Eight
HISTORICAL AND INDUSTRIAL EDITION OF THE GASTON PROGRESS
Gaston Loan and Trust Company and Savings Bank
A FINANCIAL BULWARK OF GASTON COUNTY
OFFICE OF THE GASTON LOAN & TRUST COMPANY
There is no asset more valuable to
a progressive city than solid financial
inKtitutions conducted along liberal
yet conservative lines, and without
them any community must of neces
sity be hopelessly handicapped in the
strenuous race for commercial su
premacy that is now being contested
by nearly every American city. Con
ditions have undergone a change dur
ing the past few years, the scope of
the bank has broadened wonderfully,
and in many communities the place of
the old time banking house is being
taken by the trust company with its
broader powers, giving greater accom
modations and offering more conven
iences to its patrons. The trust com
pany is nothing more than a bank with
an enlarged scope. It retains all of a
bank’s functions, such as receiving de
posits, negotiating loans and paying
interest, while at the same time it is
empowered to act as executor or
trustee of w’ills, administrator of es
tates, go on bonds, act as guardian,
and perform many other duties form
erly requiring the services of a law
yer. The company was organized i|la
1903, with W. T. Love as presideut,
and the following year took over the •
business of the Gastonia Savings
Bank, and at which time L. L. Jenkii^-
was made president, but was shofily
succeeded by J. Lee Robinson, who
held the office until June- of the pres
ent year, when he in turn was suc
ceeded by Thomas L. Craig, the pro
gressive mayor of Gastonia and a
member of the firm of Craig & Wil
son, extensive dealers in live stock
and agricultural implements. The
vice-president of the company is E. G.
McLurd, the former treasurer and or
ganizer of the company, who is also
secretary-treasurer and general man
ager of the Gastonia Mutual Building
S’. Loan Association, and formerly in
the government employ at Washing
ton, and a prominent member of the
Commercial Club. The treasurer is
M. A. Carpenter, who was formerly
connected with the First National
Bank. The three gentlemen above
named, with-R. B. Babington, manager
of the local telephone company, J. Lee
Robinson, vice-president of the First
National Bank and of the Robinson
Shoe Company, constitute the board
of directors. The capital stock of the
company has been increased from
$15,000 to $25,000, and the institution
at the present time is in a most
flourishing condition and has still a
brighter future. Specialty is made of
handling desirable trust funds, buy
ing and selling real estate on commis
sion, and doing a general insurance
business, representing as they do
thirteen of the best companies in the
world. In the savings bank depart
ment a large business is done with
local and county depositors, who find
this the best place to save their small
earnings, on which they are allowed
4 per cent, on deposits. The company
is a member of the North Carolina
Bankers’ Association. The officers
and directors, one and all, are full of
rush and energy and are filled with
that public spirit that goes to make
great cities of small towns.
GASTONIA MUTUAL BUILDING &
LOAN ASSOCIATION.
When one pauses to consider a
moment he cannot but conclude that
there is nothing that does so much for
ihe permanent growth and prosperity
of a city as a well managed building
association. It enables people of
moderate means to build their homes
and pay for them with but little more
than they would spend for rent;
teaches them to be frugal. Industrious
and saving, without being parsimon
ious, instills thrift into their minds
and makes them better citizens in a
dozen ways, thus benefitting not only
the man but the community in which
he lives. There are scores of happy
homes in this land of ours today that
would never have been built without
the aid of the building association,
and Gastonia has Its full share of
them. For many years the Gastonia
Mutual Building & Loan Association
has been carrying on this noble work
here, and there is probably not a
citizen of this town that has not seen
during that time some instance in
which it has helped to build a home.
The association at the present time
is in a most flourishing condition, and
has many years of good work before
it. The association has 2,500 shares
of stock and collects between $3,000
and $4,000 a month. These figures are
printed simply to show approximately
how much money is handled every
year by this growing and prosperous
institution. The object of the associa
tion is to enable and encourage its
members to build and own their homes
by the payment of small w^eekly or
monthly amounts, and to afford to
those of them who do not wish to
build an opportunity for investing
small amounts at the highest rate of
interest. The officers and directors
with the exception of the secretary
and treasurer, whose salary is a nomi
nal one, serve without compensation
and give their time and talent for the
good of the commonwealth. The asso
ciation was organized in January,
1905, and from the very first has been
a great success. The office of the
association is located in the building
of the Gaston Loan & Trust Company,
on Main avenue. The officers are: S.
N. Boyce, president; T. W. Wilson,
vice-president; E. G. McLurd, secre
tary-treasurer; Geo. W. Wilson, attor
ney. Mr. Boyce is cashier of the First
National Bank, and has been chair
man of the County Board of Educa
tion for many years. Mr. T. W. Wil
son is of the firm of Craig & Wilson,
dealers in live stock, etc. Mr. Me-
Lurd is vice-president of the Gaston
Loan & Trust Company, and was for
many years connected with the depart
ment of Commerce and Labor at
Washington. Mr. Geo. W. Wilson is
one of the leading attorneys of the
Gaston county bar.
