This photograph taken by Steve Edwards shows the south end of Commerce Street in downtown Summerville.
Steve says, "This picture was made while I worked at Shamblin Hardware as a teenager. Looks like from the second floor window. The store had a balcony where we had all our Christmas toys. We only sold toys for a short time when I first started there. This was an Army band that came on a bus that day. I would guess this is 1958 or 1959."
The building on the right was the former Ford dealership. In the center distance, you can see the "ice cream cone" sign for Toles Drive-In (now Jim's Restaurant) on Lyerly Highway. (If you were to take another photograph from the same position today, the CVS Pharmacy would block your view.) A Subway restaurant now sits at the site of the Sinclair service station.
Notice the configuration of the traffic islands on the right. To turn left onto Highway 48 from northbound Highway 27, you had to pull into the center lane (behind the person leaning on the sign at the extreme right) and wait for the southbound traffic to clear. I don't recall exactly when the islands were reconfigured (1970s?), but the various solutions over the years have always fallen short.
Steve has contributed several photographs to this website. What makes his photographs so unique is that they were shot on 35mm color film, quite a contrast to the typical black & white Brownie snapshot.
The bare trees in the distance and the long shadows confirm that this isn't the Rodeo Days parade of May 1958.
Thanks to Steve Edwards for the photograph and memories.
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2012 Greg W. McCollum. All rights reserved.