A Sketch of Business Locations in Sicily Island, 1930-1940

The above sketch gives us an idea of how the business section of Sicily Island appeared in the 1930s and early 1940s.  The sketch was drawn by Richard Guy "R. G." Price, Jr. and is displayed in First United Methodist Church.

Below is a second photograph of the sketch with transcriptions.  View this sketch as if approaching Sicily Island from the direction of Harrisonburg on LA Highway 8 East (beginning at the bottom and working your way up).

The horizontal notation along the left side of the sketch states the following:

"All forms of livestock had a free run of the town; cows, sheep, mules, horses, hogs, chickens"

Notes:  

• LA Hwy 8 ends at the junction of U.S. Hwy 15.

• Once you turned left onto U.S. Hwy 15 North, the ESSO Service Station was on the right followed by John Hall's Cafe, the Drug Store and the Motel.

• The area showing the Shell Station and two vacant lots was on the left side of U.S. Hwy 15 North and is where the Short Stop is located today.  

Special thanks to Mr. R. G. Price for creating this sketch.  It is a wonderful piece of history which provides future generations a glimpse of Sicily Island as it was back in the 1930s and 1940s.

Richard Guy "R. G." Price, Jr.

Co-Op Erecting New Building at Sicily Island, 1968

The following article appeared in the June 26, 1968 edition of the Monroe News Star:

Friday's Faces From the Past ~ Island Girls

This photograph was taken in 1939 in front of Wes Ogden's store in Sicily Island.  The store was originally built and operated by Wes' father-in-law, Isham Alfonso "Al" Steele circa 1917.  In later years, it was owned and operated by the O. G. Wynn, Sr. family and the Gordon Higgins family.

Seated on the bench are (LtoR) Sarah Virginia Ogden (Caston), Catherine "Kitty" McNair (Nolen), Barbara Jane Peck (Gilbert), Eugenia Smith (Ritchie) and Winnie Wynn (Taylor, Smith).

Amanuensis Monday ~ The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 26

The following transcription is from a series of recordings my father made in the early 1990s:

My thoughts are going back to the old stores and merchants we had here in town in the 1930s and 1940s.  Mr. Maurice Saltzman, Big Emmett Chisum, Uncle Wes Ogden, Mr. Buck Smith, and Mr. and Mrs. Whatley.

Saltzman Store

One of the stores had big hooks of cheese out on the counter.  In the summertime, the cheese wouldn't be yellow.  It would be orange colored and soft.  You could get a pound of cheese for about 10 cents back in those days.  

You could fill a little brown bag with soda crackers for 5 cents and have you some crackers and cheese. There were jars of oil sausage, jars of sweet pickles and jars of pickled pig feet sitting out on the counters.

I remember the smell of coal oil.  The merchants would sprinkle it around on the floors to settle the dust.  

Everybody kept coal oil lamps.  We had electric lights on the Island back in the 1930s but they were always going out.  It seemed like they always went out on Saturday nights. 

Saturdays were big days and nights.  I don't know if it was overloading the system or what.  It took several hours before the lights would come back on so everybody kept their coal oil lamps nearby.

You could walk in one of the stores and smell the tobacco.  There would be a big square of tobacco and the store owner would cut you off a nickel, a dime or twenty cents worth of tobacco.

I remember the old tobacco cutters.  They looked something like a cheese cutter.  

Tobacco Cutter

The stores would have big ole wooden crates of loose apples out front.  You could even buy a slice of a dried apple.

New overalls had a certain scent to them.  You could smell the leather of the mule and horse gear they had in the stores.

I wonder how many people would remember that great big, black dog that belonged to the Whatley family.  His name was Old Dan.  He looked something like a German Shepherd.  Old Dan stayed at the Whatley store all the time. 

When John Fairbanks and I were little boys, we would go by the Whatley store and ask Mr. Whatley to get Old Dan to ask for a cookie.  Mr. Whatley kept the cookies in bins.  Old Dan would go over to the bins and bark for a cookie.

Mrs. Yancey had an old bird dog named Old Rex..  That dog used to stay in front of the Montgomery store that once belonged to Mr. Yancey.  

Old Rex was a liver spotted pointer.  He would come to that store every day.  Even after Mr. Yancey died, that dog kept coming to that store.  Albert Earl Krause and Charles McNair used to take Old Rex bird hunting.

