No Hill Too High for a Stepper by Mike Mahan

Author:Mike Mahan [Mahan, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Montevallo, Memoir, Mike Mahan, Alabama, South, Southern life, small time life, Great Depression
ISBN: 9781603063586
Publisher: NewSouth Inc.
Published: 2014-05-08T04:00:00+00:00

J. A. Brown, Jr. and Sr. inside Brown’s Grocery near Brown’s ice plant, saw mill, cotton gin, and Acme Oil.

Also vital to Montevallo’s operation was Mr. Eddie’s Gulf Service Station, which stood on the corner where Shelby crossed Main Street. Without it, things would have come to a standstill in Montevallo. The Alabama Power Company trucks and the college delivery trucks would have never made their rounds, and the fire trucks and Mr. Rogan or Mr. Jeter’s ambulance or funeral home services would have been unable to operate. And then there was the gin. The farmers from Brierfield, Dry Valley, Spring Creek, and all around couldn’t get their cotton ginned in the fall except at the gin down Shelby Street. This was especially important, as cotton was so vital to our economy. I well remember that every September school would let out for a week so girls and boys both could help their families pick cotton.

And one last effect of Shelby Street businesses on the community was quite important to me as a boy. Had it not been for Pete Givhan’s Coca-Cola warehouse, all of us for miles around Shelby Street would have had no Cokes to enjoy, and the soda fountain at Wilson’s Drug Store could not have served Coke floats. And what would a Bulldog football game have been without Coke at the concession stand? The lack of Cokes would surely have affected my Dad and his friends, as they would have lacked their favorite chaser to cut the moonshine they liked to drink.

As I look back, I have to conclude that Montevallo would have been a very dreary place without all that Shelby Street offered.

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