Plummer's

This building on the north side of West Main St. was built in 1911 by Shipman, McMinn, and Weilt on the site of the old McMinn house.  The 3-story brick building has two store fronts on the main level with a central stair leading to offices on the upper floors. 

The building also had a large auditorium on the back of the second floor.  The auditorium had a 40’ x 20’ stage, with space for an orchestra.  There were two dressing rooms and a property room.  Entertainment, consisting of “first class shows” or “first class moving pictures”, was offered every night throughout the summer. It was also available to rent for meetings and performances when available. 

Henry Plummer operated a dry goods store in Brevard beginning about 1911.  Plummer had numerous partners over the years so the store had a variety of names including Johnson and Plummer Dry Goods, Plummer & Trantham’s Department Store and Plummer-Cobble Company. Although Plummer seemed to move his businesses around some advertisements from 1922 locate it in the Auditorium Building. 

By the late 1920s the business was solely owned by Plummer and operated as Plummer’s Department Store. Robert Plummer took over the family business from his father under the name of R.H. Plummer Company in 1932.  Later the business sold only clothes and shoes.

In the 1950s Plummer’s had a fluoroscope machine, used to x-ray and measure customer’s feet for a proper fit.  Locals who were children at the time tell of the fun they had viewing the green images of their wiggling toes inside their shoes.  It provided entertainment for restless youngster while their mother’s shopped.  The store closed in 1970.

More photos can be found at the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.