WMS12 - A Blast From the Past

Formerly known as the Pickelsimer Block, the Pickelsimer building, and the Patterson building

History

The Pickelsimer Buildings

Researching the history of the town's Pickelsimer buildings can be confusing because records and news articles lack detail. Pickelsimer had an early building on Caldwell Street, another on South Broad just below the building at the southwest corner of Main and Broad (SBW11), and two more on Main Street. It would be no surprise if there were others.

This building is a Pickelsimer building. It is difficult to determine what businesses were in each of his buildings because early newspaper descriptions and advertisements simply referred to a business location as being in the “Pickelsimer building” without specifying an address or a reference to anything nearby. Early deeds and deeds of trust did the same. There were two Pickelsimers who you can typically find on deeds in the downtown area:  J.H. Pickelsimer and C.W. Pickelsimer.

• If we assume that this building (WMS12) was built around 1904, then it was one of the earliest brick buildings he built. The land that was later used for the bank's drive-in windows (WMS18) was also owned by the Pickelsimer's. 

• The Pickelsimer building on South Broad street (SBW11) didn’t appear on a Sanborn map until 1924.

• The present-day home of Hunter’s and Gatherer’s (WMN14) was built in 1939. At one point, this was a C.W. Pickelsimer building.

On February 13, 1947, the Transylvania Times reported that C.W. Pickelsimer was constructing a new building on Main Street with two stores. The description seems to fit the building to the right of this one (WMS13) because it mentions basement barber and beauty shops.  This building doesn’t have a basement, but the one to its right does - and it had barber and beauty shops in its basement. But this creates another mystery for the historian, because the brick building next door (WMS13, today’s Gravy store) existed as early as 1905 and is clearly on four Sanborn maps between 1911 and 1945. So what and where did Pickelsimer build in 1947?

Some sources estimate that this building was constructed in 1911 by C.C. Pickelsimer.  He wanted a space for his drug store, another store, and offices he could lease. Like other buildings in the area, it was ideal to construct a two-story building where the additional spaces could be rented. However, it is odd that the building (as well as the one to it’s right - another Pickelsimer building) were shown as fully constructed brick buildings on the 1911 Sanborn map. There is also some speculation that it was built in the early 1900s.

The building to its left, the Cooper building (today, O.P. Taylor’s toy store - WMS11), was probably built in 1900, as it was first occupied in that year.  It would be reasonable to say that this building was built shortly after that because it offers a better explanation about businesses that claimed to be in the Pickelsimer Building as early as 1904.

Early Occupants

The Sylvan Valley News had an advertisement in its February 5, 1904 edition that Jenkins and Duckworth were selling their general merchandise in the Pickelsimer Building.  Other issues in 1906, 1907, and 1908 indicated that Southern Stock & Farming Co. and the Liberty Bell (selling clothing and furnishings) were also located there. 

Brevard Hardware announced in an ad on December 6, 1912, that they were located in Southern Stock and Farming Co.'s "Old Stand."  This seems to align with the building’s construction being around 1911 because there's no evidence of another Pickelsimer Building on the street at that time. However, Pickelsimer may have had a frame building on this lot before he constructed the brick building, especially considering a brief mention in the July 8, 1898 edition of the Sylvan Valley News.  The article said that “the front of the Pickelsimer block is undergoing a change at the hands of Trantham’s painters.  We understand that it will be green and gold when finished.”  If it were true, then the ads about the businesses in the early 1900s being in a Pickelsimer Building make sense, as does the fact that Brevard Hardware was located in Southern Stock's "Old Stand."  Photos of West Main street in the late 1800s show several frame buildings on the south side of the street.

About the time the building was completed, the Sanborn Map for 1911 clearly shows a "Drug" store (Pickelsimer's Drugs) and a "Harness" store as the two storefronts. The "Harness" store may have been Brevard Hardware since (as described above) we know they were in the building by December 1912.

By 1919, the Brevard Printery had moved into the second floor, and only three years later, H. Patterson had moved into the space vacated by Bishop's Hardware, saying in a Brevard News ad that his store was "under Brevard News where the hardware store used to be in the Pickelsimer Building." This indicates that the Brevard News replaced the Brevard Printery, which was their home, before moving into a building behind this – in the area that became known as the News Arcade

Sometime between 1912 and 1922, Brevard Hardware either moved out or was bought by W.E. Bishop.  No information could be found to verify exactly what happened, but Bishop's Hardware had apparently moved in.

