Sometimes I get caught up in the past … events of the day, kinda slip by…
I think downtown Elizabethtown is a beautiful small town … and I think about how it was when I arrived in the early 60s…
There must have been a half dozen or more small, home owned grocery stores. … I will not attempt to name them … and, a half dozen or so clothing stores, and I will attempt to name some … Belks, Leinwands, Manns, Fowler Simmons and Parker Farris … there were another one or two … I think…
Cole’s Motel was located in the general area across from the hospital on South Poplar Street. Several locally owned drug stores … Bennett-Stone and Smith’s Drug were located on either side of Broad Street … a couple of theaters, at least 5 new auto dealerships … and numerous locally owned gas stations … drive up, some one would pump the gas … wash the windshield, and $5 worth of gas would take you a long way … just about all offered a car wash for a few bucks…
Several locally owned oil companies provided heating fuel, fuel for tobacco barns and gasoline…
One bank, Bank of Elizabethtown for years, but when they began to come, that number grew quickly to a half dozen or so…
A couple of saw mills were either in town or nearby. … I guess the largest industry was Top Mode Mfg, a ‘cut and sew’ operation … where a hundred or more ladies made ladies wear … dresses that retailed for $3, $4, some a few bucks more. … I was one of about a half dozen males. … My job was to spread and cut the fabric … and as I have said before … it was a ‘sweat shop’ if ever there was one, but provided a job for many over the years.
And, for years … Melvins was about the only place around where you could enjoy a burger and a game of pool at noontime … but there were other small restaurants … and other small businesses too numerous to mention…
But, only one radio station in the area … WBLA and that was the real reason I moved here … and I enjoyed the business for about 20 years … learned a great deal … but, a tough way to provide for a family in a small, rural area … my time at WBLA prepared me for better opportunities.
Elizabethtown has grown over the years, still a nice place to live, work and play … and I will cherish the memories for as long as I live…
Just kind caught up in the past…
“Man is the only living being who cuts trees, makes paper, and writes “SAVE TREES” on it.”
“Love may be blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.”
“If money doesn’t grow on trees why do banks have branches?”
robert g hester
rgh4612@gmail.com
910-876-2322
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