WEST MAIN AVENUE AT SOUTH YORK STREET FROM THE WINDOW OF QUINN COTTON COMPANY ABOVE CARSON'S SPORTING GOODS ON MAIN AVENUE, C. 1959. SUBMITTED BY PAUL QUINN.
1960s SERVICE STATION (MODERNIST DESIGN), W. FRANKLIN AT S. YORK ST. (NW CORNER) SEPTEMBER 14, 2008. GONE. NOW A FENCED PARKING LOT.
Street scenes around Main Avenue and Marietta Street, photographed by
Rev. John Bates and provided through the courtesy of his daughter, Rita Bates Jones. (Special thanks to Deb Lewis Ogden for sending these pictures along with many others. Some of those will eventually appear on this site.)
Three Main Avenue scenes (before the Matthews-Belk relocation and the devastating 1976-77 "renovation") captured August 1973 by Paul Planer.
LOOKING EAST DOWN MAIN AVENUE FROM THE FRONT OF THE COMMERCIAL BUILDING AT MAIN AND SOUTH STREET. BUSINESSES ON THE NORTH SIDE OF MAIN (LEFT TO RIGHT) ARE MR. HI-STYLE, THE JEWEL BOX (IN THE LAWYERS BUILDING, DIANA SHOP (IN THE FORMER CHARLES DEPRTMENT STORE BUILDING, EFIRD'S DEPARTMENT STORE, MATTHEWS-BELK, BELK SHOE DEPARTMENT (FORMERY THE VOGUE), AND RAYLASS DEPARTMENT STORE. IN LESS HAN A DECADE, ALL THESE WOULD BE GONE.
SOUTHERN RAILWAY UPTOWN PASSENGER AND FREIGHT STATIONS,
CIRCA 1964
A series of views of the Southern Railway passenger/freight complex that once stood between the rear of the West Main Avenue buildings and the Southern main line tracks.
The magnificent seven-story home of Gastonia's First National Bank opened for business, accompanied by great fanfare, on July 28, 1917. It operated as the headquarters of FNB and its Great Depression-produced successor, the National Bank of Commerce, until the latter's relocation to the 100th block of West Franklin Avenue at South Marietta Street in 1956. (See the Journal page for that story.)
In the late 1940's, the bank expanded by building a nondescript addition on its west side, where a walkway between Main Avenue and the Southern Railway station had existed since the building's construction. The limestone-faced box housed the loan and bookkeeping departments. When the bank moved, that incongruous appendage became just another commercial storefront. By the late 1990's, the skyscraper's final tenant had moved, and the structure stood gaunt and forlorn, mocking hopes of an Uptown rebirth.
With a new century came new dreams. The Lawyer's Building (as it has been known for more than sixty years) is coming back to life. Current, enlightened ownership envisions the landmark as a keystone to the vibrant, bustling Uptown/Downtown of the future.
Recently the 1940's addition was removed, revealing bygone splendors for the first time to those of the Post World War II Baby Boom Generation and younger. To stand below the previously hidden boardroom windows and gaze upward to the sky gives one the feeling of being in a great cathedral. The First National Bank Building's story is told in the following picture albums.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING CIRCA 1917
FIRST NATIONAL BANK ADDITION #1 12-30-07
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