Many people who were not here some years ago are wondering just what Main Street might have looked like. Let’s look at what is here now and how it has changed over time! Let’s take a look at what used to be in some of the spots now empty.!
For some it will be a journey down “memory lane” and a good deal of nostalgia for the past. For others it will be “an amazing trip” a bird’s eye view of what has been here in our past. Unfortunately, some people just rejoice with change, all things “new” and forget the past. However; we can, our historians hope, both remember and preserve—- celebrating today while sincerely honoring those generations and achievements which made us what we are!
We begin with this: PART ONE
THE THOMPSON-HOWARD BUILDING: 1914
Our oldest pictures of Main Street show the Thompson Howard Building, better recognized by many as Elliott’s. Pharmacy. The awning covered buildings down to the “meat market” all have new occupants today and the street boasts parallel parking. Today the recent former “Elmo’s” part of the building has been refurbished with the exterior intact and a new interior for the Lighting Store and apartments. In the past, that upstairs was home to the Recorder’s Court and offices of mayors, lawyers or others, all of which evidence was removed for the new apartments. The former pharmacy right-half of the building known as “Elliotts” remains intact and unoccupied under a new owner. We hear rumors that someone in Ice cream may decide to preserve and save this historical site!!
Originally, the brick structure was home to three businesses on the street level in the building owned by A. W. Thompson and E. A. Howard. Upstairs was accessed by an entrance from Main Street and another from Depot Street with open access to the businesses, courtroom and offices over all the three downstairs establishments. The original 1914 building was rebuilt after the 1916 fire within the remaining brick walls.
We know of the 1914 occupants by the accounts of the 1916 fire. Three businesses housed on the street level were destroyed—-Fuquay Drug Company owned by A. G. Elliott; Deitz and Isaacson, general merchants; and Fuquay Hardware Company. Upstairs were Dr. C. E. Check, Dr. J. R. Edwards, dentist, and A. J. Fletcher, lawyer.
Though the years following the fire, upstairs businesses changed frequently. Some people went to their beautician, some their lawyer, and many remembered getting their polio shots in a big open area. Skinny Ashworth remembered going to a court session and Jewel Ballentine Stephens attended a meeting in the courtroom relative to hiring the publisher of the Independent, Todd Caldwell.
The Dec 7, 1939, Independent pictures Elliott’s Pharmacy with the new black front. At that point the other two stores seem to be occupied by Kress’s Five and Dime.
In 1954, when Hurricane Hazel paid her visit, the building was undergoing its transition to two establishments downstairs with a brick wall constructed to divide the upstairs storage for each. The court and all related town business had removed to the new municipal building on S. Fuquay Ave. in 1951. At this point there appears to have ended all other occupants besides the two owners from downstairs.
Curtis Holleman took over Elliotts Pharmacy after “growing up” with the establishment. His was the last pharmacy to occupy the right side of the store. When Elliott first opened A. G. Elliott, Sr. merged several older drug stores under Fuquay Pharmacy. The public loved the lunch counter for a generation—pimento cheese sandwiches and orangeades.
The upstairs building in 2009 was very much vacant except for storage. During this Centennial Year, pictures were taken recording the state of the upstairs so we could partially preserve the past. The museums feature a picture of the courtroom at that point along with what we presume to be one of the benches of the courtroom. From the Elliotts side, we have preserved one of the interior doors from upstairs.
The last two older businesses in the Howard Thompson Building were Elmo’s and Elliott’s. Elliotts’ closed in 2013 after 99 years and has been vacant since. Elmo’s left the building and gave place to the Lighting Store in 2022-23. Originally A. N. Johnsons, the Elmo Company actually began in 1911 next door to the Thompson Building.
Today the Howard Thompson Building still remains on the corner of Main and Depot—one of our earlier structures still intact, with much history to remember. Let’s hope this old structure will remain with us under these new owners.