by Clem H. Godwin and his wife, Maxine Godwin. I worked here for ten years learning to cut meat, delivering groceries, and doing duties that are required in a large market.
Mr. Godwin’s brothers, Floyd and Robert Godwin, worked with us and later W.M. Keene, Jr. worked with us. I worked long hours from 7 a.m. until around 10p.m. We sold live chickens that were crated outside on the street. One of my jobs was to tie their legs together and weigh them for the customers. We had black strap molasses in a huge barrel with a crank, cheese in hoops and on the street were fresh vegetables in bushel hampers. Saturday night crowds were so great that parking was at a premium. One other night that crowds were huge was on Tuesday when we had a free show that was shown on the side of the drug store and the audience sat on the cotton yard.” (Joseph Lee Essay 2004).
Read next week as we continue to follow the memories of Joe Lee.
A special thank you goes to Roy Penny for a copy of a 1908 Sears Roebuck catalogue. Tammy and Michael Castro remodeled the old Claxton Turner house and gave the museum several articles retrieved from the walls and chimney. Stacy and Patsy Avery are supporters of many causes and we are so appreciative of their strong support to the museum. They recently visited to the museum to give honorariums to the building fund for JoAnne Hairr and H.L. and me for our years of dedicated service to the Coats Kiwanis Club. These honorariums will help meet the $50,000 challenge. Thank you so much. A thank you also goes to Dovie Beasley for bringing her sister, Bobby Turner, by the museum for a tour. Bobby moved from Alabama to Tennessee and is currently visiting with Dovie who gave memorials for Christine Parrish, Coma Lee Currin and Virginia Holmes while at the museum.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COLUMN APPEARED IN THE DAILY RECORD ON NOVEMBER 15, 2013.
Farm ponds were a big thing in the late 1940’s. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that farmers and ranchers had built 20,000 of them in 1947 (Dunn Dispatch March 31, 1947).
Do you recall reading about the two students competing for the World Peace speaking award? Wilma Dew and Alice Johnson were top winners at Coats and Alice became the grand prize winner of the $10.00 and medal. Alice was the daughter of Jonah and Alice Thornton Johnson, Sr.(Dunn Dispatch April 3, 1947).
The Oakdale School area lost another of its most prominent leaders. Mr. Rodophus D. Ennis, 69, died after an extended illness. He was an organizer and charter board member of the Dunn Production Credit Union. He also served on the Coats School Board of Education. He was the son of the late John Austin Ennis and Winnie Ennis (Dunn Dispatch April 3, 1947).
Wake Forest, a college of highest esteem, had two from Coats among its numbers-Cecil Fuquay and George Thomas Smith (Dunn Dispatch April 7, 1947). Were these men relatives?
Let’s check out the local cafes and markets and see how many are in Coats in 1947. Coats Café, Mack’s Sandwiches, City Market, E.H. Honeycutt Market, Johnson Market, Ryals Brothers, Byrd Market and Grocery, and W.M. Keene Grocery and Market were named in the paper (Dunn Dispatch April 7, 1947).
The late Joseph A. Lee shared his memories of the 1930’s and 40’s of the Main Street of Coats. Joe recalled that he moved to Coats after his father died on February 23, 1937.He lived with his grandfather, William G. (Bill-Dad) Williams, who he remarked was the most honorable man that he had ever known in his entire life. He lived with his granddaddy for 15 years. At age 77, Joe shared the following memories of the town of Coats.
“It seems that I can still hear the whistle of the old Durham and Southern train as it cuts through our town leaving behind smoke and cinders along the tracks. Mr. Gunter was the station master and his son Billy Gunter was my best friend. You could buy tickets to all towns between Coats and Durham. A ticket was just 6 cents."
“One day Granddaddy took me to Ms. Lucy Kelly’s famous little post office “on wheels” and asked for a Social Security card for me. Oh, yes, he taught me to work also. He taught me the value of a dollar. In those days his electric bill never exceeded $1.00.
“I never realized that for the next thirty-seven years I would be working on Main Street in my town, Coats.
