From   The Journals of the
WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

"Memories of Greenville" 

by Mrs.Eilene Hazel
Presented November 23, 1986 to the WCHS

I grew up in a wonderful time in the little town of Greenville. It was not a city then, it was a river town. It was so nice because when I was a little girl. You didn't buy beer at the grocery store. There weren't beer cans thrown out in the street. We didn't have a lot of litter bugs. If anyone mentioned dope, they were talking about somebody who wasn't too smart. It was a good time for children to grow up and have a lot of fun.

My father came to Greenville when he was about seven years of age. His father was a Yankee Irishman who settled in Alabama and had a saloon. When the saloon burned, my grandmother was very happy. They then moved to Greenville and my grandfather worked for an engineer/contractor who built rail lines. Railroad construction took my grandfather to many locations, such as Harrison, Arkansas, but the family always lived in Greenville.

My father went to school at Archer School in the south end of town. Archer School was located on a block near the Levee bounded by Johnson Street on the north, Percy on the south, Hinds Street on the east and Shelby on the west. That block was later known as Archer Park, where the Junior Auxiliary built their school. More recently, the Greenville Boys' Club was built on the south side of Archer Park. After the Archer School was torn down, the land was left to the public with the understanding that it could only be used for children's activities, so that is why the Junior Auxiliary and others got to use it for their youth activities.

When my father went to Archer School, E. E. Bass was the Superintendent of Schools, Charlie Lee Park was the coach, Ben Hatch was the principal, and Miss Carrie Stern and Miss Poole were among the teachers. Among my father's fellow students were Margaret Wortham (who later became Mrs. John Kirk, Sr.), Ann Thomas (who married Mr. Howard Dyer, Sr.), Kenneth Haxton, Sr., and his future wife, Elise Blum. When my uncles came along, Brodie Crump was with them in school.

Andrew N. Alexander, Sr. also attended Archer School. His son, Murry Alexander, has a picture of his father on the football team. Murry's father and my father played together on the Archer High School football team.

When my father finished school, he went to work for the railroad. My mother came from Van Wert, Ohio, to Mississippi when she was about seventeen. Her father's family orieinally came from Germany. When her grandfather and grandmother emigrated from Germany, he could not land in the United States because of the Civil War. They had to go and stay in Canada for a while. He later became a country doctor in Ohio. His son, my grandfather, was 3 years old when his parents came into this country. Why my grandfather and his brother decided to leave Ohio to come south and open a stave mill at Richey, Mississippi (near Delta City), I don't know. My grandmother was such a religious woman that it worried her that they did not have a church there. After she arrived at Richey, my mother, together with a Mrs. Furr, started a Sunday School.

There was a branch railroad from the C&G Railroad that went out to Richey, Mississippi, on the Sunflower River.' It was called the "Richey Branch." Richey is where my father met my mother. There were quite a few stores and hotels, but no church. When my father and mother wanted to get married, that posed a problem. My mother came into Greenville on the Richey Branch line and bought the material for her wedding suit from Hafter's Department Store. After she made her wedding dress, all the families got on the train and rode to Leland. A preacher came on the train, and my mother and daddy were married on the train.

After their marriage, my father and mother moved to Greenville. After my mother died, we found the cash bill of sale from Ham's Furniture Store where she bought furniture when she started housekeeping. Dining room chairs were $1.50.

I was born in Grandmother Shepherd's house on South Broadway. We lived near the light plant. The light plant was located on the east side of Broadway, the first thing after you crossed the C&G Railroad going south, across from Dennis Grocery. [This site still belongs to Mississippi Power & Light Company which acquired the local electric company.] Mr. Lynn ran the light company. Next to the electric generation plant was Roy Shepherd's house, Ted Shepherd's mother's and father's house and Mary Louise Pace's. Mr. Roy Shepherd was head of the gas company. Coal gas was manufactured across Broadway in the white building between the two railroad tracks which is now [1986] owned by Richard Eskridge and used as a warehouse. There was very little gas used in Greenville. People used coal, wood, anything they could get for fuel.

The house next to the light company was Grandmother Shepherd's house where I was born. Behind that house on Clay Street was Clarence Shepherd's house. The house where I was born was later occupied by Dorothy Woods and her husband and later, I think, by Kelton Smith.

Our family moved across Broadway Street next to the Dennis Grocery. Mr. Dennis was Inis McMillan's father. Inis' uncle ran the store. Behind the grocery store, facing the railroad, was Dennis-Shield's Ice Company. Inis' father ran the ice/coal company.