Louisiana Cottonwood

There used to be a great big ole cottonwood tree in the alley by the Whatley store.  The story was told that this tree was the tree that one of the Bennett boys stood behind and was shooting at a store across the street over there close to the Methodist Church and close to where the Whatley's house was. Mr. Claude Enright and his brother Roy were supposedly up in the store shooting back at the Bennett boy behind the cottonwood tree.  They were shooting back and forth across the street at one another.  

John Fairbanks and I were told that you could still see the lead bullets in the cottonwood tree. We were always looking at that tree to see if we could find some of that lead.  The shootout was supposed to have taken place about 10 or 15 years before; in about 1915 or so.

There was a store that stood on the corner across the street from the Whatley store.  I don't know if that was the store that Mr. Claude was shooting from, though.  For years that store had a sign on the front that said Carl Shipp and Son.  I don't remember them being in business but I do remember Hughes McKnight having a store and a little meat market in that building.

That particular building hasn't been torn down for too long.  They last used it for a laundry. Claude Haley had a laundry there.  Later, a fellow by the name of Henslee had a laundry in that store.  He was married to one of the Cruse girls.

Herd Guice standing beside Haley's Cleaners Delivery Vehicle

Dr. Gordon's house was about fifty yards on down from that building.  The next house was the Chambless house, then Big Emmett Chisum's house, Cousin Jessie McNair's house, then the Garners, the Bourkes and Uncle Tom and Aunt Kate Chisum's house.  On down from there was Mrs. Anna [Doniphan] Peniston's house.

I make these tapes for those who are about my age and would remember the things I talk about. Future generations won't know about some of the things I mention but they're worth mentioning.

Note:  Parts 1-25 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of this blog.

Sicily Island Map ~ 1912-1913 (Town)

Friday's Faces From the Past ~ Mr. Curtis

Mr. Curtis was the owner of Curtis Drug Store in Sicily Island.

Home Movies ~ Snow on the Island, 1960s

A rare snowfall on Sicily Island during Christmas time in the 1960s:

Some of the places you'll see:

Street scenes along the road to the school house
Bait Stand in front of the Carter's house (Bennett house)
American Gas Station
Dry Cleaners
Original Library
Johnny Crawford's Barber Shop
Bruce's Drive-In
Sicily Island State Bank (with its silver Christmas Tree)

Home Movies ~ Church and Street Scenes, Part 4

In this clip:

Johnny Crawford's Barber Shop
Old Sicily Island Post Office
Estelle Woodward Peck
Willie Woodward
Walter "Bunk" and Augusta Krause Taliaferro
Girault Bird
Willie Evans Knight
Peggy Krause Bondurant
Edmonds Children
Will Peck
Stewart and Blair Chisum
Richard and Molly Smith
Walter "Pot" Krause
Beverly Harris Weston
Katie Harris Coney
Lillian and O. G. Wynn
Kitty McNair Nolen
Eva McNair Hair
Susie Smith and Bill Crawford
Kathe, Steve and Patsy Smith Jackson

Home Movies ~ Island Street Scenes and Neighbors, 1960s

This video from the early 1960s shows the following scenes:

Neighbors in their yards - Cloy, Krause, Woodward-Peck, Smith-Peniston, Smith-McNair, Gilbert
Lovelace/Peck home with an old Indian Mound and Lake Lovelace in the background
Businesses on Newman Avenue - Old Post Office, Jack's Place, Wynn's
Pet deer the Gilbert family kept in their back yard

 

Some of the faces you'll see:
Richard Harris Cloy and granddaughter, Diana Stubbs, Anita Oliphant, Bro. Davis and his wife, Estelle Woodward Peck, Nan Brooks, Cathleen Dale, Jessie Smith Peniston, Jessie Smith McNair,
Henry Doniphan Peniston, Oscar Krause, Ben Westerburg, Birdie Talbert Krause, Georgia Westbrook Peniston, J. C. "Sonny" Gilbert with Barbara Jane Peck Gilbert, Barbara Gilbert and Jess Gilbert

Below are photographs of some of the businesses and homes taken in 2010.  Which ones do you recognize from the video?

Bruce's Drive-In

Years ago my grandfather opened Bruce's Drive-In on Louisiana Highway 15 in Sicily Island.   The location was near the former site of Charlie's Nite Club which saw its most prosperous years in the 1940s. 

Bruce's Drive-In was known throughout the area for its homemade burgers, curly-Qs, and ice cream.  My grandfather's failing health brought the closure of Bruce's Drive-In in the early 1970s.  After his passing, my family re-opened the dairy queen for a short time before selling it to the Krause family.

