KMHM has newly donated historic photos

By Loretta Cozart

Kings Mountain Historical Museum asks citizens for help with identification of the individuals in a recently discovered group of 39 photographs. Downtown Kings Mountain is prominent in several photographs.

The photographs were donated by Terry Greene in Georgia. He purchased an envelope with these photographs and in it was the name "Carl W. Davidson" of Kings Mountain on the label.

The museum believes they have identified several photographs as Carl W. Davidson and his wife Mary Lou Hord, prominent Kings Mountain citizens who married on October 19, 1926. Carl worked in the designing department at Margrace Mills and was in a fatal car accident on S. Battleground Ave. in June of 1945.

Two photos of interest are of downtown Kings Mountain in the snow. One shot is of Battleground Avenue looking south. The Southern Railway Freight Depot is directly in front, and to the left are downtown shops.

W.A. Mauney remodeled Mauney Brothers Store around 1914, due to a fire. The storefront in this photo is not as ornate as it had been prior to the fire. In fact, it looks much like it does today.

The second photo is of Battleground Avenue looking north. To the right is J.K. Setzer’s Garage. It appears to be located much where the old Wells Fargo building now sits. In a 1925 – 1926 aerial postcard of downtown Kings Mountain, the garage building can be seen clearly, and the cars in the newly discovered photos are from around that period.

In the distance, can be seen Southern Railway Company’s first Overhead Bridge that was constructed in 1919, and is still located just south of W. A. Mauney’s second home on Battleground Avenue. The second Overhead Bridge on King Street was built in 1938.

Looking at the photographic evidence, the group of photos are from after 1919 but before the second Overhead Bridge on Kings Street was built in 1938. Among the group is what appears to be a 1925 Model T Ford. So, narrowing the possible dates even further, it is likely the group of photographs date from the mid1920s.

If you would like to view the newly donated photographs, they are posted on Kings Mountain Historical Museum’s Facebook page.