There were beautiful homes all up and down South Broadway, all the way from the present Broadway Loop to Alexander Street. There were also beautiful homes on Central Street, on Main Street and on Washington Avenue.

We didn't have cars and rode the streetcar. The streetcar system was a wondrous thing. It went down Broadway to where the Broadway Loop starts, came up to the corner of Broadway and Central where the Central Fire Station is now located, turned toward the levee, went north on to Poplar Street, up Washington Avenue to the Courthouse, then down Washington, over to Fairview and on to Greenway Park (Harty ParK). You could ride the streetcar for a nickel.

Mr. Pender was the streetcar motorman. He never smiled; he said very little. He was a meek, mild, little man - polite to everyone. If a woman wanted to stop and get a spool of thread, he would stop the streetcar and hold it until she came back. I was also told about a prominent businessman who got on the streetcar every day. He offered a $20.00 bill for his nickel fare. Mr. Pender could never change that $20.00 bill. One day he took the $20.00 bill, stopped the streetcar, went in the bank and gave the man $20.00 worth of nickels.

My mother had five children. We had moved up Broadway to one of Miss Kathleen Harty's houses, at the corner of Valiant Street and Broadway. Right next door to us was Mrs. Young's Boarding House. Mrs. Young was the mother of Georgie Belle Cottingham and Carl Young.

My grandmother had died before I was born. My grandfather lived with us. He was a very good building contractor. Our family finally bought an old house straight across Theobald Street from the boiler works (later owned by Greenville Marine) right next door to the railroad tracks. Every time the train passed it shook the house. My father started working for the Y&MVRR, working at night to make more money.

The only women who worked were those who taught school, telephone operators, and the ladies in the dry goods stores. Most women stayed home and took care of their children. My mother had Liza who came and did the washing and ironing. Once a month mother would walk down the alley, catch the streetcar on Broadway, go to town to pay the bills (lights, water, and gas), shop for material at Nelms & Blum or the Leyser Building, and catch the streetcar on its loop back. My mother never had or drove a car. She walked or rode the streetcar every place she wanted to go.

We didn't have TV. We didn't have cars to ride around. We entertained ourselves by playing games. Because we had a corner street light, we would have 30 kids playing on our banquette. We played in our own yards. There was also a miniature golf course, a see-saw, circuses, parades, and political rallies. Of course, we had the public library. I remember when the Boy Scouts moved the books to the present building.

The circus came in from Clarksdale on the Y&MV and went out on the C&G or came from Greenwood on the C&G and went out on the Y&MV to Clarksdale. As the man who worked on the switch engine, my father always got passes. We attended every circus that came to Greenville. We also had the advantage that the circus unloaded on Washington Avenue or on Broadway right by Dennis Grocery. The animals would wake us up. We would go to watch them unload. School would be let out early and alI the children headed over to Washington Avenue for the circus parade.

There were two circus grounds. One was on the "south end" where the Broadway Loop is now. The other was on Washington Avenue at the place where Frank Ciolino's house was later located. We could walk to the circus if it was on Broadway. If it was on Washington Avenue, we rode the streetcar. It was almost like a fair. People put up booths all along the street, selling cookies, lemonade, cotton candy and balloons.

Parades included July 4th and Armistice Day, but no Christmas Parade. I can remember military parades with horses, Innocent Loyocano with his American Legion cap, but not much of a band. All parades started at the Courthouse, went down Washington Avenue to the levee, over to Main Street and back up Main to the starting point.

After the 1927 flood, the bricks on Washington Avenue were "turned" with WPA labor. The flood had damaged the bricks and the street was no longer level.

Political rallies were at the Washington County Courthouse. Often political rallies included free fish fries.

At Greenway Park (Harty Park) there was an old pavilion, which no longer exists. This was also a site of political rallies and dances. People in Greenville were not sure if dancing was a sin, so they didn't have as many as some other towns. There was an old slough in the back of Greenway Park which was turned into a wading pool. The wading pool was finally filled in.

Everyone knew everyone in Greenville. Church going was a social event.

We went to the Methodist Church. We attended Sunday School and church. On Christmas Eve, the children were given apples and oranges and a pageant was held. I was an angel in the Christmas Eve pageant.

Mr. Kretschmar was Superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School. When he talked, his head turned constantly. Judge Bell and his family were the first ones to stand up at the chord of a song. Mrs. Edmund Taylor and her family were leaders in the Methodist Church. Bessie J. Taylor, Frankie Harding's mother, was my Sunday School teacher.

