Historic Greenville

Historic Greenville. Lafayette Street. This view of Lafayette Street shows the east side of the street from 300 South Lafayette to the north circa 1930. In the early days of Greenville's development, awnings like those seen here were used on many buildings to block the sun and to regulate the building temperatures., The photo at right shows this section of Lafayette Street during the 1920s. The bustling activity of the street is likely to be a Memorial Day parade that marched the length of Lafayette Street from south to north as reported in the May 25, 1928 edition of the Greenville Daily News., The addresses of the 200 block of South Lafayette Street are shown in this early photo of Greenville. The building at the left of this photo is the Sander's House Hotel, one of Greenville's earliest hotels in operation from 1867 to 1917. On the street is Si Plunkard, a popular traveling entertainer who came to Greenville in June of 1893., The same buildings from the 200 block of South Lafayette street are seen in this more modern photo from the 1960's. The buildings at 200 to 204 South Lafayette were built in 1870 for J.J. Shearer, a local businessman who helped organize the first gas company in Greenville in 1875. The addresses at 206 to 208 were built in 1872 for John Lewis, attorney and early member of the Greenville Board of Education.