Carroll Crouch (F)
(5:46) Mr. Crouch describes downtown Florence, Alabama in the early 1900s as well as his first visit to a movie theater. 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, usi...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic |
| Published: |
Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/186 |
| format |
Electronic |
|---|---|
| collection |
Oral Histories Collection |
| building |
Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
| publisher |
Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
| topic |
Oral histories -- audios and transcripts |
| spellingShingle |
Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Carroll Crouch (F) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| fulltopic |
Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Business districts; Theaters |
| description |
(5:46) Mr. Crouch describes downtown Florence, Alabama in the early 1900s as well as his first visit to a movie theater. 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 6 of 14
Carroll Crouch: I was, spent a lot of time on Pine Street. On Pine Street, what’s between Pine and Court Street now, there’s a big home on that street, that was the Reeder home, the people that owned the Reeder Hotel, and the other homes was the Cosby Hall, Cosby Hall [ Coby Hall] or whatever, and the little Frank Perry home was on the corner of Pine and Irvine. Those, those were the three main, the rest of the place was nothing built back in them days. Well, this is an immaculate home, I’ll tell you, it was just something beautiful, and it had a driveway come off of Pine Street or Court Street. And I knew the Reeders pretty well, you know. But I spent a lot of time there. And then the Jacksons, some of the same Jackson family that owned the Forks of Cypress, they lived, some of them lived on the corner of Pine and, ah, Pine and Tuscaloosa Street. Well, the people that wrote The Unfinished Cathedral, which they thought might be the Episcopal Church up here, what we call Episcopal Church now, they lived there across the street in this house. But, back in the young days, I spent an awful lot of time there. My aunt would just come to see my, my mother, and I’d always be carried home to stay a few days with them, you know. So, I was always close to town, and I used to be able to walk down to the edge of town here and go to the stores and things. I went to the Chinese laundry that used to be on Pine Street. It was Pine and Mobile, it was a long building, Chinese laundry. And people wore those sailor collars. And my uncle that’s in that, in one of those pictures, he wore those collars. So I was given the chore of taking the collars down there to be cleaned or whatever they did to them or, and going and getting them and bringing them back up there. I always thought that was something. The Chinese— a Chinaman run the place, you know.
Rhonda Haygood: I hadn’t heard of that.
CC: Yeah. But, there was five and ten cent stores all up the street here. I had one older cousin, first cousin, she had a date in the living room of this house up on Pine Street, and, course, I was staying over there a lot like I said, and this date come to visit with her, you know and everything. So, I didn’t catch on to this until a long time later, but they’d give me a dime to let, to let me come down and buy some candy at one of these stores, you know, on Court Street. And I’d come down and get a big sack of candy, you know, and stay gone for a while. I thought that was interesting.
Then, the jail was on Pine Street. Well I carried groceries at the jail too. And there’s a driveway right behind the house where the Sherriff and the family lived and the jail. And I went into the driveway and went into an entrance facing that drive. And the guys up in the jail, you couldn’t see them, they was, behind bars, and there’s somewhere, there’s a screen that you could hear them but you couldn’t see them.
RH: How old were you?
CC: That was in 1934 and ‘ 35, so I was born in ‘ 21, that’d be thirteen years old, you know. And then the Princess Theater on Tennessee Street, which was right behind what’s now the Presbyterian Church, is right on the far side of that alley that goes between them. That was in 1928 I believe it was. My cousins that, that lived on Pine Street they took me to a picture show. I never had been to one. And I walked in and it was dark, everything was dark. Never been in one before, you know. And it was just, but the screen was big, long, wide screen and real high, and the whole image of, of Will Rogers was on that thing. I was ready to run out, you know. Just seeing that big image of a person scared me. But, I, I always thought that was, it stayed, it stayed in my memory anyway. But anyway I earned money back carrying papers, and first one thing then another, started when I was about seven years old. And I’d earn maybe all the money I needed to buy candy with or buy tickets to the picture show. You could go for a dime, and I was little and I kept going two or three years after I was ten, cause ten is where the breaking point was, you know. But I guess I saw ever picture show in Florence in the 1930’ s. And the Majestic Theater on, that was on, down here on Court Street, the two of them. The Majestic Theater was always cowboy movies and they had a serial pictures, you know, that come in to be continued, you know, each week. But the other one was always had some of the prominent people. Gene Autry come there one time. I was down there. And had his horse and all like that, you know, used to have things of that nature. |
| title |
Carroll Crouch (F) |
| titleStr |
