O.C. Stanley Grocery and Service Station

O.C. Stanley Grocery and Service Station. . Built on this site in 1921, the store was a vital enterprise and local gathering place for African American residents of Town Creek and the surrounding rural communities. The Rev. O. C. Stanley owned and operated the business for more than six decades, expanding it from a simple grocery store and service station to include dry-cleaning and taxi services. When he first opened the store, eggs sold for 10¢ per dozen, meat for 10¢ a pound, and twenty-five pounds of flour for 50¢. After the original building burned, Stanley constructed a separate building to house his dry-cleaning service, renamed City Cleaners., Born May 4, 1904, O. C. Stanley served as a minister for three area Baptist churches. In 1937, he built and served as the original pastor of First Baptist Church of Leighton, the town's first black Baptist church. He married Elsie King Stanley of Leighton. The couple had ten children. A farmer, freemason, member of the Order of the Eastern Star, trustee of the North Alabama Baptist Academy, and a charter member of the Valleywide Improvement Assoc. of Courtland, Stanley died on August 1, 1987.