ALBION GROCERY COMPANY
One of Gastonia’s most Prosperous Concerns
As a center of the wholesale grocery
trade Gastonia is most admirably
located, being surrounded by a fertile
and populous country in which there
are a number of nr'^^uerous towns and
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necessity of handlirfg goods unneces
sarily, and also giving unsurpassed
shipping facilities. It was built two
years ago expressly for the purpose
for which it is used, and nothing was
forgotten or left undone that would
go toward making it a model of its
kind. The buil4ing is of brick, three
stories high, and has a frontage of 50
feet, extending back to the railroad
80 feet. This gives a floor space of
12,000 square feet for the storage and
display of the immense stock of high
class goods constantly kept on hand
fresh from the best manufactur
ers of the country. The first im
pression the visitor gets upon en
tering the building is the atmos-
here of cleanliness everywhere ap-
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far from sanitary, being generally
housed in old warehouses, musty with
the dust and dirt of years, but the
building of the Albion Company needs
nothing to be desired in the way of
cleanliness and sanitation. The trade
of the company extends within a radius
of many miles about Gastonia, in both
the Carolinas, a radius that is con
stantly increasing, and two salesmen
are kept on the road looking after the
interests of the house, for perhaps in
no other line of commercial endeavor
is the competition keener than in the
upon his (retirement about 6 tears ago,
was succeeded by Mr. W. j) Clifford
grocery business. The Albion Grocery
Company is the successor of the W. T.
Love Company which was founded 15
years ago when Gastonia was scarcely
more than a town. It was formerly
located on Main street, but outgrew
these quarters and the present struct
ure was erected. Mr. W. T. Love was
president for a number of years, and
6 tears
J) Cliff
who had/ for a long time been v\ce-
'p^sident and m.anager ^ the wm-
pany. Mr* Clifford, who is(a native of
Davie co6nty, came here from States
ville, wh^re he had been engaged in
the manufacturing business, and has
had a long experience in the wholesale
grocery trade with which he is thor
oughly familiar. His associate in the
company, Mr. John O. Rankin, the
secretary and treasurer, is also a vet
eran, and has been connected with
the concern for about 8 years. He is
a member of the board of alderman,
is city treasurer, and is a former
register of deeds.
carpenter, e
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ALBION GROCERY COMPANY’S HEADQUARTERS
PADGETT BROTHERS TAILORING ESTABLISHMENT
PADGETT BROTHERS.
MAIN AVENUE M. E. CHURCH
Fine Tailoring.
There is no difficulty in distinguish
ing the man who has his clothes made
to order by a high-class custom tailor
from the one who buys at the ready
made shop, for the former always ap
pears well dressed even if his suit is a
season or two old. Custom made cloth
ing fit, they keep their shape, they do
not shrink, and after being wet
through and through will be just as
good as ever after being pressed,
while ready made clothes lose their
shape and it can never be brought
back again. Located here in Gastonia
at 206 west Main street, is the tailor
ing establishment of. Padgett Brothers,
one of the best equipped tailoring
shops in this city and section. Al
though the two brothers have only
been in business for about 18 months
under the present firm name, they
have built up a large and constantly
growing patronage among the best
dressed ladies and gentlemen of Gas
tonia and all work done by them goes
out of the shop with a strict guarantee
that it is of the highest class of work
manship. The firm represents such
great tailoring houses as Ed. V. Price
& Company, of Chicago, and the Inter
national Tailoring Company, two of
the greatest clothes making establish
ments in the world. The cleaning,
pressing and repairing department of
the business is complete and up-to-date
in every particular. They use the New
Hoffman patent process of sanitary
steam pressing and have installed the
only one of these famous machines to
be found in Gastonia. By this method
the clothes are pressed by steam in an
absolutely sanitary manner and with
the utmost exactness. A specialty is
made of cleaning and pressing ladies
ccat suits, cloaks and skirts. The firm
of Padgett Brothers is composed of E.
R. & R. T. Padgett, both of whom are
practical men who have worked here
in Gastonia at their trade for the last
7 years and are well and favorably
known to all our people as expert tail
ors, as well as men of integrity and
character.
THE WETZELL COMPANY.
Tailoring and Haberdashery.
Good clothes suggest qualitie.3''i,'^t
the world should and does respect, fo?!
one who carefully looks after h?s out
ward appearances is apt to care also
for a clean mind and character, in pref
erence to the reverse. The two gen
erally go together for despite the ola
adage clothes have much to do wit^
the making of the man. When it is
considered that custom made clothes,
fitted by a capable tailor, retain
their shape until worn out, contain no
shoddy cloth and cost but little
more than the ready made article; they
are in the long run by far the most
economical that can be worn. Located
here in Gastonia is one of the high
class custom tailoring and haberdash
ery establishments of North Carolina.
The Wetzell Company, 204 west Main
street, under the Young Men’s Chris
tian Association building, has, since it
was established about two years ago,
been the headquarters of the best
dressed men of this city and section.
Four months ago Mr. J. W. Holland
bought the establishment from Mr.
Fred Wetzell, and under his capable
and energetic management its popu
larity has increased and the business
is rapidly growing. Everything need
ed by the discriminating man who is
particular about his appearance is kept
at this high-class store, the best of
shirts, underwear, neckwear, collars,
cuffs, hats, in fact everything of this
kind needed. A full line of the latest
domestics and imported suitings is al-
w'ays in hand, only the best tailors
are employed, the prices are most
reasonable and the man who gets his
clothes from Mr. Holland may feel con
fident that he is in the l^est style for
his establishment keeps in constant
touch with the fashionable centers of
this and other countries. Mr. Holland
was born and has lived all his life here
in Gastonia where he has a host of
friends. He is recognized as one of
the most enterprising of the younger
business men and is of that type which
is pushing the town to the front.
In 1900 the population had grown to
950. This was doubled in the next
five years.
Perhaps the most important work
done by the town was in 1899, when by
popular vote was issued $105,000.00 in
bonds for the purpose of establishing
Graded Schools, Electric Lights, Water
Works and a Sewerage System. So
these important utilities are owned by
the town and operated in the interest
of the people.
Gastonia has 17 cotton mills.
STORE OF THE WETZELL COMPANY