Bishop’s had left by 1922, because Patterson's Department Store moved into the building. Crowds gathered in front of the store on August 3, 1922, to celebrate the grand opening.

An advertisement in the Brevard News on June 21, 1928 announced that the former Brevard office of the Hendersonville Mortgage Company would now be known as the Ramsey Mortgage and Insurance Agency.  It was located over Patterson’s.

Not much is known about the building's occupants (other than Patterson’s) between 1922 and 1931. In 1931, McCrary & Hamlin, started a real estate firm in the building—probably on the second floor. Before this, Hamlin’s law office had been in the building for some time. In 1934, another (unnamed) department store was to open in the space "formerly occupied" by The Fashion. The Fashion may have been here as early as 1931, but they announced they were closing in 1933.  In 1934, someone else bought the store and re-opened it in the same space. Sometime around 1936, Belk's was in this building until they moved to their new facility on East Main in 1940.  

Patterson’s, Pushell’s, Belk’s, and Patterson’s again

Patterson's Department Store was popular in Hendersonville when Harry Patterson decided to open a Brevard Store in the summer of 1922.  Their first announcement of the Brevard grand opening was an ad in the Brevard News on July 14 of that year. The ad mentioned that they were going into the space “where Bishop had just vacated.”  The grand opening on August 3rd saw a large crowd gathered in front of the store to celebrate. Only seven years later, on October 25, 1928, H. Patterson announced that he was closing his business in Brevard.  By January, Pushell’s had moved their department store from Broad Street (SBW11) into the store that Patterson’s had vacated.

By September 1936, Pushell’s had closed and Brevard’s first Belk Department Store moved in.  Belk’s stayed about four years before it closed in early 1940 to move to East Main street (EMS18). Shortly after they vacated, a benefit square dance was held in the empty space on February 10.

A few months after Belk’s departure, Alex Patterson (Harry’s nephew) opened the new Patterson’s Department store in its previous location.  The building was extensively remodeled for Patterson’s by the buildings owners at the time, Pickelsimer and Ramseur.  The stairway that was in the center of the building was moved to the lower (right) side and a modern “show window” was installed on either side of the center entrance door. 

November 1941 saw Patterson’s enlarge the store by adding an additional 1000 feet of floor space. The store became deeper by removing a back wall where “a connection will be made with a new addition now under construction.”

Patterson’s opened a ladies' dress shop in the 1940s, later expanding the business into the next building (WMS13).  In 1947, they occupied the first floor storefront on the left (WMS12a). In November of that year, Parson’s Jewelry moved from the Aethelwold Hotel building (EMS11) to the right storefront here.  Upstairs were the Brevard Insurance Agency, Dr. Wilson Lyday, and O.H. Orr real estate.  The address at that time was 15 West Main Street.

In 1952, Ben Patterson took over his father’s business. He installed a brick facade in front of the second floors of both this building and the one next to it (WMS13) where they had expanded. Al Platt remembered that the facade was only a single layer of bricks and that there was some fear that it had the potential to collapse and fall on the sidewalk. To prevent this from happening, workers put long rods through the wall and extended them to the back of the building.

Patterson’s remodeled their store in May, 1956 and moved to a temporary location while the work was being done. Their two-week home was “next to the Transylvania Trust Company”, most likely in the Tinsley Building (WMS18).

The 1957 Brevard Telephone Directory listed these business here:  Patterson’s of Brevard, Hamlin (attorney), O.H. Orr (real estate), Fred Shuford (office), Dr. Roy Keith, Talley’s Beauty Shop, and H.R. Coren (dental lab).

In 1960, the telephone directory showed that Hamlin had taken a partner, and Hamlin & Ramsey had their law firm on the second floor.  Two years later, the City Watch Shop was there.

By 1968, Patterson’s had opened a Patterson’s Men’s Shop at 6 South Broad street (SBW12c), the present location of Diamond Rush Jewelers.  The back of the store was connected to the back of their store on West Main street and customers could walk between the shops.  In 1973, they had moved the Men’s Shop to West Main, joining their their Ladies Shop. The South Broad location was the new home of their “Little Shop”, specializing in clothing sold in junior sizes 8 to 15. 

Patterson’s Department Store was last listed in the Transylvania County telephone directory in January 1989.  

