326 Court Square—From at least 1913 until the early 1950s, this corner was occupied by a two- story building owned by Maggie Goodwin. She had a grocery on the first floor and she lived upstairs. Then this building was constructed in the early 1950s to house a short-lived farm co-op business. When it went out in 1954, this became Harold Young’s Department Store. Young’s Dept. Store really defined the 1950s and 60s in DeWitt. The store carried a large selection of goods, from toys to clothes to furniture and appliances. There was a service station in the back of the building and a meat market to take your animals for butchering. Most people remember riding the mechanical pony in Young’s as a child. DeWitt Publishing Company and the DeWitt Era-Enterprise moved into this building in 1981 after Young’s closed. The DeWitt New Era was founded in 1882 by Charles H. Spiller, and was appropriately named because it broke from the old era of short-lived newspapers in DeWitt (17 short-lived papers in all). The DeWitt Enterprise was founded in 1916, and in 1929, it absorbed the DeWitt New Era to become the DeWitt Era- Enterprise. The paper continues today, claiming to have never missed an issue in 128 years (since the 1882 founding of the New Era).
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121 E. Cross Street—Behind 400 Court Square to the east, built circa 1935. In 1943, it housed Leonard Parker’s Restaurant in the front, and implements and machinery in the rear portions. Later it was an outlet for DeWitt Shoe Factory, and there was a barber shop around the corner.
400 Court Square—After 1938, was Jim McKay’s Grocery Store (brother of Ed McKay, down the block). Then it became Maxie Ruffin’s ice cream parlor. (Charlie Hamilton worked in a shop behind this store, repairing TVs and radios in the 1970s).
410 Court Square—This entire block, including 410 and 400 Court Square, was occupied by L. A. Black Hardware. Lester Asher Black was involved in a number of businesses, including hard- ware, rice and seed, farm implements and machinery, and he grew cotton, rice, and livestock. In 1912 he was one of the founding shareholders in the First National Bank of DeWitt, and by 1915, he was the bank president, a position he held until his death in 1945. He also founded Blue Seal Petroleum in 1929. L. A. Black Hardware’s original buildings burned in the late 1920s, but Mr. Black reconstructed this block, as you can see by looking at the concrete panel reading “L. A. Black 1938.” There was also a blacksmith shop behind Black’s to the east run by Mr. Earl. After the fire, Mr. Black moved his operations to the corner where Fault Line is now. So after these buildings were rebuilt in 1938, Bill Lorrick’s Dry Goods occupied this storefront at 410 Court Square. In the 1950s, this was Ed McKay’s Grocery and meat market.
412 Court Square--In 2004, was known as the Dollar Zone. 414 Court Square—Built in the late 1920s, this building occupies one of the unique corner lots on the DeWitt square. It has a chamfered corner entrance with zipper brick. In the 1950s, the building housed Ted Danner’s Shoes & Clothing. The DeWitt Era-Enterprise printing office was located in the north portion of this building by 1933. After the newspaper office moved in 1981 to its current location, a beauty shop occupied its old space here.
416 Court Square—Built about 1925, this building was owned by Ruff Holloway and housed Sanders’s Shoe Shop, which repaired and sold shoes.
424 Court Square—Built about 1935, this was Lonnie Stedman’s Barber Shop, where you could get a haircut for 25 cents.
428 Court Square—Built circa 1930, this building features a simple inset panel in its upper façade, typical of commercial architecture at that time. Eula Bonner had a women’s store here.
432 Court Square—Built circa 1918 and housed the DeWitt Pharmacy, owned by Mr. Booker Latimer, from that time until 1945. Mr. Latimer also had the town’s first liquor store in this building. Meanwhile, Clifton McGahhey (“McGah-ha”) had spent several years in the hardware business, first at Stephens Hardware and then with L. A. Black Hardware. Then on March 15, 1946, Clifton McGahhey and his nephew, Floyd, who had just returned from the Army, opened McGahhey Hardware Store. Clifton had actually purchased the building from Doc Lumsden, who briefly owned the building, as there had always been doctor’s and dentist’s offices upstairs. After it became McGahhey Hardware, Mr. Eason rented out hotel rooms upstairs and had a taxi service as well. As you can see, McGahhey Hardware is still open today. It’s operated by Floyd’s son, Gary McGahhey.
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Court SquareRather than being formed by intersecting streets, DeWitt’s court square was designed as a continuous street around a public square with one access street in the middle of each block. The northwest, northeast, and southwest corners have unique lots containing buildings with chamfered corner entrances. The town was platted in such a way that people wouldn’t just pass through the downtown and keep going—the courthouse and square would be your final des- tination. This is an extremely rare layout for a court square—I’ve never seen another town like it.
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