215 Trade Street
1898: the lot connected with a small office
The 1898 Sanborn map shows a very small single-story wood structure barely to the south of the current building — if it were still there, it would be connected to the building. The map says this is an office. A property line surrounds that building and this lot.
1904: Livery, with office
The small office remains, but a large livery has been added back off the road spanning this lot and behind the office.
1911: Stables, with restaurant
The livery has been replaced with a large square structure listed as a stable. The small building is now listed as a restaurant.
c. 1915: Wood-Mendenhall
The 1915-1916 Greer City Directory lists Wood-Mendenhall here: "WOOD-MENDENHALL CO (Inc), Trade phone 3, buggies wagons harness and hardware, J B Mendenhall pres-mgr, W L James sec." The October 1915 telephone directory lists "Wood-Mendenhall Co, vehicles."
A 1916 photo of Wood-Mendenhall shows their painted wall: "buggies, harnesses, farm implements, and Studebaker wagons." A small part of this painted wall remains. A matching sign was painted on the opposite wall, and that mural remains today almost complete, inside the neighboring store.
Prior to 1949 through about 1980: Sullivan-Eskew Hardware
The 1949 Greer City Directory now lists Sullivan-Eskew Hardware as the occupants of this building; a small ad reads "The complete hardware store" and "Paints - China - Home Furnishings - Sporting Goods." At that point, they still used phone number 3, as they did in the 1955 directory. By the 1965 directory they had changed to a standard 7-digit number. They still appear in the 1979 City Directory.