Newspapers / Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) / July 7, 1938, edition 1 / Page 1
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PROGRESS % SECTION V W I 1-'': ' 5iKS ufcfut 'o. vi'^v' >' VOL. XLIX, N0T52 History of < RETAIL BUSINESS I ALMOST NORMAL IN WATAUGA AREA Clyde R. Greene, Presideut of Watauga Chamber of Commerce. Declares County and I Town of Boone Almost Back to Normalcy Despite Recession; Comparative Figures for 1929-33-35 "There can, be little doubt that Watauga county, although suffering somewhat from the recession, is b5' no means badly off but is instead almost normal so far as her retail sales go," says Clyde R. Greene, general i manager of the Farmers Hardware and Supply Company. "Unfortunately we have no comparative statistics for the past two years, but certainly in 1935 when tve made a careful study and analysis of our commercial life we were on the road back from the depression ana the corner seemed to have rounded ofi a bit. Last year business was not as good as in 1935-36, but business men with whom T've talked and my own observation convinces me that this year will see Watauga county forge ahead commercially until we come very, very close to hitting the peak of 1929," According to figures made available by Mr. Greene In 1029 the retail ?&!?* in Watauca covin tv reached the After a moment he went on, "Another fact I think should be known throughout the community, iu both town and county, is that In 1935-36, according to the department of iwve nue. Watauga county had the greatest volume of rota!! sales west of the Blue Ridge and north of Buncombe county. If our people would keep these things in mind, co-operate fully (Continued on page five) staggering sum of $2,012,000. This in a county whose year-round population does not exceed 20.000 is unusual, indeed. Thai year Watauga county was 56th in rank commercially among the 100 counties of North Carolina. Of this retail sales total, $787,06?" WUf Sfient 'ttT "Booiie. That year the per capita spending in the county was $132.54. Tile county had a total of 136 stores of which 49 were in Boone and the balance scattered throughout the county. Watauga businessmen admit that this was not a normal year. Indeed, it is highly probable in the opinion of many of those retail merchants that the figures for 1935. the last available, are more nearly representative of normal growth if compured with similar figures for 1933. In 1935 Watauga county had a total of $1,320,000 in retail sales. For that year the per capita spending in the county was $87.00, and the county ranked 60th among the 100 counties. There were 141 stores with a total of 150 employees and an annual employee payroll of $88,000. In this connection, Mr. Greene says: "Definitely I am sure a similar commercial census today would show that business is equal or better than in 1935. Although I dare not presume to say that too emphatically (U|U WUUIU 11UI O qUCSJ OO fcU the possible percentage of improvement." If the assumption that the difference between 1933 and 1935 is an index of a normal trend toward normalcy then it is interesting to note L that in this two-year period employees' payrolls in Watauga county is almost doubled. In 1933 there were 109 stores with a total annual payroll of $46,000, a per capita expenditure of $50.00, and the county waa 76th on the index of commerce for that year. In 1933 the total retail business of the county stood at $764,000. Mr. Greene points out, "According to the 1930 census Watauga county ranks fifth among the counties of North Carolina in the number of persons owning their own homes. I think that should be generally known and an occasion for community pride. ; We were outranked then by Alleghany, Dare, Ashe and Carteret. It } - is my opinion that that fact accounts for the relatively small relief work necessary in our community ever, during the height of the depression." fy^pBppv ;ATAL Ail Independent " BOONE" County andr !*? " ' . ' i. 'r ??< ?%? ?? 8?? i ^' ^Spfr'" . ' ' ?>$." : *?v W '-V *-V '-? - . > *< ? * **r,A*o?si.?tf * - ! .1 " ; ' ' -*> .is ' ? "" J$?i' * ' ' ^ J-y :/ ;. / :' IPMISE wmmmm *mm fSSpfry*-*"1 m gpw ' %|| W$m w! ^i?pi SSI v. V>^C>v ;:V">""- K - -A | "*o -" ' 'y }- ^ " A\< < % V --f ' ?o> Wfc>; ; < - - * -y* ' ' X : '-vr^--cj?Si yi - ' <V-''- ' < " -'. :"> ::--"Xj?' J* > > *'-"< r-.;.i: '. . "i: ! -i,,', im ' /1 r.i". ^ "jV i ''" Sections of the front pages of the ttare* top, was the county's first publication, Watauga Democrat appears at the both Boone's History Growth Along Starting in 1871 as the County S Only a Few Years Old, It Ha mercial Center oi Keso panding ftusines: Incorporated by charter from J sj tne state iegisiature in the Bri- tc vate Laws of North Carolina for se 1871-72 with the first mayor, ti W. L. Bryan, and the first board of commissioners appoint- cl ed under the charter, the town y< of Boone hast shown consistent, steady and sound growth through the years. The first to commissioners, appointed in the ai charter, were: J. W. Councill, T. a J. Coffey, Dr. J. G. Rivers, J. W. in Hall and Col. J. B Todd. The ni charter stipulated that these ap- to pointees were to hold office un- tt til their successors had been I? elected and qualified It was'tt JGA feekly Newspaper?ELsta lTAUGACOUNTY. NORTH C. rown Has S ?