Text · Greer Heritage Museum collection

1898: L.J. Green and Son Lumber & Shingle Yard

The May, 1898 Sanborn Fire map shows a large lot, apparently empty (though likely to hold lumber) except for a small single-story wooden structure listed as a "lumber shed."

By January 1904 the lumberyard was gone and this is an open lot. While Hill Street starts to build up closer to Main Street, this lot remains empty in February of 1911.
By October of 1922 things are closing in tightly: Ponder's Ice Cream is immediately to the southeast, and Grand Theatre immediately to the northwest.

In January of 1930, a 1-story brick building has been built in the gap. It is not deep, because Ponder's Ice Cream factory has expanded their manufacturing facility across this lot in the rear.
This building is subdivided in half, perpendicular to the road. On the north side is a Chinese laundry; on the south side, Western Union.
A 1938 photo shows both the laundry and Western Union still in place, nestled between the Grand Theatre and Ponder's Ice Cream.
Today (7/2020), both of these businesses are combined into a single store, Barista Alley. Comparing the 1938 photo with the current structure, a dividing brick pillar has been removed; but above the windows, two sign insets remain from when it was two separate stores. Currently, "Barista" is inset in one, and "Alley" in the other.

In March 1951 the building remains divided; the north is a store, and the south is uncertain; the cryptic marks seem to read Telo Office, which might mean telephone office -- but it also might mean that this remained a Western Union.
The "store" half is now marked as street number 123, while the other is 125.

Andrew Carter, business owner.
Opened circa March 31, 2017 and remains open as of 7/2020.
As noted above, the two separate stores have been combined into one; the brick column dividing them has been removed, along with the right-hand entry.