Newspapers / Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) / Jan. 1, 1953, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
BOONE 1U0 POPULATION 2.973 BfSgjgASS WATAUGA DEMOCRAT An Independent Weekly Newspaper ? Established in the Year 1888 WATAUGA COUNT* IN* POPULATION IM41 VOL. LXV NO. 26. BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 1?53. 10 PAGES ? 2 SECTIONS Christmas Day Blaze Guts Business Block KING STREET BY ROB RIVE1RS CHRISTMAS CONFLAGRATION The gaiety of Christmas day came to an abrupt halt in Boone, as the street's most disastrous fire wiped out the Quails block of business buildings, put half a dozen institutions x>ut of. business, and for a time offered the threat of more widespread destruction . . Hundreds of people gathered as the flames fed on the tinder dry wood of the aging structure and the owners of the building as well as of the businesses it hous ed, have the sympathy of the community in their tragic losses . . We are mighty sorry that this shourd have occurred, and shall hope that it won't be too long be fore the new structure is in place, and that the popular busi ness establishments may resume their important places in the eco nomy of the town . . . Meantime, we mast offer our costomary feli citations to the Boone and Blow ing Rock Fire Departments for the fine job they did in combat ing the flames, and preventing their spread to other buildings in the vicinity . . . The men should have the gratitude of all the peo ple for their unselfish service to their communities. YOU THY IT! fncidenlally there's always a few of the wiser ones who arm chair one of these conflagra tions. and from vantage points of comparative comfort, criti cise the men who are wetting down the angry flame* . . . One of these fellows, so we under stand. was offering a round of criticism ? nothing was being done just right ? or right at all. in his opinion . . . Another by stander. took issue. He said: "You know those men are working like the devil. They're tired and hungry and cold, wet and just about frozen. They need help from folks who know how to do the job. They'll let you work. Why don't you fall in. or quit mouthing?" . . . The wise one quit talking and the men in the helmets went on with their profitless job. BY FAR THE WORST The fire was definitely the most destructive the Street has experienced, running considerab ly ahead of the Appalachian Theatre blaze which held the sinister record for a reasonably short time . . . Then there was the Appalachian College fire, . . . Before that the destruction of the Bryan hotel and store, back in the other century long before the ken of this deponent, led amongst the fires of the city . . . And we've heard of the big blaze that burned the Dr. Councill house, and the one that razed the court house on the Queen Street hill . . . Doubtless these early-day conflagrations hurt worse than those of later years, when the ability to reconstruct ii greater, but still Christmas day's blaze is apt to be referred to as the mightiest destroyer in this vicini ty for years to come . . . Built thirty years ago by J. L. Quails, the burned buildings used to be known as the Quails block . . . Occupying a vantage point pretty close to the center of the business district, the property has always been valuable, and tenants have eagerly sought space in the building ... Its destruction hits heavily at the economy of the Street. PLENTY OF WATER Information from city hall it to the effect thai the prolonged fight on the fir*, brought tha level of tha wa tar in tha city reeervoir down about a foot and a half, and that no watar had to be supplied from tha wall* . . . Tha dtf i* being tuppUad with a tix-inch pipaful of wat ar from tha gravity system. and officials My that tha angina* could have pumped tha watar indefinitely without impairing ?errice to tha people of the town . . . which ia mighty fine! 4 SEEN AND HEARD One soldier held the door for another to pass onto the pave ( Continued on page twoj CiALiunivi- iii*; t^nwiw uy i uimu a i ihhu FIREMEN SEEN BATTLING CITY'S MOST DESTRUCTIVE BLAZE Boone, Blowing Rock Women Prize Winners Miss Mary Helen Neill of Boone won the television set off ered by the Boone Merchants As sociation, at the end of the first phase of the trade-promotion event Christmas eve. The set, an RCA, was bought from Swofford's Tenn. Youth Dies J From Rifle Bullet j Mountain City, Tenn. ? A John son County youth was accidental ly shot to death yesterday at a Christmas family reunion party at Grayiion, N. C. Police said Julian Morrison, 16. was killed when a rifle he was handling went off. The