The Hall
T
here was one place that probably was the
center of the Pacolet Mills community for both adults and children
alike. Most residents came into contact with it almost weekly and some
daily. It was usually referred to as “The Hall”. Officially, it was
known as the YMCA or the Community Building.
It was a massive, three story brick structure and it was ahead of its
time. Some have called it “South Carolina’s first mall.” It was built
around 1920 and it served a vital function for the town.
The best way to get a feeling of what was in the Hall is to take an
imaginary visit in time and take a walk through the building. Let’s
imagine that we get out of a taxi that has just parked in the taxi area
out in front of what is now the Pacolet town hall. We
walk to the wide expanse of steps that will take us up to the top story
of the Hall. As we approach the steps going up, we also see another
pair of steps going down on the right side. We will come back to these
steps later.
Climbing the steps, we come to a wide open area closed off on both side
with iron railing. This was a favorite place to
sit and talk where you could be out of the weather. Leaving this
“veranda” and going up two or three more short steps, we pass through
big doors that take us into a large, mostly empty space. In the hot
summer,
this was always a nice cool escape from the direct sun.
Letting our eyes adjust to the dimmer light, we can see that the
opposite end of the room, away from the big entrance doors, is a Post
Office. We will go to it later. Still standing just inside the entrance
and looking to the left we see a door that leads to Paul Brown’s barber
shop. Looking to our right, about half way down the big room is another
door. That door leads to the Skating Rink. On the left side of the
room, almost all the way down to the Post Office is still another door.
It leads to the Pool Hall and still more rooms.
We will eventually explore all these doors but first let’s go to the
Barber Shop. Click on this link to
read more about the Barber Shop.
After our visit to the Barber Shop, let’s walk across the large room to
go into the Skating Rink. As we get up close to the door we can already
hear the sound of many people skating on the hardwood floors. We can
also hear the loud rock and roll music coming from the speakers inside.
Click on this link to learn more about
the Skating Rink.
After leaving the Skating Rink, let’s go down to the Post
Office at the end of the big room. Click on
this link to learn more about the Post Office.
Leaving the Post Office area, we go through a big set of
doors leading off to the left. We go through these doors and see other
large rooms. This is the Pool Hall Area and a room with a
display of athletic trophies and mementoes of Pacolet Mills sports teams.
Click on this link to read more about
these rooms.
We tour the Pool Room and the Trophy Room
and continue our walk toward the other end of the entrance room. We
pass Mr. Trent’s office and counter on the right and continue until we
come to another set of big doors. In my youth, this room was called the
Gymnasium. Click on this link to read more
about the Gymnasium.
We leave the Gymnasium and go back into the room beside the
Pool Hall. On our right, as we come out, is a set of steps leading down
to the Men’s Restroom and a large shower facility. Click on this link to read more about the
shower area.
We leave the showers and climb back up the stairs to retrace our steps
back to the outside of the Hall. On our way in, we had seen a set of
steps leading down off on the right side. Let’s go down those steps. At
the bottom of the steps, we find ourselves facing the doors to the
town’s Movie Theater. For a child in the 1940’s and 50’s, this was a
magic place. Going through those doors, you could be transported to
other worlds and to other times. Click
on this link to find out more about the Movie Theater.
Leaving the Theater, we turn to the left and walk down the
sidewalk to go to the Drugstore. We come to a very large covered
portico or porch on our left. To our right, a set of steps go up to the
Taxi Stand area. If we continued on the sidewalk straight ahead we
would come to the Mill office- now the Pacolet Town Hall. We turn to
the left on to the covered porch. This was a cool place to wait, out of
the sun in the summertime.
The doors to the Drugstore and the Company Store next door, both lead
out
to this large porch. Click on this link to
learn more about the Drugstore.
Just inside the door to the Drugstore, to the right, there was an
opening into the Company Store from the Drugstore. Let’s go through it.
Click on this link to visit the Company
Store.
Leaving the Company Store, we go down a long set of concrete
steps to our left to the lowest level of the Hall. That is where we
find
a unique place known simply as the “Girl’s Club”. Click on this link to visit the Girl's Club.
Visiting the Girl’s Club ends our visit to all of the activities that
were located in the Hall. The Hall was a fabulous place for its time
and
served the Pacolet area for many years. The Hall and its activities
were
victims of the final Mill closing in 1983. In some ways, the closing of
the Hall meant that the town lost much of its center of focus and
shared
experiences. A distant shopping mall, no matter how big, can never give
the sense of community that the Hall gave to Pacolet Mills.
I’m sure that my little description of all the activities in the Hall
only touches the surface and leaves many stories and details unsaid. I
ask
that you let me know of any errors, corrections and memories of the
Hall
that you might have. Please send them to me at gteaster@pacoletmemories.com.
In Summary: Click on the following links to visit:
Barber Shop
Skating Rink
Post Office
Pool Hall and Trophy Room
Gymnasium
Shower Facilities
Theater
Drugstore
Company Store
Girl's Club
Return to Pacolet Mills
Return to Pacolet Homepage
This web site has been
started as a public service to share the story of Pacolet. The web
master and person to contact about putting information on the web site
is me, Gerald Teaster. Contact me at:
gteaster@pacoletmemories.com
or by telephone at (843) 873-8117. My regular
mail adress is:
1311 Jahnz Ave.
Summerville, SC 29485
