The hidden letters on the front of the former Robinson Brothers Feed and Seed building at 404 West Main Avenue had been taunting me for years, when, on a damp, humid day in the summer of 1984, they revealed themselves. There, as if they were shouting, "Here I am!" they spelled out "Kendrick-Riddle Wholesale Grocers." Another mystery of Old Gastonia was solved.
The Kendrick-Riddle Building opened January 15, 1922. The structure stood two stories with a basement and measured 56 by 90 feet. (Gastonia Gazette Saturday, December 31, 1922.)
To the right is the Dillard/Henley Paper Company building. Out of the picture to its right was the Chester Street Southern Railway underpass that is now the Norfolk Southern OVERpass.