Last update:Saturday, 21-Jun-2003 05:31:58 MDT
In the early 1800's, Lewiston was known as Turner's Crossroads and did not receive its present name until much
later. A young man named Watson Lewis, who operated a store in the town of Bethlehem (Harrellsville) over in
Hertford County, fell in love with a Miss Critchlow who was staying with the prosperous Thompson family in Hotel.
Mr. Lewis married Miss Critchlow and moved to Turner's Crossroads.
There he bought the old Thomas Hardy home and farm and opened a general merchandise store at the crossroad.
He soon became well liked and was appointed postmaster of the Post Office in Hotel. For convenience he decided
to move the Post Office from Hotel to his store at Turner's Crossroads. He did so on December 18, 1872. Now that
Turner's Crossroads had a Post Office, it was decided to rename it Lewiston in honor of its first Postmaster.
The community of Lewiston had its first post office established May 4, 1816 with the name Turner's Cross Roads.
It operated under that name until March 31, 1840, with five postmasters serving:
John Granbery, Mar 4, 1816 John A. Caudle July 22, 1816 Simon Turner June 27, 1817 Robert C. Watson, Nov 1, 1825 John H. Grimes Feb 7, 1840The name was changed to Hotel on April 1, 1840 when the site was moved about two miles down the road in what
Joseph B. Lee June 4, 1845 Thomas C. Hardy May 1, 1850 Henry F. Williams April 10, 1851 Thomas E. Hardy Feb 6, 1852 Henry F. Williams, Feb 21, 1866 James P. Johnson, May 6, 1872On December 18, 1872, the Post Office was moved and renamed Lewiston.
Watson Lewis, Dec 18, 1872 Miss Maude L. Alford, April 1, 1886 Miss Sarah J. Bazemore Feb 7, 1889 J.N. Kennedy Oct 24, 1889 Clingman Hodges (Negro) Jan 20, 1890 Andrew F. Hancock, June 8, 1893 Daniel W. Baker June 10, 1897 Charles H. Lewter (Negro) April 1, 1899 William Saunders Nov 18, 1901 John B. Saunders April 14, 1914 Miss Audre Hoggard July 29, 1921 Jerry Bunch May 26, 1966 Adolph Harrell Lacelle ParkerLewiston was officially incorporated by the Summer Session of the General Assembly
in 1881.In July of 1981, the Towns of Lewiston (Turner's Crossroads) and Woodville (Hotel) were incorporated
together by the Spring Session of the General Assembly and renamed Lewiston-Woodville.
Lewiston Commerce
Lewiston, like many southern communities, thrived on agriculture. In the early 1800's, agriculture and
lumber products made up almost all the trade in our area. The farms were small family owned and operated
tracts with a few large plantations along the Roanoke River. Blessed with fertile soil and the river low ground
so near, Lewiston became a rather properous town.
when the 1900's arrived, Lewiston was bustling with three Hotels, six or seven grocery stores,
several dry good stores, black smith shops, a cotton gin, livery stables, barber shops, doctors, lawyers, pool
halls and a bar. Its neighbor, Woodville, had several saw mills and the railroa. The railroad served both Lewiston
and Woodville and was very important to both towns.
To better understand commerce and trade in Lewiston at this time, it must be remembered that things
were quite different....families and people in general did not have the luxury of transportation then a
we do now. You came to town on Fridays and Saturdays from the farm and did "all" your trading. Food was purchased;
clothes, hardware, furniture, etc. plus you got a haircut, shave, and shower. You sold your crop in town, repaired
your wagons, bought your implements and went back to the farm. You made a list of everything you needed and when
you came to town,you had it available to purchase. This is why there were so many different
stores and businesses in Lewiston.
Listed next are some of the businesses that were operating at one time or another in Lewiston.
Most were run by families still in Lewiston today. [1981]
HAWLEY'S GARAGE - Car sales and repairs (1981 - Jordan Smithwick Store owned by William Pittman) LONNIE MINTON STORE - Dry Goods & Groceries (1981 - Part of Pittmans Richfood Market) WILLIE BAZEMORE STORE - Dry Goods & Groceries (1981 - Pittmans Richfood Market) BANK OF LEWISTON - bank (1981-Elmo Peele Insurance Company) CHARLIE JORDAN STORE - Groceries & Ice House (1981 - vacant lot next to Elmo Peele) CRIT TILLER STORE - Dry Goods, Hardware & Post Office (Last wooden building in town - moved from original site (Hawley's Garage) to location near John Bonds house today. Was destroyed by fire) GAY HARRINGTON LAW OFFICE - Lawyer (1981 - Dickie Hoggard's Office) TELEPHONE OFFICE - Central Switchboard office (1981 - Dickie Hoggard's Office) POST OFFICE - Third Location (1981 - Store rented by Canal Wood Corporation, Owned by Roanoke Corporation) CITY BARBER SHOP - Owned by "Stump" Burkett (1981 - Vacant store owned by Roanoke Corp) HENRY BUNCH STORE - Groceries (1981 - Vacant store next to C.B. Bennett) DR. MITCHELL OFFICE BUILDING - Housed Doctor's Office, a cafe, and later a grocery store (1981 - C.B. Bennetts new building supply store) EASON STORE - Groceries (1981 - Large vacant building on corner, owned by James A. Parker and William Pittman) JOHN DUNNING - Undertaker (1981 - Yellow house between William Pittman residence and Bernard Early) QUALITY SHOP - The original Lewis Store. Located on the corner; drug store, patent medicine, soda fountain and first location of post office. (1981 - Mill Outlet owned by the Bazemores) PERRY BAZEMORE STORE - Dry Goods & Notions (1981 - Lewiston Goodie Shop (formerly Humphreys and Garvey Bazemore Variety Store
(Mill Outlet #2)
