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Then and now: Main Street, Chipper Curve junction
The intersection of East Main Street and Chipper Curve Road looks much different today that it did some 76 years ago.
The old pictures were taken in 1930 One structure visible in both top photos is the house above The Coffee Shop, then the home of Frank and Mayme Bailey. The original Coffee Shop, operated by the Baileys and located just west of the current restaurant, is visible in the top photo as is the home of Mayme’s parents, Roland and Sallie Painter, which stood west of the old Coffee Shop. Chipper Curve Road was the main highway into Sylva from the east in those days and was designated as U.S. 19-23 and N.C. 10. A highway sign in the top photo indicates traffic should turn left for N.C. 106, which went toward Cullowhee. The third photo on the page shows highway signs for left turns across the railroad tracks on U.S. 19-23 and N.C. 10 with a right turn indicated for N.C. 106. Signs in both old photos say “N.C. Law Stop,” apparently referring to the railroad crossing. As the current photos show, that crossing was relocated slightly to the east in the 1960s. The building that now houses Hall’s Tire Service (left in bottom photos) then appears to have been a Chevrolet dealership and a Standard gasoline station. The building now housing WSG Bath and Lighting Gallery (left in top photos and right in bottom photos) has a “motor company” sign, possible B&T, on it. That building, part of which has been removed, became Hooper Motor Co. a few years later and operated as such for many years until the business was purchased by Don Scott. The third photo shows smoke coming from a smokestack at the tannery, also known as Armour Leather Co.
Several people assisted in The Herald’s effort to share these historic photos with its readers. N.C. Department of Transportation’s Tim Barker of the Division 14 Office near Webster e-mailed the pictures to Herald Publisher Steve Gray and helped contact another Division 14 employee, Jay Swain. Swain helped Herald photographer Nick Breedlove locate the original photos, and Brian Burch brought them by the newspaper office to be scanned. – N.C. Department of Transportation file photos and Herald photos by Nick Breedlove.
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