116 Trade Street

1898: Harness store

The May 1898 Sanborn Fire map shows a 2-story wood building on the corner of Trade and Victoria, numbered 217 Trade Street. That building had a similar footprint to the current building.
To the north is a tall single-story brick building labeled as "Clo., B. & S" (uncertain meaning; "Clo." likely "clothes" and "S" was the common abbreviation for "store).
The very large lot behind it, on Victoria, holds a small barbershop.

In January of 1904 the building has been removed, possibly to prepare for building the bank.
On the large lot behind the bank, the barbershop has been removed and a single-story house has replaced it.

By February 1911 a brick structure had been built. Though we have no known photographs of that building, we do have a drawing (see the files). It was two stories, with a distinctive pillar on the front left corner. It is still labeled 217.
This is the original location of the Bank of Greers, later Bank of Greer. B.A. Bennett was the first president of the bank.
No substantial changes are reflected in the 1922 map.
We do not know when that building was replaced with the current building, but it was likely between 1922 and 1930 — the 1930 and 1951 maps show the large safe in the middle of the bank, which is still prominently in that location today.

After many banks failed during the Depression, the reorganized Bank of Greer occupied the building for many years. City directories list Bank of Greer as the occupant in 1959, 1969, and 1979.

The 1989 city directory lists UCB as the occupant. They are also listed on the 1979 historical building survey.

116 Trade Street

Building/business history

Occupants and history of 116 Trade Street