JACK CONNOR STORE - Groceries (1981 - Mrs. Ruby Joyner's Store) LEWISTON SUPPLY COMPANY - Dry Goods, Clothes and Hardware (1981 - Wilmer Hoggards General Merchandise) HARRINGTON BROS. GARAGE - Buggy Making & General Repair (1981 - Vacant lot next to the Red Apple) HARRINGTON MANUFACTURING CO. - Manufacturers of Farm Implements and Pea Pickers (1981 - First location is where Masonic Lodge is now. 2nd location is vacant
lot next to Post office - 3rd location at present. HOGGARD & SPRUILL COTTON GIN - Livery Stables and later a cotton gin (1981 - location was behind Health Clinic - destroyed by fire in 1979) LEWISTON THEATER Was also outlet for light plants and water pumps (1981- Frank Barnes Cleaners) JOHN DURDEN STORE - Groceries & Ice Cream (1981 - George Whit Lee Store) SOL CLARK STORE - Groceries and Candies, the old Crit Tillery Store (1981 - destroyed by fire several years ago; Highway 11 - 308 intersection was site) JESSE ROOKS STORE - Blacksmith CULLEN ASKEW STORE - Groceries Location was near Morris Askew residence WILLIAMS HOTEL - Hotel (1981 - location was where Stacy Harrington's home is today) RAWLS HOTEL - Lewiston Hotel and Bar (1981 - locate was where the Red Apple is today) BARNES HOTEL - Hotel (1981 - Apartment house next to Baptist Parsonage; owned by Roanoke Corporation) LEWISTON SCHOOL - First original building believed to be the old barn at Hubert Jernigan's
house Main school stood where the First Baptist Church is now (1981) FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH - Stood where Pike Harrington's house is now (1981) LEWISTON FIRE DEPARTMENT - First lcoation was in the building occupied by marshall Bennett Body Shop.
Doug Britton remembers going in and out of the BANK OF LEWISTON with his Father when he was much younger.
Doug contributed this image of one of the original shares of stock in the Bank of Lewiston that was
established in 1909 and wound up with a wreath on the door during the Great Depression. This picture
is of one share bought by Doug's grandfather, John T. Britton, share #99, for $100. This would be about $2,000
compared to monetary values in today's market.
Contributed by: jffjr@attglobal.net Peggy Joyner FrisbieBANK OF LEWISTON - After the bank it was Dr. Garriss' office Then it became Dan Pittman Insurance Agency.
CHARLIE JORDAN STORE - For many years Robert and Russell Bazemore had a grocery store there. After they closed, it remained empty until it was torn down.
TELEPHONE OFFICE - After the Switchboard office, Dan Pittman Ins. Agency was there prior to moving to Bank Bldg.
CITY BARBER SHOP - Mr. Burket had the first barber shop there, then Mr. Owen Parker joined him. After his death, Cecil Parker became the barber.
EASON STORE - At one time was a hardware store.
QUALITY SHOP - Before Mill Outlet, was Mr. John Peele's Furniture Store.
PERRY BAZEMORE STORE - Became Bazemore Variety Store (Mr. Garvey Bazemore) before Mill Outlet moved in.
HUMPHREY'S DRUG STORE - (between corner furniture store and Mr. Garvey's) - This was a drug store operated by Leslie Humphrey. He was a pharmacist
and after his death in early 30's David Humphrey took over and ran it until his death.
Then it became the Goodie Shop, probably in the 70s.JACK CONNOR STORE - groceries - Mr.Jack Saunders (daughter is Janice Saunders) had a dry goods
store there. Then Mr. Grover Butler's grocery store there.
Then Mrs. Ruby Joyner opened Lewiston Variety Store.RAWLS HOTEL - The hotel was torn down around 1910. Then there was Mr. Carl Clark's Esso Station.
Then it became the Red Apple.Peggy Joyner Frisbie
WOODVILLE
See also Historic Woodville
WOODVILLE POST OFFICE
Contributed by Doug BrittonIt still stands in the Woodville (originally known as Hotel) community near where the old railroad depot used to be located. The other Woodville Post Office that was in operation when I was growing up was located on the corner across from Woodville Supply Co. The Post Office has been torn down and the Old Woodville Supply Co. stores are not in operation anymore. The last one was shut down two or three years ago. The old buildings still stand but are in bad shape.
Stella Phelps, deceased, was the postmaster there for years until it was shut down and the Woodville operation was then moved to the Lewiston location.
My aunt, Temperance G. Britton, deceased, was assistant postmaster in
Woodville until the operation was moved to Lewiston and she worked there with
Lacelle Parker until she retired. Temperance had 40 years with the Post Office
Dept.Contributed by Doug Britton
This property deeded to Historic Woodville in 2001. Restoration has already begun! Woodville Supply Company
Woodville Supply Co. is on far left, the middle store used to be where the Supply Co. kept it's shoe stock and some other supply stock, and the store on the right was Woodville Market where they sold groceries, can goods and had a large meat market in the back of the store.
These stores were booming until the 1970's. The Market was closed first and then the Supply Co. was closed as I stated 2 or 3 years ago.
The Post Office that Stella Phelps ran was across the street to the left of Woodville Supply Co. The location where I was taking this picture is where the railroad depot was situated.
The building on the left side of where the Post Office used to stand, you can see the white back corner of it on the left side of the photograph, was where Dr. Frank Garris, deceased, had his office. He later built a home and office combination in Lewiston which is used now as County Medical facility. The old office in Woodville is now used as a Church.
Contributed by Doug Britton.
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