- ? '' JSS,- VSBl ^~" -. . gg V t - flit'Hffiyr; >?vpgM son1 : ts^pi ML m. " ik. . 1IIB1 ? "*** 4T? - - Hr -..,?L . '-WKfiiB*^!',! - ?-~?'W$w?w? f M wMP Ip ' ='; ' /T"X ' '$* '* ; - - ry? ; oldest Boone newspaper files in exJ the Watauga Enterprise cane next, Mil. Interesting as A Business and < Scat of an Lsolatcd County , s Grown to Be the Com- t rt Area With 2x- c s Kach Year c >eci?ied that the elections were 1 > be held annually on a date ( :t by either the state legisla- 1 ire or the county commission- c "s. An amendment to this t larter was made the following t ear, 1873, but the exact details c re unknown. i This charter set the limits of the f >wn as "one mile cast, west, north t id south from the courthouse; then f line shall be marked oat comment- t ig at the terminus of the mile runitg east of the courthouse; thence 1 i the terminus of the mile west of ( le courthouse; thence to the mile t luth of the courthouse; thence to f >? terminus of the mile east of the DEMC blished in die Year Eightee \ROIA N. \ 1'. lUKSDAY. J tjLY~7~ Statewide In! .... . ' ^ ^ "V l 'I? " ''f ." ; S __ Z th Atende. The Watauga Journal at al whlln- a 48-year-old print of the ^ w n Example of jCultural Lines ? _ al courthouse, the beginning." From <}t his it is clearly evident that the town H if Boone had been established as the G ounty seat well in advance of the ?? P ncorporation as a town and that the in ourtbouse was already built here. jj. rue city limits as indicated in the n> barter are far more expansive than hone of today. It is supposed that ui he amendment of J.873 re-defined the d< ity limits or jave the board of oom- pi nissioners authority to do so. This di intendment may also have changed h< he term of office of city officials P revn one year, as stated in the char- ai er, to the present two-year term. ti In any case the city officials of m 3oone were early concerned with Im- c< > roving the i??"" of communication ai md transportation between tlie larger r< :enten? of population in the lowlands ol (Continued on page four) T )CRA n Eighty-Eight 1938 erest and S Watauga County lively, Interestii Lvents Distingu ionccr Background Rich in Mat nation and Legend: Count and State leaders +By RATJBE WALTERS ; >irector. 30th Anniversary Edition) , f ntTOrmfT rtn 11 Q1 A . n ?.? - x-*. iu^ u? i UcXl C j t iles. 200.960 acres. Watauga;. lunty in northwestern North j l iroiina, has made rapid strides|< om an almost pioneer state to | < le of outstanding resort areas it the United States. This has i ?en accomplished despite the t most inaccessible condition of < s roads up until 1918; the lim- < sd internal capital for develop- I ent of its natural advantages; ; id the relative! sparseness of < s year- round population. < oughly estimated, the perma- s ;nt population of Watauga l luntv stands at about 15.000 * irsons. j l Rich with beauty and historic lore. I ( atauga county is situated in the I i vision of the Appalachian mouc j : ins known as the Blue Ridge' < aleau, reputedly the highest settle- , ent east of the Rocky mountains. | ] ith an average summer tempera- | re of 76 degrees it offers every op- i irtunity of development into a re- i rt far beyond the present prog- i j, One of the iost frontier secacsn? of i' istein North Carolina, it attracted j< sturdy typo of settlor necessary to I I e pioneering of such a nigged I unty. Still almost exclusively j lgloSaxor. It is recordea by vari-: is writers that it was settled by I nnigrants from Virgin?., Maryland, i mnsylvania, New Jersey, ami even ! am New England. John Preston rthur, author of "A History of' atauga County," accepts this ex-! anation of the early settlement on i e authority of a letter of Bishop I ngust Gottlieb Spangenburg, who sited the territory, now Watauga unty, in 1753. The record of the sit of this distinguished Moravian elate is perhaps the earliest record ncerning this section of North rrolina to be found in the Colonial cord3. Arthur goes on to cite a letter of e Royal Governor Johnston to the mcton Board of Trade on February i, 1751, in which his excellency tells the "Jersey Settlers" and reports unerous settlers flocking from mnsylvania. and other points "alady overstocked." A part of this flux from the north probably re Uted from the great Pennsylvania j < ad "from the Yadkin river through i Irginin to Philadelphia, distance I (5 miles." This road ran from i niladelphia. through Lancastei and I ork counties of Pennsylvania to i inchester, Va., thence up the Shen- 1 idoah Valley, crossing Fluvanna < ver at Liooney's ferry, thence to the aunton river and down the river, I rough the Blue Ridge, thence 1 uthward, near the Moravian settle- i ent, to Yadkin river, just above < e mouth of Linville Creek, and : tout ten miles above the mouth of < eedy Creek." i Commenting on these facts, Arthur ' i rites, "As to Southerners, all people 1 >rth of Mason and