mithap occurred just as the family was gathering in the yard for picture taking. I He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Morrison of near Mountain City. 1 World output of rubber drops I in first ten months of 1952. Tire Store. Mrs. H. A. Buxton of Blowing Rock won the Norgc Refrigerator bought from the Farmers Hard ware & Supply Co. The Chevrolet automobile will be given away, and the contest close at three o'clock, January 16. The car, which can regularly be seen on the streets of the town, was bought from the An drews Chevrolet Co., of this city. Gragg It M. C. W. H. Gragg, was master of ceremonies at the Christmas eve drawing, when a large crowd gathered on North Depot Street for the event. Mayor WinAler ex tended greetings and wiahes for n Merry Christmas, while Jake Caudill, Merchants Association president, spoke to the crowd and thanked the merchants for their cooperation Mr. Gragg asked Wade Brown, Alfred Adams, Joe Coffey and Earl Norris to stir the tickets, and Harold Cornet t drew the two cardboards from the large eon I tainer. Building Plans Are Being Made By Wilcox, Greene Plans for the rebuilding of the business block which burned on Christmas day are ijeing rushed to completion, says George C. Greene, one of the owners of the property and it is likely that con struction work will start within a few days. Mr. Greene says he cannot def initely say whether the structure will be larger than the original building, but stated that it will be a modern building, and will be constructed as quickly as pos sible. Mr. Perry Greene, local build ing contractor, will construct the new building. I Novemb<# employment net a new high for the month, exceed ing by about 900,000 the totals for the corresponding month in 1951, according to the Census Bureau. Total civilian employ ment during the week ended November 8, was 62,228,000. Mayor Winkler Thanks Volunteer Fire Fighters Mayor Gordon H. Winkler takes occasion to express his gratitude to the fire departments of Boone and Blowing Rock for their fine work in preventing the spread of Boone's worst fire, at the same time, quenching the flames in time to save consider able _property from the doomed Roby Byland Dies At Age 62 RobJ Leander Byland of Blow ing Rock died at the age of 82 on Tuesday, Dcccmber 23, at the Blowing Rock Hospital, where he had been a patient for five months. Funeral services were held at 10:30 a. m. December 2T at the Rciiu-&turdivant Funeral Home in Boone, with thfc Rev. L. H. Hollingsworth in charge of the rites. Burial was in the Blowing Rock Cemetery. Names of survi vors were not immediately avail able. structure. The Mayor says: "The people of Boone arc deep ly appreciative of the fine worl done by the Boone and Blowinj Rock Kirc departments. Workini hour after hour they succccdw in bringing under control thi worst fire in our history, and pre venting other damage. "We arc especially grateful t< the twenty firemen from Blow ing Rock who worked faithfully with our men in this emergency They have always aided us when ever possible, and we thank then sincerely for their sacrificial help "Our own Fire Chief, Howarc Cottrrll, who has managed oui department for 10 years, descrvei high praise for his loyalty an* fidelity to duty. He stayed on thi job for 30 hour*, and some othei firemen were present as long a: M to 20 hours. All these fine peo pic have the gratitude of the citj officials for their patriotism ii rendering such outstanding pub lie service without any appreci able monetary reward." $167,000 Loss Felt By6Firms The most devastating fire in the history of Boone, virtually destroyed the Quails block of buildings, put six establishments out of business, and destroyed property which Fire Chief Cot trell estimated to*bc worth $167, 000, in a Christmas afternoon conflagration. The Boone Fire Department, ably aided by firemen from Blowing Rock, fought the raging flames for more than six hours before the lire was brought under conlrol. During the progress of the fire traffic was routed around the scene. Electric scrvice was cut off as the blare raced through the high tension wires, and most of the residents of the community had Christmas dinner by candle light. The fire is believed by Fire Chief Howard Cottrell, to have either originated from the fur nace or to have resulted from a burned out electric molor, but its origin has not been definitely determined. The building, the property of Messrs George C. Greene and D. L. Wilcox, was a two-story brick and wood structure and was esti mated to be worth about $75,000 $15,000 insurance was in force on the structure. The