Carroll Crouch (F) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| author_facet |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| id |
FLCPLoral_hist186 |
| url |
https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/186 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/oral_hist/id/186 |
| _version_ |
1782468788381286400 |
| spelling |
Carroll Crouch (F)Business districts; Theaters(5:46) Mr. Crouch describes downtown Florence, Alabama in the early 1900s as well as his first visit to a movie theater. 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 LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryCarroll Crouch2009-7-10sound; textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishIs part of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library collectionContact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence- Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Carroll Crouch July 10, 2009 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Juliann Losey and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 6 of 14
Carroll Crouch: I was, spent a lot of time on Pine Street. On Pine Street, what’s between Pine and Court Street now, there’s a big home on that street, that was the Reeder home, the people that owned the Reeder Hotel, and the other homes was the Cosby Hall, Cosby Hall [ Coby Hall] or whatever, and the little Frank Perry home was on the corner of Pine and Irvine. Those, those were the three main, the rest of the place was nothing built back in them days. Well, this is an immaculate home, I’ll tell you, it was just something beautiful, and it had a driveway come off of Pine Street or Court Street. And I knew the Reeders pretty well, you know. But I spent a lot of time there. And then the Jacksons, some of the same Jackson family that owned the Forks of Cypress, they lived, some of them lived on the corner of Pine and, ah, Pine and Tuscaloosa Street. Well, the people that wrote The Unfinished Cathedral, which they thought might be the Episcopal Church up here, what we call Episcopal Church now, they lived there across the street in this house. But, back in the young days, I spent an awful lot of time there. My aunt would just come to see my, my mother, and I’d always be carried home to stay a few days with them, you know. So, I was always close to town, and I used to be able to walk down to the edge of town here and go to the stores and things. I went to the Chinese laundry that used to be on Pine Street. It was Pine and Mobile, it was a long building, Chinese laundry. And people wore those sailor collars. And my uncle that’s in that, in one of those pictures, he wore those collars. So I was given the chore of taking the collars down there to be cleaned or whatever they did to them or, and going and getting them and bringing them back up there. I always thought that was something. The Chinese— a Chinaman run the place, you know.
Rhonda Haygood: I hadn’t heard of that.
CC: Yeah. But, there was five and ten cent stores all up the street here. I had one older cousin, first cousin, she had a date in the living room of this house up on Pine Street, and, course, I was staying over there a lot like I said, and this date come to visit with her, you know and everything. So, I didn’t catch on to this until a long time later, but they’d give me a dime to let, to let me come down and buy some candy at one of these stores, you know, on Court Street. And I’d come down and get a big sack of candy, you know, and stay gone for a while. I thought that was interesting.
Then, the jail was on Pine Street. Well I carried groceries at the jail too. And there’s a driveway right behind the house where the Sherriff and the family lived and the jail. And I went into the driveway and went into an entrance facing that drive. And the guys up in the jail, you couldn’t see them, they was, behind bars, and there’s somewhere, there’s a screen that you could hear them but you couldn’t see them.
RH: How old were you?
CC: That was in 1934 and ‘ 35, so I was born in ‘ 21, that’d be thirteen years old, you know. And then the Princess Theater on Tennessee Street, which was right behind what’s now the Presbyterian Church, is right on the far side of that alley that goes between them. That was in 1928 I believe it was. My cousins that, that lived on Pine Street they took me to a picture show. I never had been to one. And I walked in and it was dark, everything was dark. Never been in one before, you know. And it was just, but the screen was big, long, wide screen and real high, and the whole image of, of Will Rogers was on that thing. I was ready to run out, you know. Just seeing that big image of a person scared me. But, I, I always thought that was, it stayed, it stayed in my memory anyway. But anyway I earned money back carrying papers, and first one thing then another, started when I was about seven years old. And I’d earn maybe all the money I needed to buy candy with or buy tickets to the picture show. You could go for a dime, and I was little and I kept going two or three years after I was ten, cause ten is where the breaking point was, you know. But I guess I saw ever picture show in Florence in the 1930’ s. And the Majestic Theater on, that was on, down here on Court Street, the two of them. The Majestic Theater was always cowboy movies and they had a serial pictures, you know, that come in to be continued, you know, each week. But the other one was always had some of the prominent people. Gene Autry come there one time. I was down there. And had his horse and all like that, you know, used to have things of that nature.http://server15947.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/oral_hist,186 |