Another thing I remember about the town hall. Lieutenant Caldwell, who was Mr. Haynes' son-in-law, had married Virginia, the youngest child of the family, had been to World War I. He came back and spoke on his being in France and it was just really astounding to us to hear him tell about the things that had taken place in World War I.

Another thing, I mentioned the ice cream and oyster suppers. A lot of those were held by some of the church organizations to make money. I don't remember the price of the oyster stew or the ice cream, but I am sure that it was very minimal compared to prices today. One of the funny things that did happen once was at one of the oyster suppers. This young man was in my senior class in high school. He was a very popular young man; his daddy had given him a big, pretty Buick to drive, but he was not “too quick on the trigger! So far as being a good student and a smart student, he was not too much that either. At any rate, he was going with this girl who lived just outside of Cliffside—Aileen Robinson. One other young man was going with her sister Betty, so they carried their girls to the oyster stew. When the waitress came around and asked for the order, she asked “whole stew” or “half stew.” Aileen was very precise in her grammar; she said, “Oh, it is just immaterial to me.” And Broadus, who was her escort, spoke up and said, “I'll take that kind, too.”

Later on, Mr. Raleigh Haynes realized there was a larger need for the social affairs. He planned to build the R. R. Haynes Memorial Building. Unfortunately, he died before this building was erected, but his son Mr. Charlie Haynes went ahead with those plans and a beautiful, three-storied memorial building was erected. On top of this building was placed the town clock, which has stood for years as a sentinel to the people of Cliffside.

In this building, there was a library, game rooms, room for basketball games-you could stand in the rotunda and watch the games as they were going on. Upstairs, there were rooms for civic meetings and also some bedrooms that could be rented. Many times when guests came to Cliffside to spend the night, they were put in those bedrooms, and so many times, they have told they could not sleep because of the town clock, which chimed every fifteen minutes. They weren't accustomed to that noise. There were also kitchens, every type of kitchen equipment, other rooms for organizational meetings, civic meetings. In that day, it was just a most unusual building. In one section of the building, there was a theater. A little later, I will tell you about a little boy who worked in that theater and, at that time, said to himself, “When I grow up, I am going to be a movie director,” and that little boy has seen that dream accomplished.

There was a skating rink in a building back of the company store. There was a shoe shop, a photographer's shop, and a furniture store. There were cotton gins; people brought their cotton to be ginned. The picture of all the wagons, horse-drawn or mule-drawn, standing around with the cotton really takes you back many, many years ago. There was a restaurant down in the memorial building, beauty shops, barbershops, just everything was provided for the people that they really needed. Oh, yes, there was a service station, a car agency for selling cars after they came into the picture. There was a bank; I have seen four bank buildings. The first building, or the first bank room, you might say, and it was named The Haynes Bank, was opened in the section where the mill office had been built. Then, it was moved into the building where the department store, drug store, and the town hall were located. A little later it was moved on up the street and a new building was built. Then, just a few years ago, still another beautiful, modern building with much decorative stone has been built.

 

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