THE BUILDING FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE CENTURY HOUSE

As I said before we were told when we purchased our building that it was built in 1906 and since we bought it in 2006 that meant it was 100 years old at purchase so we named it the Century House - that has since been disproven.

Historic Augusta is still researching for more details on the early uses of the building but it is believed to have been built in 1836 as a mercantile building.  In city directories through the early 1850s the upper floors are consistently listed as a boarding house with the proprietor also occasionally listed as a confectioner or beer merchant.

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1879

D.H. Shehan advertised that he received a supply of T.W. Harper's Nelson County Kentucky Whiskey and that it was appropriate for social or family use.

1887

Gallaher Bros. agents for the Florida Fruit Exchange, operated a wholesale fruit and confectionary store for two years.  In addition to bananas, oranges, coconuts, apples, grapes, and lemons, they also sold potatoes, cabbage, onions, nuts, smoked sausage, canned goods, crackers, pigs' feet, tripe & sauerkraut.

1895

W.J. Cooney & Co. operated a wholesale fruit and produce business though the early nineteen hundreds.

1919

City Directories from this year through 1953 list Fred M. Stringfellow as being associated with this building.  The building is alternately referred to as Stringfellow's Lunch Room, the Do-Drop-In Restaurant, The Oasis, and Stringfellow's Place Liquors.  In 1929 Mr. Stringfellow was arrested in a police raid that seized slot machines in over thirty downtown businesses.  He was arrested again in slot machine raids in 1935 & 1939.

1953

Jay Jewelers & Music Center occupied the building until 1980 offering a selection of jewelry, watches, school band and other musical instruments, radios and luggage. Lessons and instrument repairs were also available.

1985

Bankers First Federal Savings & Loan Association purchased all of the buildings on the north side of Broad Street between Macartan and 10th Streets and dedicated them as Lafayette Center on December 31.  The $7.5 million project was the largest certified rehabilitation approved by the state Historic Preservation District at the time.  967 Broad Street was transformed into the Bankers First retail banking office on the first floor and two condominiums for overnight guests of the bank on the floors above.

2006

We purchased the building and the rest is history :-)