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Ralph Sloan's contributions to local history
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Published: August 2, 2009
Iredell County has been fortunate in having a good number of men and women to record its common history.
The Rev. Dr. E. F. Rockwell, who taught at Mitchell College and was pastor at First Presbyterian in Statesville, was probably our first bona fide historian. Others were Minnie Hampton Eliason, also a member of the Mitchell faculty, and Homer Keever, who wrote history columns in the R&L for nearly 30 years.
More recently Mac Lackey Jr. wrote columns for the Iredell Neighbors section of the Charlotte Observer. There have been other local historians as well, including Bill Moose and Mildred Miller and the late "Red" Watt.
I'd like to talk about another historian today: Clifton Ralph Sloan. Most people who knew Ralph Sloan probably remember him as a men's clothier or for his cleaning business on East Water Street. He also was editor of the Statesville Mascot, the town's first daily newspaper.
Born in 1889 in Stony Point, he became a Statesville resident in 1892 when his family moved here. His formal education was limited to the eighth grade under Prof. D. Matt Thompson at the old Mulberry School, but he was a keen observer of human nature and had a prodigious memory. Rather than writing what might be called "formal" history, Sloan, in his later years, wrote about the city and county of his youth.
He began writing his reminisces in the R&L in the fall of 1966 and continued steadily for several years, then only wrote occasionally through November 1976. He passed away in May 1981 at age 92.
One of the problems in trying to study local history is that old newspapers often left out addresses. The paper felt no need to mention the location of, say, a new building, as that was the only new building being erected at the time and everyone in town knew where the structure was going up. But 90 or 100 years later, you are lucky if the author put in something like, "across from the Methodist church" or "at the corner of Broad and Center." The latter, of course, left you wondering which corner.
Ralph Sloan did Statesville a great service when in the late 1960s he started at various landmarks in town, such as the depot, and in his imagination walked up Center Street to the Square, giving a description of who lived in each house or what business was located there, what they made or sold and who owned it and who worked there.
A week or so later, he took up where he had left off and went down the other side of the street. He frequently put in such asides, as "where the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. is now located."
And where was that? All you have to do is look in a city directory for the year Sloan's article was published. He also wrote many thumbnail sketches of prominent and ordinary citizens of 90 or more years ago.
A good example of Sloan's contribution to local history is his column "How It Was in the Old-Time Grocery Store," from the R&L of Jan. 4, 1968. A number of the grayer heads in town will recall some of the businesses he mentions.
It is noteworthy that there are currently no small, family-owned grocery stores operating in the downtown business district, although Fake It, a grocery store for vegans, is set to open Monday.
Here is a portion of Sloan's Jan. 4, 1968, column.
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"Some of the nostalgic memories which linger with me are the days when I clerked in two of the early-day grocery stores in Statesville. In those days before transportation was so easy, most of the food stores were located in the heart of the uptown business section.
"There were several small neighborhood stores located in various sections of the town. Most of the sales were delivered in a horse-drawn vehicle or in an old time two-wheel push cart. Each morning the larger stores sent out the deliveryman to the better customers' homes to solicit orders.
"Cash and carry came years later. Of course, if the credit of the customer did not warrant a charge account, the sale was cash on delivery. On many occasions the goodness of a merchant's heart governed whether a customer could get credit.
"Among the old grocery stores I recall Turner's, located on the corner where Holmes Drug now is. Down the street where Ralph Sloan, Inc., is located was Alexander Brothers, operated by Moffat and Rufe Alexander. Across the street Eagle and Milholland were located just to the rear of the Statesville Drug Store. Around the corner where Belk's Gift Shop operates was the location of J. B. Gill, one of the better and larger stores in town.
"Down in the old Iredell Hotel building, which stood on the site of today's Woolworth's, J. P. Phifer & Son also operated a nice grocery business. Kimball and Dayvault (where Sloan first worked) were also in the Iredell Hotel building.
"In the old St. Charles Hotel there was a small place operated by J. W. Marshall. In the same building Hunter Moore operated a grocery store and meat market. On West Broad, Fry and Phifer conducted a grocery store in the building now occupied by Lester's. Across the street, in the building occupied by Jo-Ann's, Thad Summers conducted a good-sized store.
"In the building occupied by First Union National Bank, Frank Sherrill, a one-armed man, operated one of the better grocery stores. It was a curiosity to see his dexterity in handling groceries, to see him, with one arm, weigh up merchandise, wrap it with paper and securely tie it with twine. He operated the store until his death. W. P. McLain later became owner. Eventually June and Francis McAuley took it over and were very popular in the business.
"In the building where Louis Marrett is located, D. J. Kimball for years operated a grocery store. In later years he moved into the location now occupied by Parks Realty Co. In the building now occupied by Plyler's Men's Shop, Jesse and A. R. Sherrill opened a nice grocery and successfully operated it for years.
"This makes a total of 12 grocery stores that were at one time located in the heart of the uptown business section. Today the nearest is the A&P on South Center and the Winn-Dixie on East Broad. The first chain grocery to open in Statesville was then called the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., now the A&P. It was located in one of the store rooms where the Penny Building stands. It was a small average grocery store when they opened."
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The part in quotations above is about a fourth of the column Sloan wrote on the old-time Statesville grocery stores.
Copies of Sloan's columns are in a binder and can be read in the James Iredell Room of the Iredell County Library. They are a valuable, and interesting, part of the town's history.
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