Many of the buildings in Greenville at the time of my youth no longer exist. The gorgeous Presbyterian Church at the corner of Washington and Theobald was tom down after the church moved to its present location. The Office Supply Company building was built on the site of the old Presbyterian Church. Beautiful St. James' Episcopal Church was where Trustmark Bank is now. The First Methodist Church built in 1903 was torn down in 1949 and a new sanctuary built. Next to the First Methodist Church was a sanitorium. I was born in that sanitorium. The old King's Daughters Hospital was located at the corner of Arnold where the Bessie J. Taylor Home is now.

Miss Susie B. Trigg and the Berrys lived in a house with a big screen porch on Washington Avenue where the Firestone Store is now [1986] located.

The Baptist Church was located on the corner of Main and Hinds where the sanctuary of the present First Baptist Church is now. On the corner of Alexander and North Hinds was the white frame building of the Christian Church. Mrs. Norma O'Bannon was a leader in that church. That building no longer exists.

Only the St. Joseph Catholic Church and the Hebrew Union Temple are the same as when I was a child.

Some businesses and public buildings are the same as when I was a child, one is the Washington County Courthouse. The Goyer Company building still exists, but it doesn't look the same because it is painted white instead of brown. The old Elks Club at the corner of Washington and Hinds has been altered and is now painted green. The Greenville Bank and Trust acquired the old United States Post Office, but this building is going to be torn down. The Weinberg Building exists at this time [1986] but is to be torn down. The former First National Bank Building, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, the Hebrew Union Temple and Masonic Temple are the only major buildings left on Main Street.

Almost all of the lovely homes downtown on Washington Avenue and Main Street are gone - the Ham home on Main, the Edmund Taylor home, the Alexander home (at the corner of Washington and Harvey where WABG's TV studio was built), the Thomas home (on the Trustmark National Bank site), and the Scott home (on the corner of Washington and Broadway, where Mollie Swartz' grandmother lived).

Near these lovely homes was a tent where Mr. Brown took photographs year round. There were no zoning laws in those days!

In addition to the residences and businesses I have mentioned, I understand they are going to tear down the Frankel House. The Campbell home and the Council home are gone. The Archer home on North Hinds at Alexander is one of the few downtown residences to survive.

On South Broadway, the Bell home, the Kate Archer home, the McMann home and the Sammy Anderson house are gone. The Percy home on the corner of Broadway and Percy was torn down in the 1960's. It was not a big house originally. It was rebuilt from a bungalow. The beautiful home where W. A. Percy's two aunts lived is still on the corner of Broadway and Percy Street.

Joe Weilenman tried to preserve the Moore house in the 300 Block of South Broadway by restoring it as an architect office, but it was destroyed by fire in 1977. Mrs. Nellie Griffin's house is in ruins. Nellie Griffin taught kindergarten at Central School.

When I went to school, there were three elementary schools for white students in Greenville. There was Court School on North Poplar, so called because the courthouse used to be located on this site. In 1949, the Court Street School was replaced with the Susie Trigg Elementary School (later renamed Jesse McBride Elementary Schoo\). There was Central School (which was torn down and replaced with the building which is now Darling School) and Starling School (which is now the Greenville Public School District Central Office building). Starling and Court Schools both went up to the sixth grade. Central School went to the eighth grade. The children who came in from Winterville by bus went to Court School. When children reached the seventh and eighth grade, they all went to Central School.

Buddy Branton could run out the back door of the Central School to his house when the bell rang; so could Margaret Wortham.

We walked to Central School. We left home with black bloomers and black stockings. Boys wore knee pants and black stockings. By the time we got down to Valliant Street, we took off the shoes, tied the strings together, stuck the socks in the toes of the shoes, and we waded Valliant Street, Percy Street, and Central Street.

My brothers could go right on up Theobald and go into the Central School building. I couldn't. I had to walk one block to Broadway, then all the way on Broadway to school. The boys stayed on their side of the school and the girls stayed on their side. You didn't cross the sidewalk. If the boys' marbles came on our side, they didn/t come after them. We threw them back.

When it rained, the students could go down into the basement. The boys had a big room and the girls had a big room. If you were wet, they had grills where heat came up from the furnaces and the teachers just let you stand and dry out and then come in the room.

When I was in the eighth grade, the new E. E. Bass Junior High School was completed on South Main. Central School became an elementary school only after that.

Neighborhood grocery stores delivered groceries to customers. Grocery stores were not the only place to buy food. Turnip greens and vegetables were sold from wagons.

Citizens of Greenville told time by the whistles at Chicago Mill and the oil mills.

These are some of my memories of Greenville when I was a young girl.