Photo of The Month – Mar 2003

Lady on the Street

Picture contributor: Jim Ruppe

She stands in front of the Store Building under the metal awning over the sidewalk. There are signs in the window advertising Colgate Talc Powder and informing us that Woolsey’s Standard Mixed Paint is sold here.

The most interesting aspect of the picture is what’s shown in the background: See the barber pole just to the right of her left hand? Obviously that’s the old barber shop, beyond the Store Building, facing Main Street.

The photo was taken in the mid to late 1910’s, prior to the construction of the Memorial Building. There are other single-story structures, built on street level, beyond the barber shop. The largest, farthest building we can see is the movie theater (later the dry cleaners). In front of it is a small white structure that may have been the theater’s ticket booth.

The photo is stamped “finished at Hames’ Studio, Cliffside, N.C.” The lady may be Una Edwards (1890-1977); the photo was in the possession of one of her classmates at Brevard School.

Update: We’ve learned the identity of the “Lady On The Street.” It is not Una Edwards as we guessed. We heard from Maurice (“Marny”) Hendrick and his sister Susan, children of Harry Hendrick and grandchildren of Maurice Hendrick, for many years general manager of Cliffside Mills. They write:

She is our grandmother, Lela McFarland Hendrick, who was born in the Westminster community on January 21, 1894. That picture is of her when she worked in the mill store. The scissors hanging from her waist were used to cut ribbon and fabric. While she was working at the store she met our grandfather, Maurice Hendrick, and they later married (on top of Chimney Rock!) The picture was probably made between 1912 and 1914 because her family (the McFarlands) lived in Cliffside during those years.

Marney Hendrick, former Editor and Publisher of the Rutherford County News, now resides in Salisbury, NC.