About The W. C. Smith House
The Smiths come to Elberton
The W. C. Smith House is a National Register listed property built in 1890 by W. C. and Sally Smith. William Cauthen Smith was a graduate of the University of Georgia and successful merchant who came to Elberton in the 1870's with his brothers. He quickly established a general store on the downtown square, on the corner of McIntosh Street and engaged in business with his brother David Smith, as credited in the newspaper article celebrating the grand opening of the new Opera House in 1892. This grand endeavor was David's in which he describes W.C. as a partner and collaborator in the project. The present lot of the W.C. Smith house is only a quarter of the original land Smith purchased in 1877 on Heard Street, having purchased 2 lots of around an acre each. The present lot, address of 239 and the additional lot next door, address of 231 (later the Joe Cohen house would be built, currently extant and utilized today as the law offices of Dyal and Jenkins) composed these 2 acres and the family lived in the second floor of the general store and also later in a one story home in the exact location of the Cohen house at 231 until the whimsical Queen Anne house at 239 was completed in 1890. The image above and the much of the information in this summary is credited to Dr. Joyce Davis from the book, The Architectural Legacy of Elberton. This book is a wonderful exploration into the historical figures and dynamic events that shaped Elberton and its core of commercial and residential historic buildings, as well as the rise of industries like Granite.
Smith and Son General Store
W.C. went into business for himself by initially building a wooden 2 story general store on the corner of McIntosh Street on Elberton's central downtown square. He was quite prosperous and included his brother and his son at various times in the business, with the name of the store reflecting those partnerships, as W.C. Smith and Brother or Smith and Son. A fire destroyed the store in 189? and Smith had the capital to rebuild the building entirely of brick with granite accents and handsome details, in a timeframe of less than 6 months that even today's contractors would envy!
