October 31, 2011 Coats Museum News
The date was May of 1923 when construction crews for the Carolina Telephone and Telegraph worked under L.E. Thompson to change the long distance lines out of Lillington from Benson to Dunn. The line was to go by Coats and Duke. This change meant long distance calls were answered from Dunn rather than Benson. The new line gave a “double tract” between Lillington and Dunn (Harnett County News May 31, 1923).
The Harnett County Board of Commissioners had set the tax rate at 83 cents of which 60 cents went to the schools-fifty cents of that went for salaries and 10 cents for school houses. Special township taxes for Grove were 40 cents on property and $1.20 on polls. Grove had the following special school taxes: Grove 1 (Ennis) 30 cents, Grove 2 (Gregory) 15 cents, Grove 3 (Coats) $1.00, Grove 4 (Turlington) 20 cents, Grove 5 (Parker) 20 cents, Grove 6 (Sorrell) 15 cents, and Grove 7 (Penny-Rock Ridge) 12 cents (Harnett County News September 6, 1923).
L. L. Levinson, who for a number of years was one of Harnett County’s most prominent attorneys, moved to Benson. He was a former Coats mayor and was a Judge of the Harnett County Recorder’s Court. His name had been mentioned as a State Senate candidate in the 1926 election. B.F. McLeod was in charge of the Coats office after Levinson had left, but Levinson did visit his Coats office every Friday (Harnett County News September 6, 1923).
A North Carolina Education Association branch for Harnett County was organized with T.T. Lanier as president. The Harnett County Athletic Association had met at Coats on Monday and the following schedule was mapped out for the remaining games in 1923: Friday, December 7, -Dunn versus Coats and Ennis versus Duke; Friday, December 14-Angier versus Ennis and Lillington versus Coats; Tuesday-December 18-Ennis versus Lillington and Coats versus Duke (Harnett County News December 6, 1923).
Do you wonder who played on the teams and if they had games for boys as well as the girls? Where did the teams play when they were playing against the small country Grove 1 Ennis School? Do not some our older citizens often comment that it was colder in the past than today, and you did note that these dates were all in December? Did they have spectators? I do know that basketball did draw lots of attention in the news. It reported that the Coats team defeated Lillington in a fast game on Friday afternoon by a score of 31 to 8. Are you wondering if this game was between boys or girls? The paper did report that the win was a surprise since the Lillington team had defeated Coats earlier in the season. Read the following news account and discover what gender played the game. Spectacular work was done by guards Turlington and C. Williams and at forward by Pope and Bailey. I. Williams was back at his old position of center. Does the “his” give you the answer? Wonder why they place an initial in front of some and not others. Could C. Williams have been Council or Cortez Williams? Was there an Ira Williams in school in 1923? Did David or Willis Pope fit into this time frame? In whose families did those players belong? Yours?
The Coats Parent-Teacher Association had a successful year in 1923. Over 100 members were present at the November meeting. Officers were C.T. Mathews as president, Mrs. H. C. Roberts as vice president, and Mrs. T. D. Stewart as secretary. John W. Derflinger (teacher), Paul Turlington and Irbin Smith were members of the executive board. During the business session, plans were made for paying off the opera chairs for the auditorium, a piano, library needs, and for providing the children with instruction in public school music. Did they have to give the money up front before the opera chairs were installed? Do you know what opera chairs looked like and the word “opera” sounds a bit urban for a rural school, doesn’t it? To raise the money, the first thing attempted was a fiddlers’ convention with $60 in profit. An oyster supper was given at the Coats Motor Company on December 6th with the profit being $20.00. Three entertainments by outside talents netted small amounts. On Friday night, December 12th, a play entitled “An Old Fashioned Mother” was presented by high school pupils and teachers (Harnett County News December 19, 1923). How about those Coats folks!!
Next week I will share information about Calvin Coolidge who was president during our “roaring twenties”. You will learn that there was a Harnett County Medical Society and that another brick school was built in Grove Township. The Coats folks would like to thank Dorsey and Pauline Daniel and Dennis and Becky Adams for their gifts to the Coats Museum Building Fund. Keep an eye on the Heritage Square and you should see some long awaited activity soon. Don’t forget this is your museum and your support is so important to the growth of it. Consider honoring a loved one with a gift to the building fund or the endowment. A very special thank you to Eddie Vaughan for his gift of a book about Bentonville to honor Anita Raynor Lloyd. The volunteers are looking forward to seeing the Coats High School Class of 1961 who will be in town this Saturday, the 5,th, for their class reunion.
