City Directories and History: The Yorkville Enquirer of Feb. 20, 1917 contained an ad for Shannon & Plexico of Sharon, S.C. The Shannon building was the only two story building in downtown Sharon, SC, besides the Hill Mercantile Building. In 1919-1920 Mrs. Shannon began conducting a secretarial class in the Shannon Building. A year before she had been teach the same class at the Bratton Building in York, S.C. on Wednesdays and Saturdays. By 1928 she was teaching more than 100 students typing, bookkeeping and stenography in the Commercial Department of Yorkville School.
The Yorkville Enquirer of Feb. 15, 1893 reported – “Our public school in Sharon has been opened in the building formerly occupied by S.S. Plexico’s Store. It is presided over by Ms. Sallie McCorkle of Shelby and has 35 pupils.”
The Rock Hill Record reported on Jan. 28, 1909 – “Shannon and Hope will build an addition to double their floor space.”
The Rock Hill Record reported on Feb. 18, 1909 – Reporting Sharon News – “The new store of A.F. Plexico and the barber shop of Mr. Hartness have been built where there was an open field. When you approach town from the Depot, you will see these new building. Shannon and Hope have their new addition almost complete.”
The Palmetto Lodge No 289, was organized in 3 December 1911 and for several years met upstairs at the Hoodtown School, near the Shady Grove Methodist church, on Highway 97. In 1926, the membership requested permission of the Grand Master of the Rock Hill lodge, to relocate in Sharon due to bad roads. Their request cited that the road used by the Hickory Grove members was in disuse causing members to travel to Sharon and then to Hoodtown, a distance of twelve miles. Those living farther west had to travel approximately twenty miles. Seemingly the lodge relocated to the Sharon Grammar School, but in the fall of 1935 they were required to vacate the school due to space, at which time they rented the second floor of the Shannon Building, remaining there for some time. In 1950, the lodge moved to a upstairs room of the newly built gymnasium of the Sharon High School.
In December 1921 J. Clyde Plexico began studying the possibility of organizing an American Legion Post in Sharon. On 24 February 1922 the Hope Byers American Legion (Post No 99) was organized of ex-servicemen of the Sharon Area. Elected officers were: Post Commander, J. Clyde Plexico; Vice Commander, H. L. Mickle; Adjutant, Joe W. Sims, Finance Officer, Ralph H. Cain; Service officer, Brown Baird; Sgt-At-Arms, J. Palmer Hope; Executive Committee, Sidney W. Sherer, Carl Jones, A. Bratton Plexico, C. H. Jenkins and Glenn Blair. Following the organizational meeting, a banquet for 32 assembled soldiers was served in the Shannon Building by the ladies of the Sewing Club, chaired by Mr. O. M. Spurlin. By the following April, the post was “just dragging along.” During the 1930’s local men spoke of reorganizing, but a lack of interest caused it to be a reality.
Sharon Baptist congregation was organized met there in the upper room for a time and met at the Sharon Methodist Church. In 1942 the congregation began a building on land donated by Rebecca Saye Bankhead. In a lawsuit between W. L. Hill and the Shannon & Smarr Co., the Shannon building was sold.
May A. Shannon, wife of Edward R. Shannon, because know to us in 1911 when she became a charter member of “Literary Links” that would become Sharon’s most prominent social club. Sometimes the club was know as the Ladies Book Club or simply, “the Book Club.“ By 1922 May Shannon had become locally known an excellent cake baker, selling them at a Yorkville curb market set up by the Women’s Home Demonstration of Clemson College. By 1926, after the introduction of reliable cooking stones, the Yorkville Enquirer dubbed her as “Queen of the Kitchen.” That year she developed her own business, baking more than two thousand pounds of cake, shipping them as far as New York. [Contribution by J.L. West]
The Sharon Downtown Historic District is a significant collection of commercial and industrial buildings which illustrate the development of the commercial core of the small community of Sharon since its beginnings in the late 1880s. The nine buildings contributing to the character of this historic district provide evidence of the establishment and growth of a small downtown through the various periods of the town’s development from 1888 through 1945. The district consists primarily of masonry commercial buildings built between 1908 and 1944 which historically housed a variety of businesses serving the developing town of Sharon in the first half of the twentieth century. The properties in the district, taken as a whole, possess architectural integrity and provide an important record of the development of commerce and industry in the community. Many of the district’s buildings are excellent examples of commercial buildings typical of small towns in the Piedmont of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Listed in the National Register November 2, 2001. [Courtesy of the S.C. Dept. of Archives and History]
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