On September 21, 1991, Brevard Clothiers opened in the space that had been vacated by Patterson’s, occupying the left storefront at 17 West Main street (WMS13a). The owners, Judy Jones Reed and her husband, Ron Reed, consulted with the Patterson’s because they wanted their store to be similar. Judy’s father, Roy Jones, had previously owned Jones’ Newsstand across the street (in WMN12). In April 1992, they moved their store into a remodeled space at 15 West Main street (WMS13a). At that time, there was mention that they were going to use the rear space of the new store to access the Broad Street space that the Patterson’s had used (SBW11c), but there is no evidence that the expansion ever happened. Researchers may be confused by entries in the 1992-1995 telephone books, which listed the store at 17 West Main street, even though it had clearly vacated that space in 1992. However, when the main store moved to 15 W Main, they left a consignment store in its place called Brevard Clothiers Consignment Shop.  It was located at 17 W Main. Several ads in papers advertised the same things being sold at both addresses.

Eight years later after its last telephone directory listing, on May 28, 1998, Patterson’s of Brevard sold this building (WMS12), the building to its right (WMS13) and the Pickselsimer Building on South Broad (SBW11) to the Brevard College Corporation.

Post Patterson’s: 1997 and beyond

The 1997 telephone book shows the first listings for the Antique Mall, located where Patterson’s was (WMS12).  There were no listings between Patterson’s closing and the Mall, so it’s possible that the store remained empty for at least six or seven years between 1989 and 1996. Prior to this, the Antique all was at 53 & 57 East Main (WMS17) through at least early 1996. In 1997, the East Main street location became the Brevard Antique Mall and they expanded into the former Belk’s location next door (EMS18). The Antique Mall was opened here at 15 West Main street that year.  Not much appeared in the newpapers about this mall, until an advertisement in the August 1, 2005 edition of the Transylvania Times, which had information about the Heritage Antique Mall located at 15 West Main. 

In 2006, Gravy’s moved into WMS14 next door, mentioning that they were occupying half of the “former Heritage Antique Mall.” It’s probably safe to say that the Antique Mall on the south side of West Main became the Heritage Antique Mall and was closed by 2006.

Building converted to Condominiums

Less than a year after they acquired it, the Brevard College Corporation sold this building (WMS12) and the one next to it (WMS13) to Timothy T. Dillen. Just two years before this, Dillen had purchased the Plummer Building across the street (WMN12) and converted it into condominium units. This allowed him to sell parts of the building as separate properties. 

• Unit 1 was established to be the first floor of WMS12, where Blast from the Past is today.

• Unit 2 is the second floor of WMS12, used by the current building owners for storage today.

• Unit 3 is the first floor of WMS13, where Gravy is located today

• Unit 4 is the second floor of WMS13, currently in use by the building’s owner - Al Platt of Platt Architecture.  Platt also occupies the second floor of WMS14.

• Unit 5 is the basement areas of WMS13, currently used for storage.

In September 2003, Dillen sold the second floor of the building (WMS12) to Heart of Brevard Properties. He sold the remainder of the units (the reset of WMS12 and all of WMS13) to the Platt Holding Group, LLC two months later in November.

A company called Mystic Point, LLC bought the second floor Unit 2 from the Heart of Brevard in September 2004, only a year after they had acquired it. Five months later, Platt sold them the first floor.  Mystic Point now owned all of this building.

At some point after Patterson’s vacated, a wall was constructed that separated the first floor into two storefronts. 

Fox Hollow Gifts & Cabin Living opened in the right storefront in 2013.  Its address was 15 West Main street (at this point, 15 W Main was now the right side of the building, not the left).  They sold gift items and, in their cabin living section they offered American made furniture, art and home accessories and mountain gifts. The store’s owners, Bob Mather and Robert Cheney, had built a log home in the area after coming from Savannah, GA. At the time they moved in, the left storefront was vacant.

Mystic Point sold the building to Charles E. Crane and June E. Peterson on July 25, 2017. They opened Blast From the Past, which is still in business today. It was two storefronts in the building (a double, thick wall with a lot of electrical work), but they removed the wall and opened the entire first floor as one store. Blast From the Past sells an incredibly interesting collection of clothes, gifts, and beautiful things for the home. Surprisingly, they also make fudge in the kitchen behind the store and sell it at the counter when you first walk in.