The date was May of 1923 when construction crews for the Carolina Telephone and Telegraph worked under L.E. Thompson to change the long distance lines out of Lillington from Benson to Dunn. The line was to go by Coats and Duke. This change meant long distance calls were answered from Dunn rather than Benson. The new line gave a “double tract” between Lillington and Dunn (Harnett County News May 31, 1923).
The Harnett County Board of Commissioners had set the tax rate at 83 cents of which 60 cents went to the schools-fifty cents of that went for salaries and 10 cents for school houses. Special township taxes for Grove were 40 cents on property and $1.20 on polls. Grove had the following special school taxes: Grove 1 (Ennis) 30 cents, Grove 2 (Gregory) 15 cents, Grove 3 (Coats) $1.00, Grove 4 (Turlington) 20 cents, Grove 5 (Parker) 20 cents, Grove 6 (Sorrell) 15 cents, and Grove 7 (Penny-Rock Ridge) 12 cents (Harnett County News September 6, 1923).
L. L. Levinson, who for a number of years was one of Harnett County’s most prominent attorneys, moved to Benson. He was a former Coats mayor and was a Judge of the Harnett County Recorder’s Court. His name had been mentioned as a State Senate candidate in the 1926 election. B.F. McLeod was in charge of the Coats office after Levinson had left, but Levinson did visit his Coats office every Friday (Harnett County News September 6, 1923).
A North Carolina Education Association branch for Harnett County was organized with T.T. Lanier as president. The Harnett County Athletic Association had met at Coats on Monday and the following schedule was mapped out for the remaining games in 1923: Friday, December 7, -Dunn versus Coats and Ennis versus Duke; Friday, December 14-Angier versus Ennis and Lillington versus Coats; Tuesday-December 18-Ennis versus Lillington and Coats versus Duke (Harnett County News December 6, 1923).
Do you wonder who played on the teams and if they had games for boys as well as the girls? Where did the teams play when they were playing against the small country Grove 1 Ennis School? Do not some our older citizens often comment that it was colder in the past than today, and you did note that these dates were all in December? Did they have spectators? I do know that basketball did draw lots of attention in the news. It reported that the Coats team defeated Lillington in a fast game on Friday afternoon by a score of 31 to 8. Are you wondering if this game was between boys or girls? The paper did report that the win was a surprise since the Lillington team had defeated Coats earlier in the season. Read the following news account and discover what gender played the game. Spectacular work was done by guards Turlington and C. Williams and at forward by Pope and Bailey. I. Williams was back at his old position of center. Does the “his” give you the answer? Wonder why they place an initial in front of some and not others. Could C. Williams have been Council or Cortez Williams? Was there an Ira Williams in school in 1923? Did David or Willis Pope fit into this time frame? In whose families did those players belong? Yours?
The Coats Parent-Teacher Association had a successful year in 1923. Over 100 members were present at the November meeting. Officers were C.T. Mathews as president, Mrs. H. C. Roberts as vice president, and Mrs. T. D. Stewart as secretary. John W. Derflinger (teacher), Paul Turlington and Irbin Smith were members of the executive board. During the business session, plans were made for paying off the opera chairs for the auditorium, a piano, library needs, and for providing the children with instruction in public school music. Did they have to give the money up front before the opera chairs were installed? Do you know what opera chairs looked like and the word “opera” sounds a bit urban for a rural school, doesn’t it? To raise the money, the first thing attempted was a fiddlers’ convention with $60 in profit. An oyster supper was given at the Coats Motor Company on December 6th with the profit being $20.00. Three entertainments by outside talents netted small amounts. On Friday night, December 12th, a play entitled “An Old Fashioned Mother” was presented by high school pupils and teachers (Harnett County News December 19, 1923). How about those Coats folks!!
Next week I will share information about Calvin Coolidge who was president during our “roaring twenties”. You will learn that there was a Harnett County Medical Society and that another brick school was built in Grove Township. The Coats folks would like to thank Dorsey and Pauline Daniel and Dennis and Becky Adams for their gifts to the Coats Museum Building Fund. Keep an eye on the Heritage Square and you should see some long awaited activity soon. Don’t forget this is your museum and your support is so important to the growth of it. Consider honoring a loved one with a gift to the building fund or the endowment. A very special thank you to Eddie Vaughan for his gift of a book about Bentonville to honor Anita Raynor Lloyd. The volunteers are looking forward to seeing the Coats High School Class of 1961 who will be in town this Saturday, the 5,th, for their class reunion.