Skyline Cafe, owned by Raleigh Cottrell, and the gather ing placc for all the civic organi zations of the town, went up in the blaze. The loss was about $25,000, and Mr. Cottrell was carrying $10,000 insurance. The Carolina Hotel, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Fred Church, and the town's second largest hotel, I was gutted. The loss of furnish ings and equipment said to have > been $20,000, one-half of which was covered by insurance. The City Meat Market was valued at $12,000 by the fire de partment head and there was $1,500 insurance. Damage to the Central Barber (Continued on page two) Blowing Rock Woman Is Hurt In Auto Accident Lenoir, Dec. 27 ? A Blowing Rock woman received painful in- ! juries today when a new automo bile overturned and plunged | down an embankment near here. | State Highway Patrolman Har- 1 ry Graham said it was "miracu lous" that Mrs. Mildred Beard sustained nothing more serious than fracture of the left arm, in : jured right foot and possibly back injuries when she was thrown from the car as it went out of con trol when a tire blew out. She was alone. The car, Patrolman Graham said, was almost com pletely demolished. . Many Children Are Given Aid By Stocking Fund Mrs. Map Miller and Mrs. j Claude Norris, co-chairmcn of * the Empty Stocking project which j i* sponsored annually by the Worthwhile Woman's Club, wish to thank everyone who partici pated in making this undertaking a success. Through community effort 403 stockings were filled and delivered. Of this number 18 were given to elderly people who live at the Boarding Home for the aged, the remainder were children. Each child's gift nclud ed candy, a toy and a small arti cle of clothing such as gloves, socks, scarf or cap. Some used clothing was also distributed to the most needy families. All those receiving gifts had been recommended by the Wel fare Department or teachcrs in the various schools. Each school in Watauga County was allotted a quota based on its enrollment to make the distribution equi table, and., comprehensive. REV. CHARLES D. STOKES Rev. Chas. Stokes To Tell Of Urgent Needs In Korea The Rev. Charles D. Stokes, missionary of the Methodist Church in Korea, will be guest speaker at Henson's Chapel Meth odist Church, Monday, January 5, at 7:30 p. m., when the Meth odist churches of Ashe and Wa tauga counties assemble for the quarterly check-up meeting and the annual missionary institute for the area. Rev. Mr. Stokes, a missionary since 1940, has been doing rehabilitation and evange listic work in Pusan and Tacjon for the past two years. Rev. Mr. Stokes was one of three Methodist missionaries in Korea during part of 1950 and (Continues on page two) Belk's Given First Place In Window Contest Belk's Department Store re ceived first prize for the most attractive Christmas window dis play among business places in Boone, the Merchant* Associa tion, sponsor of the awards, has announced. Willis W, Chester, Belk's manager, accepted the cash prize of $10.00 on behalf of the store. Second prize of $5.00 went to McGuire's Beauty Salon, owned and operated by Mrs. R. W. Mc Guire, and Newton's Department Store received honorable mention for placing third. J. V. Caudill, t Sr., is manager of Newton's. Judges for this year's contest were Mrs. Mat Miller, H. Grady Farthing, and J. Paul Winkler. Churches Ask For Clothing For Residents Korea All members of the Boone com munity are urged to bring or send clothing to one of the Boone churches next Sunday, January 5 for shipment immediately to Korea. All Boone churches are joining in this urgent appeal. Persons unable to bring or send clothing to one of the churches arc requested to call a local pas tor or the Democrat office. Mem bers of the Boy Scouts under J. B. Robinson and Bill Dixon, or of the Air Scouts under Crayto Tcaguc, will visit designated homes on Sunday afternoon to secure clothing of which notice has been given and deliver it to the stated churches. Supervising the drive, Rev. Joseph T. Shackford of Boone Methodist Church called atten tion to the statement in this is sue of tile Democrat by Rev. Charles Stokes, missionary to (Continued on page two.) Stores Of City To Be Gosed For New Year's Day Most of the stores of the city will be closed Thursday of this week for New Year's Day, it was learned Tuesday from, the Boone Merchants Association. When it was found that a maj ority ri&the members of the or ganization favored closing on the first, the Association recommend ed this action.
Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 1, 1953, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75