Dixon's line are ankees, there seems to be no doubt, i the best authorities can be trust- I i, mat we are sons of Yankee sires." I < iter all historians note a consider- j' >le settlement of Germans, Hollan- i rs. Swedes and some French uguenots. Most of the settlers of . erman extraction came from Lan- j ister, York and Berks counties in i ennsylvania. Hiis influx of Gerans i3 commemorated probably in ie naming of Dutch Creek Road, ' utch Creek Falls and similar names. < A number of historians have felt ider compulsion to defend the resi:nts of this section from misinter- retation. Something of this is in- cated by Arthur's defensive subiads, "Scum or Salt?" and "Not the oor Whites of the South." Certainly . ly objective study of the history and adition of the mountain folk of irthwestern North Carolina will >nvince anyone that they have been id are a proud, self-reliant, selfsapecting people who have no ueed such gratitous defense or want it. heae early pioneer conditions formed . jjSWxe?._ JyHgj **' jKSaS \ TWe Have n Right to Pride in Our History $1.50 PER YEAR ignificance History Reveals lg People and isliing County trial Which Stimulates Imagiy Produced Able laical irrom RACratintnn n the residents of the mountains those qualities of character which, ire most highly prized as typically American. A fine type of neighjorliness distinguished this eariy social and economic life and has persisted in a quality of friendly co-operation. In these early days Watauga county was a part of Ashe county. Buncombe and Ashe were the first two counties established west of the Blue Ridge with Jefferson as the county ?eat of Ashe and Asheviile as the county seat of Buncombe Jefferson vas the larger city but the construction of a railroad from Salisjury to AshevilJe, financed by an Issue of bonds against the resources of iie entire state, changed the balance >f power. This and other events nade it both economically and politically expedient to divide the counties into smaller administrative ireas. One result of this wa3 the formation of Watauga county in 1849 jy act of the state# legislature. It is iow generally^accepted that Watauga s a word of Cherokee Indian origin md means "Beautiful River." Kowivc.r there are still chose who take vcception to this philoeophy and acccpt a-i earlier theory that the word predicates an early immigration of \sifltiCM! hv Tli?rinr.T dlwjif lave dorivcd from either Onsk or lehrew sources. Certainly the Cherokee Indian deri.vis.tion of the name las a more general appeal and acceptance ?nd the ancient quarrels of hiiologistn trouble the modem Wat\ugaus little Before the creation ot .he county the section from which It vas later composed ivas known as he Watauga Settlement and it seems mly fair that this name should have carried over into the new political illgnment In lo50 V/dUiuga Cviiiitjfa iliii court was convened by E C. Bartlett, sheriff of Asht county, and grandfather of Dr. U. B. Dougherty of Teachers College. Although no rec>rdr are available there is a tradi:ion that Dudley Farthing, Esquire, served as chief magistrate of this first court. Inasmuch as this traiition designates Farthing as chief Magistrate, it is a reasonable assumption that this first court was constituted of a hank of judges after the practice of the lower county eoiirts of Great Britain. An amusing anecdote is preserved ay word of mouth tradition concerning this first court. It is reputed to tave originated with Dr. Dougherty .vho had it from his grandfather. Sheriff Harriett. The first court was convened in a large barn ou the old Hardin homestead near Boone. From this building the court is said to have been driven by a scourge of fleas which was not abated until a flock jf sheep had been temporarily stabled there. Whether apocryphal br historic, this tradition is one that night very easily have been factual in a pioneer conununity such as Watauga county in 1850. For a time there was no extensive division of opinion on the location of the county seat. Boone was selected bver the bids of Brushy Fork and Valle Crucis because of the donation bf fifty acres of land for a courthouse building by Jordan Council!, Jr., and Ransom Hayes. Although at the time Boone had only a hundred citizens its destiny politically and economically was fixed the day it was chosen as the county seat of -?? ? -- - Tmuauga coumy. uu Uue site was erected the courthouse which burned in 1873, with a serious loss of records. This fire makC3 determining: exact historical data on Watauga county prior to 1873 virtually impossible. Arthur gives a list of the members of the senate and house, for the period from 1860 to 1015. Indeed, his information on this score is probably both the most extensive and reliable of any now extant since he obtained his information from persons who lived through the period. When, in giving the names of superior court (Continued on page four) Mraaaiiiraiirft;
Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.)
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July 7, 1938, edition 1
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