Commercial Building

Commercial Building. . Built in 1887, only 12 years after the invention of the telephone, this building served as Lawrence County's first telephone exchange. Located on the corner of First and Main, this building was in the river port's center of commerce. , Because of its important location, this building saw many uses after being a telephone exchange. Over time it has been a drug store, law office, post office, general merchandise store, and even a residence. , This is the oldest commercial building remaining in Powhatan. , , (caption:) Powhatan did not have banks. During times of trouble, like war and economic depression, paper money and coins were scarce. Businesses paid employees with notes of credit called "scrip" (shown above). The merchants of this building's general stores returned scrip to local businesses to collect payment. , Courtesy: Old State House Museum , , (caption:) The commercial building (brick building on the right) was once nestled in between other businesses on main Street: Photo circa 1910 , (caption:) Early telephone system required an operator to connect callers to their desired destination. A switchboard similar to the one shown above was used by Laura Wells here in this building in 1887 to make those connections possible. Courtesy: Southwest Arkansas regional Archives. , (caption:) While we think of postal mail as slow calling it "snail mail," it was once critical for communicating with the rest of the world outside Powhatan. This building served as a post office from 1912 until 1933. Did you notice the date of the post mark on the letter above?