What do you remember about Union of the past? After reading old newspaper clippings and looking at pictures that my late mother had saved, I asked myself this question. The answer I found didn’t satisfy me, so I decided to begin a project of researching the history of my “home town.”
I began my fun journey by talking to my friends – friends of all ages – about what they remember. I found it amazing how people love to reminisce and how reminiscing bridges the generation gaps. However, I soon found that as much as I loved these conversations, if I were going to do this time-consuming project, I wanted it to be as accurate as possible. I
needed documentation.
At that time, I began the monumental task of searching through many copies of The Union Appeal and Newton County Appeal. I have completed looking through those newspapers from Sydney Stribling’s first issue on Aug. 18, 1910, published from his home in Boler’s Inn, through 2010, with the exception of 1930 to 1935, on which I am currently working.
When Union first moved from Old Town, which was located around the crossroad of Decatur Street and Jackson Road, to the area near the new railroad, the new buildings were wooden, and many of them burned and were rebuilt as brick structures. Newcomers rapidly moved into Union to establish businesses near the railroad or to buy previously established ones.
The earliest railroad merchants: Irvin M. Gallaspy and Wm. L. McLemore, came in 1904 and built Gallaspy Bros. and Co., a general merchandise store, at 201 Main St. on the northeast corner of Main and Bank Streets.
In 1932 the stock in Gallaspy Brothers went through a bankruptcy sale. Lots No. 1,2, and 3 of the Nicholson Subdivision were auctioned off in front of the Post Office on Feb. 3, 1933.
Horton opened a general merchandise store in the old Gallaspy building. And in January 1940, Luke and Co. bought the property and relocated their grocery business there.
Gallaspy died in 1935 and his brother-in-law McLemore died in 1939. By January 1940, Luke and Co. had bought the store and began moving their wholesale grocery into the building. In 1955, they remodeled the store and called it Luke’s Super Market. In September 1956, they brought the Sunflower Food Stores franchise to Union.
In 1969, the store was sold to John Thrash of Decatur. In 1971, Thrash sold it to Bubba and Nancy Franklin, who sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Erwin Cook in 1973. On Dec. 7, 1974, a fire
destroyed the Sunflower Food Store. The building still belonged to Mrs. Helen Luke McMahen. On May 8, 1975, the McMahens donated the lot to the town of Union.
By 1976, the town had developed the lot into a minipark, which became the stage for Union’s first County Day on Aug. 13, 1977. Finally, in 1980 the minipark was formally named after Mrs. Helen Luke McMahen.
Many other businesses in Union can also be traced; some others, however, cannot. If owners of the stores did not advertise in the newspaper, much history had disappeared.
As I near the end of my newspaper search, I believe there are still people who have knowledge that could help me continue my history of Union.
• Do you remember where the Edgar building on North Bank St. was located?
• The Jackson Hotel was also called the Golden Hotel because Mr. Golden was the builder. Do you remember where it sat?
• Peoples Bank of Union began in 1919. Do you know where it was first located before it moved to the NW corner of Bank at Main St.?
• In 1939, E.C. Reeves brought the first Jitney Jungle to Union. Do you know where it was located before it moved to 211 Main St.?
• Do you remember what was in the building at 103 Bank St. before the Pride?
• In 1944, R.L. Windham opened Windham’s Furniture Co. in the Bankston building before moving to the former White Auto Co. building on Bank St. in 1947. Where was the Bankston building?
• In 1957, Ed Ogletree bought Woodard Service Station at 101 Bank St. and renamed it Ogletree’s Texaco. Do you remember if someone owned it after him or when it was torn down?
These are only some of the questions for which I have found no answer.
If you remember and have the answers to any of them and could e-mail these answers to me at teresablount26@yahoo.com, you would be helping to preserve Union’s history. By mail: 109 Woodhaven Drive, Union, Miss. 39365 or by phone: 601-774-5564. If I get responses, I can relay them to readers in future issues of this newspaper. I hope you can remember!
