The Locust Grove Store
Locust Grove Store in 1910 l-r: Louis Martin, George Ammerman, Horace Poor/Poar,Sr., Tommy Kells, Luther Ruby, Jabez Poor (holding corn knife), Albert Shoemaker, Alvin Wilson, Bill Ruby person on the porch is unidentified.
The Locust Grove Store was built in 1908 and financed by Horizon Jewett Poor, Newt Whaley, W.T. Payne, Walter W. Wilson and Richard Jones. Later, when they could afford to buy it, the building was sold to the J.O.U.A.M. Lodge # 152 (Junior Order of United American Mechanics). The lodge and its auxiliary, the D. of A. Roanoke Council 58 (Daughters of America) shared the second floor as their meeting room.
The first floor was a general store operated by the following tenants (dates if known): Bill Ruby, Elmer Ewing, Elmer Wilson (1914), Lewis Perry, Elmer Arnold (about 1925), Luther Sargent (1926-1930), Homer Shelton, Claude Dance (1934-1936), Ralph and Woodrow Poor (1937-1939), Charlie Wilson (early 1940s), Newt Whaley, Vernon Wolfe, Frank and Lizzie Hutchison, Porter Mann & Dee (1970s), Bud King (1950-1954), Elzie Clark, Woodrow Blades (1955-1957), Frank Blackburn, Paul and Judith West, Bucky Walters, Charlie Brewer, Charlie Race, Harold and Alberta Lea.When Martin Luther Sargent and his wife, Ina, ran the store they would have groups playing music in the evenings.
This article appeared in the Falmouth Outlook on 22 Jan 1926:
Goldie Sargent Woodyard, said that when they had gatherings at the store, the people attending would put their coats on the beds in the house next door. They would stay late and keep the Sargent children from going to bed. When the Sargents ran the store, they had one of the earlier radios in that area and that attracted people. Ethel Mae Sargent Ravenscraft, Luther Sargent’s then sixteen-year-old daughter, worked as a clerk in the store.
Martin Luther Sargent (Dec. 1, 1881-Aug, 8, 1931),
and his wife, Ina, ran the Locust Grove Store from 1926-1930.
![endif]--![endif]--
Sources: Researched by Billy Newman, Nancy Bray, and Agnes (Poor) Beach Submitted by Billy Newman (grandson of Luther and Ina Sargent and son of Anna Elizabeth Sargent Newman)
Save
