Hiram Lindsey’s General Store was on the east side of South Main Street, (#450 then, later #458), now Biltmore Avenue, near Victoria Road. Mr. Lindsey standing in front. Note advertising placards for Ivory Soap and Toasted Corn Flakes.
Hiram, born in 1876, moved to Asheville with his mother, Sarah and at least two of his younger siblings by 1892, after his father Jacob Lindsey died in Greenville, South Carolina. He was an industrious young man, the first to deliver milk for the Biltmore Dairy Farms. In 1898, being a member of the Asheville militia and the military band, he was the first man called to serve from this section in the Spanish-American war. After the war, Hiram returned to Asheville and established his vegetable market. Industrious, Hiram also had a good-humored persuasiveness when it came to business. He had a nice turn of phrase.
Hiram Lindsey also contributed stories and a “column” to The Asheville Citizen, dealing mostly with farming, dairying and the tourist business.
In 1908 Hiram Lindsey moved to Seattle, Washington. Many other proprietors operated this grocery before it was demolished in the late 1940s.
Post by Zoe Rhine, Librarian