“We had a very efficient police force. Our Chief of Police, Mr. A.J. Godwin, who policed the town without any form of transportation was our entire police force. We had no fire department or rescue unit. The entire town was furnished water by Mr. Fred Byrd’s water system, originating from a surface spring located below Gift Primitive Baptist Church. The water from the spring was captured into an octagonal cement cistern and pumped into a tank high up beside Mr. Byrd’s cotton gin. Many families, including mine, had a well where water was drawn up with a bucket and tickle.
“My first job was shining shoes on Main Street on Saturdays, the busiest day of the week. After seeing how hard I worked, Mr. Charlie Williams hired me to work in his and Aunt Sheba’s Store, keeping the drink box loaded and well iced. Their store was located beside Mr. Oker Keene’s dry goods store. On the other side of Mr. Oker’s store was a market owned by Mr. Walter Keene.
“On the east side of the railroad tracks were markets almost identical and owned by Mr. Joel Ennis and beside it was one belonging to Mr. M.E. Ennis.
“We did have some professional people in our town. Up over City Market were the offices of our dentist, Dr. Garner Fuquay, and the law office of Mr. Bernard McLeod.
“Our town hadn’t seen much progress as far as roads being paved back in the 30’s and 40’s. Main Street was quite dusty. I was hired to work in Mr. Clyde Grimes Department Store which later became Mr. Thad Pope’s store on the north side of Main Street. Here I kept things dusted and swept. Looking out the front of Pope’s store looked like an old western town with a shed type awning overhanging the side walk of Mr. Malcolm Stewart’s store across the street. Between the posts supporting the awning were two benches that were called “lazy benches” that always had some geezers sit and whittle and spit tobacco onto the street.
“On the west side was a store owned by Mr. W.E. Nichols and was called Coats Mercantile. Mr. Alger Avery and Mr. Thomas Williams worked there. There were also lazy benches here in front of this store. An alley separated Mr. Malcolm Stewart’s store and Dr. F.H. Fleming ‘s office. Down this alley on the right was the town jail where Mr. Godwin locked up the town drunks and all evil doers of the town.
“After a few months of folding clothes, I became tired of the customers continually unfolding them, so I went to work at the largest market on Main Street-City Market which was owned and operated by Clem H. Godwin and his wife, Maxine Godwin. I worked here for ten years learning to cut meat, delivering groceries, and doing duties that are required in a large market.
Mr. Godwin’s brothers, Floyd and Robert Godwin, worked with us and later W.M. Keene, Jr. worked with us. I worked long hours from 7 a.m. until around 10p.m. We sold live chickens that were crated outside on the street. One of my jobs was to tie their legs together and weigh them for the customers. We had black strap molasses in a huge barrel with a crank, cheese in hoops and on the street were fresh vegetables in bushel hampers. Saturday night crowds were so great that parking was at a premium. One other night that crowds were huge was on Tuesday when we had a free show that was shown on the side of the drug store and the audience sat on the cotton yard.” (Joseph Lee Essay 2004).
Read next week as we continue to follow the memories of Joe Lee.
A special thank you goes to Roy Penny for a copy of a 1908 Sears Roebuck catalogue. Tammy and Michael Castro remodeled the old Claxton Turner house and gave the museum several articles retrieved from the walls and chimney. Stacy and Patsy Avery are supporters of many causes and we are so appreciative of their strong support to the museum. They recently visited to the museum to give honorariums to the building fund for JoAnne Hairr and H.L. and me for our years of dedicated service to the Coats Kiwanis Club. These honorariums will help meet the $50,000 challenge. Thank you so much. A thank you also goes to Dovie Beasley for bringing her sister, Bobby Turner, by the museum for a tour. Bobby moved from Alabama to Tennessee and is currently visiting with Dovie who gave memorials for Christine Parrish, Coma Lee Currin and Virginia Holmes while at the museum.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COLUMN APPEARED IN THE DAILY RECORD ON NOVEMBER 15, 2013.