South Wall Street Water Fountain

Wall Street runs north and south through the heart of Calhoun. Directly in front of the present day Court House Wall Street is intersected by Court Street. North of the intersection Wall Street is referred to a North Wall Street and south of the intersection it is referred to South Wall Street. I found a photograph of a drinking fountain that was dated 1908. In the description of the photograph the drinking fountain was said to be in the middle of South Wall Street. Examination of the 1911 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map indicates the existence of landmark labeled as a well in the middle of Wall Street just south of the Courthouse. It appears from this map that the well would be in front of the present day Pete’s Music Store on the west side of the street and L’Palazzo on the east side of the street. I would imagine that the paving of Wall Street in 1918 and 1919 spelled doom for this fountain.

Millinery in Calhoun

While researching a future blog about South Wall Street I noticed an odd abbreviation on the 1911 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. According to the Sanborn map key the abbreviation Mill’y represents the word Millinery. What was a millinery? Consultation of the often cited Wikipedia yields the following:

Millinery refers to hats and other articles sold by a milliner to women, or the profession or business of designing, making, or selling hats and hat trim to women. Women would ask a milliner to remake their old clothing into new clothing. A milliner is a hatter who designs, makes, sells or trims hats. Customers would visit a millinery shop to look at and to buy clothes (children's clothing, shirts, undergarments and caps, for example) Millinery, if taken in a more general sense, also means any accoutrements that are functionally unnecessary, such as a garnish on a dish, or the extra cuff-buttons on a man's dress jacket.

So Calhoun had a clothing store that catered to the hat tastes of the community. This store was a wooden structure on the eat side of South Wall Street. The present day building that houses Terry Knight Studio and L’Palazzo appears to be built over site of the Millinery.