Maybe I’m feeling nostalgic because our town has recently undergone a population explosion, from 2k to over 4k in 5 years, but I thought it would be fun to give a little history of the building row where my lovely Consew came from.

The nearest town to us, where this street is located, was formed in 1882. It was settled along what was then, Georgia Pacific Railroad lines, newly laid to Birmingham, Alabama. The town grew to three main roads by the early 1900’s, one crossing over the railroad tracks. It now consists of two. The third having been leveled and rebuilt many times. The rows of stick-built buildings originally looked like a scene out of the old west, complete with dirt roads, horses, wagons and buggy carts. Each row had anywhere from 5 to 8 proprietorships. By the 1930’s, the buildings had brick and local stones surrounding them.

In the very beginning of township, there were only about two dozen families, running mainly farms and a mill. Below is a picture of the street when it was about 26 years old in 1908. The 3rd building from the left end would be the future home for my Consew. In the 1900’s, handmade furniture and farm implements were being made by hand and sold in the mercantile/hardware/feed store. The community recreation center, at the time, was a tiny railroad platform in the center of town. Here residents would watch who got on and off. Old-timers would gather in front of the feed store and talk about happenings around town. They still do this to this day, only now the seating is in front of the only grocery store, one street over and it’s old-timers mix it up with teenagers.

Sometime around 20’s-50’s, the building underwent alot of changes. The picture below shows two proprietorships. The one on the left was a doctor’s office, the one on the right, a furniture and novelty store. The furniture and novelty store is what would eventually be used as the tarp manufacturer where my lovely Consew resided.

The only history book at the library, makes mention of what a big deal it was when the movie theatre arrived. I don’t remember the year this blessed event occurred, but the movie theatre’s brick outer walls, barely standing to this day, still contained the movie reels and canisters under all the beams and rubble, until removed last month. Below is a picture of what those buildings in 1908 had become by 1950.

Finally, here is the same building row as of this morning:

It feels really good to just touch the Consew and know that for a moment in time, it stands as a testament to history of a small street in a small town in a not so very big world. That’s not too wierd is it?

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