| Summary: | (5:24) Mr. Crouch tells about the old ice factory, a local blacksmith and Judd Phillips, a local musician. This interview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Historical Preservation and Records Commission.Florence- Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Carroll Crouch July 10, 2009 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Juliann Losey and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 11 of 14
Carroll Crouch: Wilson Dam was being built when I was coming along. I could hear the roar of the river— you’ve heard stories about people who could hear the roar of the river ten miles away. I could hear it real plain from Royal Avenue to the river, you know. That was before they harnessed the river, and they had it started, but it was after, well I guess that must have been about 1924 or ’ 25. I remember hearing that.
The old ice factory was a place out in North Florence that was an interesting place. Everybody bought ice, of course, and they had a number of wagons and horses that they delivered the wagons, delivery, all over the city. And of course, again, the city wasn’t very big then. They had a, these big old machines that they had what they call, I think it was a 300 pound block of ice that they froze, made in, back in a building and brought it out and they would put this machine in some way that machine would take that ice and go up and it, it creased it. They had a saw or something that creased it where you had a hundred pound blocks or twenty, twenty- five pound blocks and so forth. That was interesting and it made a snow, when they’d cut that ice, or, cut that, it made a snow. So we would stand off, we wasn’t allowed to go up there, but we’d stay off till all that stopped and we’d go up there and get a handful of that ice snow.
Right across the street there was an amazing thing going, there was a blacksmith shop. Well, every farmer that come to town, they liked to stop at the blacksmith shop. Some of them might have some work, you know like a horse was to be shoed or shoes to be put on a horse and so forth, but this man that run the, run that blacksmith shop was a Mr. Holt, and he had a long leather apron, you know, that he wore around up there and he, he was a character. And these farmers, they had benches set around. Well, they liked to gather around and they would talk the Bible. And being a young boy, I always was interested in hearing them, but I stayed off a little bit, you know, and, and listened in. Well, every Sunday, no I mean every Saturday, Mr. Holt always come to town, he’d dress up in a suit, nice suit and a hat and all like that and he’d walk down Wood Avenue to, to town. Well, I was always fascinated by the man, you know, and then there’s what he carried on out there. All these people they’re wanting to get in touch with him or be with him, you know, and this meeting, little meetings that went on there. And he was interested in the Bible, he must have known the Bible, I, I, I couldn’t tell about that. But that was an interesting thing that, back in those days that I went to.
Another thing was, have you heard of Sam Phillips? Okay, he had an older brother and his name was Judd. Well, Judd, they lived on Royal— upper Royal Avenue. Mr. Phillips worked, their daddy worked around the gin, there was a big old gin up there and one time Judd come to me and asked me if I wanted to go up there and hear these people at this church, on the corner of Simpson and Chisholm Road, I think it was called Armstead Church or something like that. They had meetings and they would shout and carry on. There was just something terrible- like going on all the time in the audience; the people would get overcome by the preaching or something like that. They would sing these songs, well Judd, J. W., Sam’s older brother, he was the one that was always interested in that. Well, later he become, him and his brother Phil— Sam moved to Memphis, they were disc jockeys over in Muscle Shoals, so J. W. had a program over there. The SSL used to be a big store here in town and had a daily program of gospel singing and it was real popular. And he was sort of innovative. He‘ s the one that had people like Elvis Presley eventually to come here, and all like that, you know, and things like that. Well Sam took music up here on Wood Avenue, Mr. Steuber’s that was band director at Coffee High School, and that was the only music that he was interested in that I know of. J. W. had him hired at the radio station, WLAY I believe they called it back then. And later, they went to Memphis and went into business together down there. And Jerry Lee Lewis used to be, he was managing J—, ah, Judd was, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Jerry Lee would come to our, up out there where I built a house on Hermitage, and he would park his bus out there and it would stay out there maybe a couple of weeks. And my son would play in that bus with Judd’s son.
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