Behind the Four Corners Bank in Allentown, Ga., is this decaying facility, the old Hardwicke-Etter Ginning Systems building.
It’s located in Wilkinson County across a field from the old Melton store, also closed.
Today, Wilkinson County has fewer people (9,577 in the 2012 Census estimate) than it did in the 1940s (11,025 people) when my dad was a boy here before moving to the “big city” of Macon with his family. About three in five people are white, with most of the rest being black. Poverty is about 20 percent.
Here’s a recent picture of the H.C. Melton store in the Wilkinson County town of Allentown, Ga., which we featured here back in August.
This photo, taken by longtime Georgia journalist Elliott Brack, holds a special place in his heart, he explains in GwinnettForum.com:
“Several of my relatives lived and still live in this town and I was born near there. One cousin is on the City Council. My uncle once clerked for H.C. Melton. I remember spending many a day with my cousins in the area, often visiting the store, and pulling soft drinks for five cents out of the circulating cold water of the coolers, then emptying a package of peanuts into the drink bottle. We sat on the bench on the porch at the front of the store and enjoyed our purchase. Yes, this photo holds special memories.”
Today, Wilkinson County has fewer people (9,577 in the 2012 Census estimate) than it did in the 1940s (11,025 people) when my dad was a boy here before moving to the “big city” of Macon with his family. About three in five people are white, with most of the rest being black. Poverty is about 20 percent.
My Great Uncle Gordon Brack used to be a clerk in this store in Allentown in rural Wilkinson County, Georgia, where my father was a boy. Thanks to Brian Brown of the Vanishing South Georgia project for letting us republish the photo.
My dad, Elliott Brack, recalls the store in the 1940s:
“We used to buy soft drinks for five cents out of a cooler chilled by ice, pulling the drinks out of the cold water. If we had another nickel, we would buy peanuts and pour them into the Coke or RC or Pepsi for added pleasure.”
Dad says the store had a butcher and a meat market. “Items were on shelves and you told them you wanted something and the counterman reached up and got it. No self-self service much. They were general merchandise, which meant they sold feed and overalls too.”
Brown notes in his post about the store that Allentown is known for being at the intersection of four Georgia counties, although it mostly is in Wilkinson County.
Today, Wilkinson County has fewer people (9,577 in the 2012 Census estimate) than it did in the 1940s (11,025 people) when my dad was a boy here before moving to the “big city” of Macon with his family. About three in five people are white, with most of the rest being black. Poverty is about 20 percent.
