Before it was absorbed by Lula in the 1950s, this community was known as Bellton. This was the post office and later a rural medical clinic.
I thought it might have been an old sore, as well, but Jim Grier writes: “My grandmother, Carrie Wheeler Grier, was the Last Postmaster of Bellton. She served as postmaster (or postmistress) from 1943 until the Bellton post office was finally closed in April 1957. This building, located at Main Street and 6th Street, was built soon after she became postmaster to house only the post office. Prior to that time, the post office was in the back of a store building at the other end of the block at Main Street and 5th Street.“
“This building had a small room at the front that had a wall of open boxes where the postmaster placed mail for the families of Bellton. There was no need for doors on the boxes. People only took mail from their box. There was a dutch door in the center of that wall that opened to the back of the post office where mail was sorted, and bagged before being carried across the street ti be hung on a pole beside the railroad, That bag of mail would be snatched by a train going to Atlanta, GA or Greenville, SC.“
Joseph Buffington notes: “After the post office moved, this place became an inoculation clinic for the black residents of Belton. All the kids had to go there to get their TB, Polio, Tetanus Measles and Chickenpox immunization shots before entering Fair Street Elementary School where they were bused to school because of segregation laws. I was born about 100 yards north of this building.”
My grandmother, Carrie Wheeler Grier, was the Last Postmaster of Bellton. She served as poastmaster (or postmistress) from 1943 until the Bellton post office was finally closed in April 1957. This building, located at Main Street and 6th Street, was built soon after she became postmaster to house only the post office. Prior to that time, the post office was in the back of a store building at the other end of the block at Main Street and 5th Street.
This building had a small room at the front that had a wall of open boxes where the postmaster placed mail for the families of Bellton. There was no need for doors on the boxes. People only took mail from their box. There was a dutch door in the center of that wall that opened to the back of the post office where mail was sorted, and bagged before being carried across the street ti be hung on a pole beside the railroad, That bagof mail would be snatched by a train going to Atlanta, GA or Greenville, SC.
I grew up there. This places as I remember was never a store.
After the post office moved, this place became an inoculation clinic for the black residents of Belton. All the kids had to go there to get their TB, Polio, Tetanus Measles and Chickenpox immunization shots before entering Fair Street Elementary School where they were bused to school because of segregation laws. I was born about 100 yards north of this building.
Yes, Lula is a juggernaut.