1880-1904

Clark's Directory

This 63-page directory provides a detailed listing of the businesses, institutions and people of Fayetteville in 1899.

The little book includes a historical introduction by J.H. Myrover; a ward-by-ward census of the town; a list of county and town officials; sketches of the Hotel Lafayette, county jail and courthouse; an early photograph of First Presbyterian Church; and a variety of advertisements.

The directory lists individuals, their addresses and occupations (but no telephone numbers in this telegraph era). The largest listing is for white residents; a much smaller listing for black residents follows at the back.

Among the individuals: There are 14 listings for the Haighs, one of Fayetteville's oldest families. Hector McGeachy, who later would serve as sheriff for 40 years, is listed as a clerk at Thornton Dry Goods Co. And one of the leading educators is C.D. Waddell, superintendent of the "Colored Graded School," whose residence was at 23 Mechanic St.

St. Joseph's, chartered in 1873, is the second-oldest Episcopal congregation in Fayetteville.

St. Joseph's Episcopal Church at Ramsey and Moore streets is distinctive for its architecture.

The church is built in the Queen Ann style of architecture with bold green-shingled forms. Among the church's most striking features are its five stained-glass Resurrection windows.

The windows are believed to have been made by Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of the founder of Tiffany & Co.

The church was built in 1896 with help from St. John's Episcopal Church.

This brick bears the stamp of E.A. Poe.

For almost 60 years, masons used Poe bricks to build structures as diverse as the Cape Fear & Yadkin Railroad Depot, the Tolar-Hart mill in Massey Hill and Hay Street United Methodist Church.

E.A. Poe's brickyard was originally on North Street in the 1880s. In 1905, Poe moved it to the west side of Gillespie Street, near the present-day intersection of Gillespie Street and Southern Avenue.

This entry from the 1898-99 ledger from the Brower Mill in Hope Mills details the purchases of Mrs. Fred Walker.

For those who worked in Cumberland County mills, the company store was more than a line in a country song.

The company store was where they purchased everyday staples such as nickel-and-dime candy and goods such as coal oil for lamps and calico for dresses.

Mill workers would settle their accounts with the store each payday.

One of the store's most requested items - at least by women - was elastic. They paid about 5 cents for elastic to resew parts of their corsets that lost their shape in the hot and sweaty mills.