To my understanding, this is the only wood-framed building to have survived a large fire in Newborn’s commercial district in 1925.
Newborn Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This is quite small, even for a shotgun house, so I initially thought it might be an old office building, but there’s another one on the property [which I was unable to photograph due to vegetation] which led me to believe it might be a tenant house. Pete Tyson clarifies: That was the first aid/hospital of Cedar Springs that Mrs. S. A. Wright told me about. It was moved there in the 1960’s from the little dirt road behind Johnny Golden’s store. It was a barber shop (drinking spot) that was run by Bill Adams and he later moved his shop to Columbia, Alabama, to the old Orr’s Gun Shop on Highway 52. The other was a beauty shop run by May Megahee.
William C. Evans notes: The building was moved twice. Originally it was a dispensary and band room at the Cedar Springs Academy. The first time it was moved, it was used as a post office. It was later moved again to its current location and was used as a barbershop. Dr. Crozier’s house was the medical facility of Cedar Springs.
My guess is that this served as a commissary or general store but it could have been a feed warehouse or an office.
My guess is that this front-gabled structure was a law office, dating to the late 19th century, but I have no further information. It’s a wonderful building that I hope is preserved for years to come.
Rocky Mount can’t be found on every map, but the community lives on in several historic churches and this old store.
To my knowledge, this general store is the only surviving commercial structure in Neal. It’s a nice example of the common shotgun form.
The W. R. Browning property is a great example of a rural general store, and it’s relatively intact compared to most I’ve encountered in my travels. It even retains an outdoor shelter.
The window signage is particularly nice, especially this one, indicating that W. R. Browning was not only a shopkeeper but a lumberman, as well. I’m not a good genealogist, but I think some of the descendants of my great-great grandfather, George Franklin Browning, still live in this area. I hope to learn more about that.
The Stanback window decals are fading away, but they likely date to the 1930s or 1940s. Their survival is extraordinary. Stanback was advertised as a cure “for Headache & Neuralgia”. For those who don’t know, it’s a caffeine-based headache therapy similar to Goody’s & BC powders.