Snack Shack owned and operated by Pot and Gloria Krause

Bruce's Drive-In became the Snack Shack and continued the tradition of serving great food and ice cream. 

When Louisiana Highway 15 was expanded to a four-lane, the old building was torn down and a new Snack Shack was built in its present location.  And yes, the tradition of great homemade burgers and ice cream treats continues on with the present owners, Walter Markham "Pot" Krause and his wife, Goria.

One of my earliest memories of the structure of Bruce's Drive-In was the segregated dining areas in the 1960s.  One dining area was located on the front/northern side of the building and the other was located on the eastern side.  

Bruce's Drive-In, 1960s

Bruce's Drive-In

The separate dining areas would later be torn down, leaving a covered area in front.  A long covered area was built on the western side where picnic tables were placed for those who chose to eat on location.  The picnic tables held stories of their own.  Names, initials, who-loved-who...all were found etched on the tables and some of the benches. 

Bruce's Drive-In

In the back portion of Bruce's Drive-In, near the grill and the deep fryer, there was an old orange colored chest that held supplies such as napkins, burger wrappers and straws.  That old chest was my favorite spot to take naps as a young child.  I'm sure the health departments of today would not allow a child inside, much less taking naps beside the grill and deep fryer!

In the front portion, there was a box freezer with containers on top that held the toppings for sundaes, shakes and malts. 

The same old box freezer is still in use at the Snack Shack. 





I remember the elementary teachers taking their classes to Bruce's Drive-In for cups and cones of ice cream.  The school was only about three or four blocks away so the students lined up by class and made their way up the sidewalk. 

The story is told that I uttered my first complete sentence while at Bruce's Drive-In.  There was a swinging door held open by a huge rock.  (I remember the door and the rock)  I supposedly stumped my toe on the rock one day and asked, "Who put that d*** rock there?"   I don't remember that part.

More Old Movies (Teasers)

Here are a couple of samples (teasers) of the video clips I'll be posting over the next several days:

The first video clip includes street scenes from Sicily Island back in the late 1950s as well as some faces of Islanders who are no longer with us.

The second clip is from the same period of time and includes scenes from the Courthouse in Harrisonburg and the School Board Office in Jonesville.

Amanuensis Monday ~ The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 15

The following transcription is from a series of recordings my father made in the early 1990s:

Back in the mid to late 1930s, everybody met the train.  Morning and evening.  The gathering place was the post office to get the mail.  We had a little ole train called the Doodlebug; a mail train that brought the mail in the morning and back in the evening.  Everybody was always waiting to hear the whistle of the Doodlebug.

The Doodlebug

The Doodlebug ran about 10 in the morning and about 3 in the evening.  Old man Tom Hardin was the postmaster.  He'd let out a shrill whistle for little Harry Jenkins to bring the mail wagon.  It was Harry's job to harness an old gray horse to a wagon and head to the depot to pick up the mail and bring it back to the post office.  The old gray horse was named Mag and she belonged to Buck Smith.  Always following along behind Harry and Mag were two old dogs named Blue and Trailer.  They followed that wagon just like it was part of their duty.

That was about the only excitement on the Island back then...when the Doodlebug came in the morning and back in the evening.

Cows grazed in the fields here in town.  The Penistons had sheep.  They were mostly on the other side of town.

Kids made clover chains.  Kids would tie stems of clover together and see how long a chain they could make.  We'd walk around town with 150-200 feet of chained clover.

All those little things.  Roosters crowing early in the morning.  Cows lowing, pigs squealing, calves bleating.  Long, long ago.

For those of us who do remember those times, they were wonderful.  There wasn't much money or much entertainment.  Maybe it wasn't so exciting but it was a wonderful time to be living here on Sicily Island.

Great events that happened in my time... 

Mr. Curtis

Mr. Curtis bought the drug store and started serving double-dip ice cream cones.  Ice cream cones had two sides on the top of it.

Soon, following the ice cream, was koolaid.  We could take a nickel pack of koolaid and mix it with water and make a gallon of drink.  Orange, grape and strawberry.

They started making big drinks of RC Cola.  Three or four more ounces than you'd get in regular coke or orange sodas.

All of these were great events.  Great new inventions.  Great happenings.

I think back to a time when there were four telephones on all of the Island.  Four that I knew about.  The Peck Plantation had a telephone. 

Lovelace-Peck House

Uncle Wes Ogden had a telephone in his store.  The Chambers Hotel had one and they had one at Charlie's Nite Club.

