These pictures are of the Davis building that we now know as the Oliver building. The Franklin Hotel sat on the corner of S. Main and Franklin St. for many years. Oliver E. Davis started buying ground around 1914 and by 1927 this building was up and housed his Davis Hoosier Auto Co. where he sold and serviced Studebaker automobiles and Texaco products. When the ABC bus lines came to Winchester in 1925 he stored and serviced their fleet. In the center there were business rooms and later apartments on the second floor.
Through the years there have been many different stores in the Davis building. The earliest one I remember was Roy Busick's News Stand and Bus Station. This was in 1950. George Blunt, a black man, had a shoe shine parlor at the back, or east end of the room. George lived in the basement and he kept all of the magazine's that were out of date and Roy had discarded. After George closed his stand in the afternoon, I would go downstairs with him to his rooms and read the model train and airplane magazines he had kept. Papers and magazines were stacked from the floor to the ceiling.
Jo Barnhart's first dress shop was there, "Jo's Worthmore Store," and "Junior Town" plus many others.
I'm not sure when Bob Oliver bought the building. I'll see if I can find it and add more information.
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| Left side of photo. |
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| Center of photo. |
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| Right side of photo. |
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| Close up, right side of photo. |
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| Close up, center of photo. |
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