Early days in Taylorsville

This little brick store building was built in 1908 to serve the bustling timber town of Taylorsville, which had been recently connected to nearby Cartersville by the railroad in 1870.  At that time, the sawmill town of Taylorsville was known as the "rowdiest town along the Cherokee Railroad".  Although nothing remains of the timber frame stores, warehouses, and saloons of the late 1800s, several of the brick structures of the early 1900s are still standing - including EO Davis' Farmers Supply Co, the First Baptist Church, and Rhodes Grocery.

In 1934, my great-grandfather W. Ray Rhodes purchased the building from Henry Jolly and began operating Rhodes Grocery.  In the 1940s, the Post Office annex was added.  In the 1950s the Warehouse addition was added, and the store was expanded to add a hardware department.

Rhodes Grocery grew into so much more than just a town general store.  This is where the town came to socialize, pay bills, relax, mail letters and packages, discuss local news, visit with friends and neighbors, warm up by the stove, shop, gas up, talk about the weather, politics, and crop prices, and have a snack.  Area cotton farmers dropped off their crops for ginning at the A.W. Taylor cotton gin next door.  The kids in town rode their bikes here for an ice-cold Coca Cola.  People stopped here for a shaved ham sandwich on their way to work.  TVs and radios could be dropped off for repair in "Eddie Boy's" TV and appliance repair shop.  Plumbing supplies were available to fix that emergency Sunday afternoon water leak (even though Rhodes Grocery was never "officially" open on Sundays).  Everything the town needed could be found somewhere on the shelves.  

And there was never a shortage of friendly faces at the Store who were willing to do whatever was necessary to be good neighbors to the community.

Unable to compete with the modern "big box" stores in larger nearby cities and approaching retirement age, Mell S Rhodes, Susie P Rhodes, and Martha Ray Taylor closed the doors of Rhodes Grocery for good in 1989.

In September 2021, ground was broken to begin a large-scale historic renovation of the Rhodes Grocery Store building.  The failing original flooring was removed, the roof was extensively repaired, the failing Warehouse addition was torn down and replaced with new construction, an open-air patio was added, and all new utilities, doors, and windows were installed.  The front wall of the Store that had been modified and changed over the years was returned to its original "store front" look.  The front porch was torn off and replaced with new construction.   

Great effort was made to not only repair and renovate the building, but to PRESERVE the history that meant so much to the community.   As you wander around the Store, keep your eyes open for surfaces, chairs, cabinets, trinkets, old pictures, and details that have lasted several generations right here in downtown Taylorsville.