This was one of several grocery and general stores in Nevils in the early 1900s. It’s located adjacent to the old Shearwood Railroad Depot. The photographs were made in 2014; as of 2025, the building is still standing.
The Coca-Cola ghost mural is nearly unreadable now. Such traces of the commercial past are so common in small towns as to nearly be cliche.
This has been identified in tax records as a garage, and may have had an earlier use. Note the hearse, from the last post, parked beside the building.
Southern Bell, the “phone company”, moved into this building from a smaller location in 1942. It is still owned by AT&T and is used primarily for storage.
Construction began on the Liberty Theatre in 1924 and was completed in 1925. When it was built 100 years ago, it was the first Black theatre in Columbus, and significantly, the only such venue within the Martin Theatres chain. Though not substantiated, it is believed that local architect T. Firth Lockwood, Jr., was responsible for the design.
Beginning as a silent movie house and transitioning to talkies, the Liberty was also a vibrant live entertainment space. Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and the big bands of Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Fletcher Henderson all performed here.
The Liberty closed in 1974, as desegregated theatres in other areas of Columbus took business away from the location. After years of abandonment, restoration and removal of a 1955 makeover, brought the Liberty back to life. It reopened as a live performance space and cultural arts center in 1996. As the fencing would indicate, it is now going through another renovation and is presently closed.
National Register of Historic District
This simple commercial storefront, located just down 5th Avenue from Tole’s Undertaking in the Liberty District, was the office of Farley Real Estate, the first Black-owned real estate company in Columbus. Edwin Edward Farley (c. 1902 – 1956) was the visionary owner of the business. Farley and his wife Ella were realtors and developers and were very involved in their community. They built the first Black subdivision in Columbus, known as Carver Heights, beginning in 1946. E. E. was a Morehouse College graduate and led the Columbus chapter of the NAACP and served as executive secretary of the Army and Navy YMCA at Fort Benning. His association with area Civil Rights leaders, including Dr. Thomas H. Brewer, Primus King, and A. J. McClung, was instrumental in bringing the annual Tuskegee-Morehouse football game to Columbus.
When Farley died in 1956, Ella continued the real estate business, selling it to Booker Edmonds in 1971. The name was changed to Edmonds-Farley and was still in business as of 2021. Today, the building is home to Chirp Glass Studio.
An architectural survey notes that this building was “constructed by Alex Tole as Tole’s Undertaking. The business was founded in 1892 and Alex Tole was one of the few who could afford to buy a stained glass picture of himself in his church, the First African Baptist Church. It is uncertain if he ever saw the finished window prior to his death in 1915. Mr. Henry Tole (Alex Tole’s brother) took over the business after his brother’s death. The “837 Club” would meet on the second floor of the building and consisted of men who would get together and play cards, etc. They rented the space from the Funeral Home.”
Richard A. Pierce was the first to develop 9th Street as an exclusive business district for the Black community. The intersection of 9th Street and 5th Avenue was called the Magic Corner for its central location and the Pierce Building was known as the Ninth Street Mecca. According to the Colored Columbus Directory and Year Book of 1926-1927, Richard A. Pierce (1877-1934) was a highly successful entrepreneur. He was the owner of this structure, which housed the Ninth Street Drug Store, an insurance office, a dental office, Ethel Spencer’s piano school, Anne Spencer’s Accessory Store, and the Pierce Auditorium, a third floor entertainment space which featured live dances and other entertainment. He also owned the Pierce Pocket Billiard Parlor and more than eighty tenant dwellings. He was the largest Black property owner in Columbus in his time.
Like the neighboring Sconiers Building, the Pierce Office Building is a landmark of Black Columbus and should be considered for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Richard Pierce and John L. Sconiers were pioneers in Black business in the Jim Crow era, and succeeded in spite of the challenges that were inherent to their interests.
The corner of 9th Street and 5th Avenue was the commercial and cultural center of Black Columbus throughout much of the 20th century in an area known as the Liberty District. John Leonard Sconiers, Sr., (1884-1959) was one of its biggest boosters. His Sconiers Funeral Home, originally located in the small house to the left of the Sconiers Building, was established here circa 1916 and is the oldest Black-owned business in Columbus.
The corner space on the ground floor of the Sconiers Building was once occupied by the Laborers Savings and Loan Company, of which Mr. Sconiers served as president. Other commercial businesses occupied the two remaining ground spaces. More business and professional offices, including the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, occupied the second floor, and the third floor served as Sconiers Hall, an auditorium used for entertainment, conventions, assemblies, and lodge meetings. Later businesses included the Afro-American Life Insurance Company, Guaranty Life Insurance Company, barber Charles Johnson, and beautician Eula Jones. These businesses were central to the development of a Black middle class in Columbus and this building is an important link to that history.
I’m grateful to Meg Balian for sharing her father’s circa 1973 painting of Mrs. W. E. Porter’s general store in the forgotten village of Findlay. I’ve been meaning to share it here for some time not only for its subtle beauty but also as a link to the history of this elusive place in Dooly County. The building was still standing a few years ago but I never knew a name for the store until Meg reached out.
Meg’s father was Kevork Misak (George) Balian (1932-2013). As a young man, George began the study of art at a French and American school in Aleppo, Syria. At 18, he immigrated to America with $250, a suitcase filled with his belongings, and a watch. He worked his way through school and received a degree in Architecture from Auburn University, where a lifelong passion for War Eagles football was born.
Mr. Balian was a member of the American Institute of Architects and completed residential, public, and commercial designs in cities as diverse as Macon, Atlanta, St. Louis and New York. He was also involved in the design of the Abuja National Mosque in Nigeria.
The name of a recent occupant of this building suggests that it is best remembered as a mercantile or general store. The Mercantile Inn was located here during the 2010s, if my notes are correct. As was often the case with buildings like this, the owners may have lived upstairs, or it could have been a general commercial block with a fraternal lodge upstairs. It is the most architecturally significant commercial structure remaining in Collins, in my opinion.
Frank Morris writes: “No idea of who built it or exactly when, but it was owned/operated in the late 1800’s to 1900’s (?) as a General Store by my Grandfather W.L. Morris who lived at 302 Morris St NW in Collins until his death. He and his wife Lila are buried in the Baptist Church cemetery in Collins. I still have some of the ledgers from transactions made at the store.“