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1898-1911: a dwelling

The May 1898 Sanborn fire map shows that this city block is very sparsely built out. The whole block is divided in fourths: this lot is in the northwest quadrant; at this time the quadrant contained a large, oddly-shaped home. The northwest quadrant contained another home. The southwest quadrant held a large livery, while the southeast quadrant held two small stores (and a lot of empty space).
This house, on the corner of Trade and Victoria, probably belonged to W.C. and Victoria Bailey. James S. Paget's book, Descendants of William Cunningham, states that W.C. and Victoria Bailey moved to Greer in 1880 and built this house on the corner; he implies that's why its replacement is named the Bailey Building. We know that Simeon Hughes bought this lot (#15) from William Shumate in December of 1874, and Hughes sold it to W.C. Bailey in 1880.
January of 1904 shows that the top half of the block remains the same two houses. The south half of the block is growing rapidly, however; there are new stores selling groceries, wagons, clothes, bicycles, and furniture.
In February of 1911 the occupants of those homes must have been feeling the squeeze. Their houses are still in place, but there is not much open space on this city block any longer; new buildings are popping up everywhere. In addition to new stores and stables and a blacksmith shop, restaurant, barber shop, and drug store, there is even a movie house to show moving pictures.

On the October 1922 map the house on the northwest quadrant is gone, and the Bailey Building has replaced it. It is a large, two-story brick building right on the corner of Victoria and Trade with its main entrance facing Trade. It was built by Mayor T. E. Smith and named after his wife, Fannie Bailey. Immediately to the south is a second, smaller brick storefront.
By January of 1930, Trade Street is starting to resemble what we see today. Behind the Bailey building is a dry cleaners and an ice cream factory.

In the late 1920s the T.E. Smith Department Store was purchased by Belk-McKnight and moved to another location (Site #67 in the 1979 historical building survey, but we have not yet looked up the location of that site).
Alta Cunningham opened her store in this building around 1927. We know that Miss Alta started as a milliner around 1925.

In March of 1951 the Bailey Building has been connected to the store beside it (205 Trade, what is now in June 2020 Empire LTD Men's Consignment Clothing) and is now larger than ever.
The 1959 city directory lists the Leader as occupying 201-205.

The 1989 city directory lists the occupant as Stewarts Furniture, as does the 1997 state historic building survey. The store has returned to its original size.

The new building owner, Ms. Brian Brigham (now Lehman), received approval from the city to make changes to the building. In addition to the installation of a vertical sign, she added two 48" lanterns originally from Grand Central Station and replaced the former glass and aluminum doors with large, vintage wood doors.
Galleries of Brian Brigham is the current occupant, as of June 2020. They sell carefully-curated antiques, furniture, and estate goods. The regularly host estate sales.