D.B. Cox & Company Department Store
BUILT: 1913ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: Commercial VernacularDuncan Balfour “D.B.” Cox, 27, opened his first store in 1867 in an addition he built onto his residence on the east side of the railroad tracks. He sold general merchandise including hats and shoes, dry goods and notions, hardware, confectionery, stationery, and fancy articles.Cox expanded his business across the tracks in 1869. He built his second general store at 108 S. Railroad Avenue with business partners J.M. Leake and C.M. Woolfolk. A wooden building, it burned in the fire of 1893. By 1899, Cox had rebuilt on the site and established D.B. Cox and Co. with his nephew, James M. Cox, and J.M. Stone. In this new brick building, they sold dry goods, shoes and clothing. The building became the grocery, hardware and feed part of Cox’s business in 1914. He sold it to Puryear & Napier in 1920, and today, The Caboose Wine & Cheese is located here.In 1913, D.B. Cox and James M. Cox purchased two adjoining lots at the southwest corner of Railroad Avenue and Thompson Street. Here they built a two-story department store. D.B. Cox died in 1925 and James M. Cox continued running D.B. Cox and Co. Department Store until his death in 1951. When the business was sold in 1955, it was the oldest business in Ashland. Today, the first floor is home to the Ironhorse Restaurant and the second floor is the office of McKinney & Company.
Cross Bros. Grocery, 107 S. Railroad Avenue
BUILT: 1912ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: Commercial VernacularBrothers Herbert J. and Walter N. Cross opened their grocery store at 107 S. Railroad Ave. on May 12, 1912. At the time, a pound of flour cost 15 cents and a quart of milk cost 9 cents. Cross Bros. was primarily a butcher shop in the beginning, but it grew rapidly and became an important anchor store in the Ashland business district.During World War I and II, many of the local townspeople were able to keep a running tab at the store. It was not uncommon for townspeople to have a charge account at local groceries, which would bill their customers monthly. In addition, Cross’, like other stores in town, would take daily orders, shop for their customers, and deliver the orders to their customers’ doorstep.Three of Herbert Cross’ four children – Richard, Walter Lee and Katherine – followed in the business and continued to operate it. Ruth Cross Hawthorne came to work for the company in 1943. After returning from the Korean War, Tom Willis joined Cross Bros. in 1954. About the same time Frances Cross began to work alongside her brothers and sister.The Cross family sold the store in 1973 to Tom Willis and his wife Catherine and Ruth Cross Hawthorne and her husband William. In 2008, the Willis family became the sole owners of the business. Today, working along side of Tom Willis are his son David, his daughter Cathy Willis Waldrop and her husband Charles Waldrop.The original frame structure was replaced with a brick building, and by 1973, Cross Brothers Grocery had been enlarged four times.
Ashland Theater
BUILT: 1948ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: Art DecoThe Ashland Theatre was not the first theater building in town. The first was built in 1931 by Douglas Halbert Covington at 301 S. Railroad Avenue. White patrons sat on the main floor and there was a balcony for African-Americans.In 1948, D.H. Covington’s wife Dora is listed as owner of a new theater at 205 England Street called the Ashland Theatre. A small restaurant and snack bar were attached to the theatre on the east side of the building. The vibrant, two-story, neon-fluted facade topped with a giant neon “ASHLAND” is unapologetically Art Deco, as is the stylized geometric decorations around the marquee. The new theatre opened August 10, 1948. The feature picture for the grand opening was “Sitting Pretty” with Robert Young, Maureen O’Hara and Clifton Webb. The show began with a cartoon comedy. Admission was 14 cents for children and 40 cents for adults.The new theater was not integrated until the 1970s. African-Americans used the old theater on Railroad Avenue until 1958 when Covington sold the building to Meade Jones, who established a stationery store and gift shop there. Dora and D.H. Covington and their daughter Landora Covington Turnage ran the Ashland Theatre until 1973 when they sold it to L.L. Duke. Duke later sold it to A.D.Whittaker. The theater closed in the 1990s. In October 2013, Whittaker donated the building to the Town of Ashland and it is slated for renovation soon.
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