Chambers Hotel

I remember when everybody had to buy ice to put in their icebox.  People would buy a big block of ice to put up in the top of their icebox.  The first refrigerator I saw ran on gas.  Alvin Seal had one.  Later on came the ones that ran on electricity and most everybody then had an electric icebox.  That was the end of the old icebox.

Oscillating Fan at Etsy.com

I can remember when there were only three or four people on the Island who had electric fans.  I remember Mr. Alvin Seal had an electric oscillating fan.  It moved back and forth and I thought that was wonderful. 

I saw the time when that changed and everybody started getting fans.  And then I saw the time when everybody went to what they called attic fans.  After that, it was air conditioners.  Now most everybody has air conditioners.

One of our most modern inventions was the television.  It is great.  It is wonderful.  But at the same time, I'm not the only one who feels this...thinks this...I think it is becoming a curse on the land.  It's one of the worse things that ever happened.  People don't visit like they used to.  They don't sit around and talk or communicate like they used to.  Everybody is at home locked up watching their television.

Courtesy of Library of Congress

Note:  Parts 1-14 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of the blog. 

Amanuensis Monday ~ The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 2

 

The following transcription is from a series of recordings my father made in the early 1990s: 

Mack Harris

I’ve been making tapes here lately of some tapes I copied that were made back in 1972 and 1973.  Tapes that Howard Smith and Sonny Smith made of Mack Harris talking. 

Lord, Mack Harris was born January 18, 1897 and lived to 86 years old.  Died in 1983.  Here it is 91.  Mack would be an old, old man now if he was living. 
 
On some of those tapes and some tapes I’ve made along with them telling different stories about Mack, Uncle Arch Higgins’ name comes up every once and a while.  I didn’t tell all the stories I wanted to tell about Uncle Arch Higgins.  Uncle Arch lived to be way up in his 80s.  Shoot if Uncle Arch was living I think he’d be 105 or 10 years old now.  
 
So I’m going to tell a few about Uncle Arch to start with.  Its something that the people that knew him, it would be something they’d like to remember.  It’s just Island stories.  Things that happened on the street here in the Village and around.

Uncle Arch Higgins

The thing about Uncle Arch...he was up pretty old when he worked there in the café in the early 1950s.  Howard Smith had a little café.  Uncle Arch worked there and his wife, Miss Rosetta worked in there with them.  


Uncle Arch was always talking about the kids coming from school in the evening.  Stopping in there to get a glass of water in the cafe.  Didn’t buy anything, just wanted a drink of water. 

He was always talking about that boy of Mr. Leonard Hamilton’s, ole Lamon Hamilton.  Uncle Arch said, “He’s got the best water appetite anybody ever saw.  That sucker wants water every evening.”  Uncle Arch said it would be dull, wouldn’t be any customers in the café and he’d be sitting out there in the alley chewing his tobacco.  Sometimes an hour or two before he’d have a customer.  But he had customers when school let out.  He (Lamon) would be in town walking by the café getting water.  

Jack McNair

So Jack McNair and I (Jack had a saloon next door) got to talking about Uncle Arch and his water customer so we fixed him up one day.  Little kids got out of school and I went down the street and they passed by on the corner down where the bank was.   I gave a good many of them a nickel apiece to go by Uncle Arch’s down at Howard’s café and ask for a glass of water.  Then I went to the merchants there in town.  Filling station and all up and down.  Just everybody I could see.  I’d tell them, “Y’all go on down after while and get you a glass of water.”  I told them the joke we were pulling on Uncle Arch.


Sure enough, school let out and they started in.  Those kids.  It was always a few them but man, just all of them.  Jack McNair and I were outside the café looking through the window.  Uncle Arch,  I mean, he was in a spin.  He’d get 2 glasses of water and set them out & two more kids, “I want some water Mr. Arch, give me a drink of water.”  He was just spinning.  About the time the kids began to slow down those different merchants and the people on the street, grown people, started coming in.  “Mr. Higgins give me a glass of water.”  He was just constantly putting out water.  He finally caught up.  I reckon he put out about 55 glasses of water there in about 5 minutes.

Uncle Arch finally got caught up and about that time Freddie Krause (who had a little feed store there in town) came in late.  He was told about the deal but something happened and he didn't get there early.  Uncle Arch had stopped serving water.

Ole Freddie walked in and said, "Mr. Higgins, give me a glass of water."  Uncle Arch blowed his top and said, "Damn, Howard Smith has got the best damn water business in town."  Me and ole Jack had to hold on to each other; we were laughing so hard.  I swear, that was funny.

Part 1