Tom Stacys daughter called me the other day saying she knew I enjoyed old photos and the history of the area, and that she had a couple old pictures for me. I met up with her today and got these two old photos. The story that goes with them is something interesting. These are photos of what was known since the late 1930s as Dallas Rowes Store in the little township of Nebo, NC. The old store building sat just above the railroad tracks and just a couple houses down from my grandparents home (where I live now). I recall as a young boy going to that store. The building was torn down in the late 1960s. Miss Stacy took the photos for a photography class in 1955. The reason she took them was mainly because of what was written on the side of the building and was still faintly visible in 1955. The story behind the photos goes like this: Her father, Mr. Tom Stacy, was in his early 20s at the time of the Presidential Election of 1920. Mr. Stacy was a strong Democrat, and the night before election day painted on the side of the store in big white letters Vote For Cox. James Cox was the Democrat nominee for President in 1920 who ran against Warren G. Harding, the Republican nominee (Harding won the election). Mr. Stacy painted Vote For Cox on the side of that store building because he knew the owner was a strong Republican supporter. She said her father sat up all night with his pistol because he was afraid the owner would see his sign and paint it over. That Vote For Cox remained on the side of that old store building well into the 1950s, when it finally faded completely away. She said the owner of the store left it there as a reminder to her father that her fathers man lost the election. That story in itself is a very interesting piece of local history and I was glad to get the old photos and hear the story, as Id never heard that story before. However, the real interesting thing, and what she didnt know until today when she gave me the photos and told me the story, was that from 1917 to 1922 my grandfather and his brother-in-law ran that store. My grandfather was a very strong Republican, and evidently was the man who Mr. Stacy was afraid would find the sign before the election. I never knew my grandfather (he died in 1932), but from what I have been told he was a man who enjoyed a good joke. It would make sense to me that he would have left that sign painted on the side of the store just as a joke to Mr. Stacy, and as a reminder that Stacys man lost and his man won. Sometimes you get lucky and learn something completely new about family. Today was that kind of day.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:15:53 +0000