Dainty Lady Beauty Shop
(Mary Davis Hammond and "Snooks" Davis)
Galloway Beauty Shop
Bart Allen Shoe Shop
DaMond Beauty Shop
(Sue Lee King Davis and Evelyn Redmond Redfearn)
DaMond Beauty Shop (Betty Brown Caulder)
DaMond Beauty Shop (Tillie Shoemake Scott)
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Elizabeth Ann Gaddy Rivers and James W. Jenkins: A Small Space Makes a Big Impression:
Measuring just eight feet of store frontage and possessing all the characteristics of a stovepipe, DaMond Beauty Shop is one of fewer than a half-dozen businesses in the Town of Chesterfield that have provided the same goods and services, under the same name, at the same location, for more than fifty years. Speculation has it that this facility was once a passageway to the “Back Lots” where stores had back entrances and basements and where minority businesses flourished from the 30’s to the 70’s. The space was enclosed as a business in the late 30’s or early 40’s.
Businesses on Main Street that have operated continuously in the same location using the same name include Stephenson’s Hardware, B. C. Moore and Sons (closed since this article was written), Pusser’s Department Store, and DaMond Beauty Shop. Even though some of these businesses have changed a great deal, they still occupy portions of their original space. Most other businesses in the Town of Chesterfield have re-located, or they are second-generation businesses on original sites. All the grocery stores from the 50’s are long gone from Main Street. Chesterfield Drug Store is the only drug store of the four from the 50’s that still remains, and it re-located from the north side of the street to the south side and adjoins DaMond. The banks have merged, have been re-named, or have re-located. All three automobile dealerships have closed, and the Western Auto is operating at its third site. Both doctors’ offices moved from Main Street and most second-story facilities are no longer in use. It is true th at the Post Office and most of the local churches have remained at their same locations for more than fifty years, but each of them has undergone additions and renovations. Even a new courthouse was built in 1977.
Apparently this little building was constructed to correspond to the height of adjacent buildings, which had either a second floor or a very high ceiling. The intricate inlaid wood above the lowered ceiling indicates that the DaMond building once had a second floor, but the only way to access the area above the lowered ceiling today is through an overhead crawl space. Any stairs inside the building that provided access to a second level have long been removed. Stains on the walls indicate that prior heating systems included both coal and oil. Ceiling fans and windows provided the only cooling sources for the building, although the small narrow passageway might have generated a natural current because of prevailing winds. Today air-conditioning has been added for the comfort of the patrons.
The first use of the building as a beauty shop was in the 1940’s when Mary Hammond opened a shop called “Dainty Lady”. Mary’s sister-in-law, "Snooks" Davis, assisted her in the shop. Mary was an early entrepeneur who not only operated a beauty shop but also a women’s dress shop and a florist shop in subsequent years. At that time beauty and barber shops normally catered strictly to single gender clients. Usually the only men who frequented beauty shops were male members of the owner’s family. Davis Barber Shop, located across the street adjacent to the movie theater and P. P. Hurst Barber Shop, located up the street from DaMond, served the male members of the community. The Davis shop included the following barbers: Jim Campbell, Arthur King, Roy Shaw, Arthur Griggs, Fred Oliver, and Walter Davis. Grant Rivers was the finest shoeshine specialist in all the land. Mr. P. P. Hurst served as the only barber in his shop most of the years. It doesn’t take much to recall the smell of talcum power and lilac from those shops, while permanent wave solutions permeated the air of the beauty shops.
Mary Hammond moved her beauty shop to the building currently occupied by McLain Insurance Company. Sue Lee King Davis, Evelyn Redmond, and a Mrs. Galloway from Hartsville assisted Mary in the beauty business. Mary sold the shop to Mrs. Galloway who operated the shop for the next few years. Sue Lee King Davis and Evelyn Redmond then opened a shop on the By-Pass at Sue Lee’s home.
Mr. Bart Allen used the building for a shoe repair shop until he moved his business into another store down the street. In 1947, after Mr. Allen re-located his shoe shop, Mary Hammond sold the little shop to Sue Lee King Davis and Evelyn Redmond Redfearn. The shop was re-named DaMond Beauty Shop. The name consisted of a combination of the Davis and Redmond names. All subsequent owners of the shop have retained the DaMond name. The co-ownership continued for five years when Evelyn left to become a cosmetology instructor at Hartsville High School. Stylists Ruth Teal and Joyce Graves Griggs worked with Sue Lee during the time she owned the business. Sue Lee continued to operate the shop until she retired in December of 1975.
It is interesting to note that the DaMond shop was also the site of the first lending library for the Town of Chesterfield. Mrs. Louise McDaniel Wiley approached Sue Lee about placing books in her shop for lending to citizens of the town, and she readily agreed that it would be a good idea. Many of the readers will recall visiting the shop for reading material as well as for beauty supplies. From this small beginning the lending library for the Town of Chesterfield expanded and moved first to a one-room building on Park Drive behind the Bank of Chesterfield, then to a vacant store on the north side of Main Street, and finally across the street to the south side into a modern structure built on a site donated to the town by the Calvin Rivers family.
Betty Brown Caulder, another widow with three children to rear, rented the DaMond building in February of 1976 and operated the shop for several years. In the early years of Betty’s operation of the shop, she rented a chair at the front entrance to Cecil McLain who operated a barber chair. That arrangement lasted until Betty assumed the entire space for the beauty shop. Betty purchased the building in February of 1988. A number of stylists assisted in the operation of the shop under Betty’s ownership. They include Brenda Bedenbaugh, Nancy Sellers, Ethel White Stipe, Mike Wilks, Tillie Shoemake Scott, Jennifer Hancock, and Nancy King.
In April of 1999, Tillie Scott purchased the building, and she has maintained the operation of the DaMond shop to the present. Michelle Wallace assisted Tillie until she and her husband moved to Dillon, SC.
It would be shortsighted to look at the title of this article, “A Small Space Makes a Big Impression”, without reiterating the positive influence the women who have been associated with the little building that houses DaMond have had on our community. Beginning in the 1940’s and continuing until today, their efforts to be successful businesswomen have had an impact not only on the comings and goings on Main Street but on the life of the entire community. Mary Davis Hammond (later Brown) was a true entrepeneur with successful endeavors in the fields of cosmetology, women’s fashions, and floral design. Sue Lee King Davis (now Harmon) was a young widow whose venture was for the purpose of supporting three young children and herself, and as a result she built a very successful business in the process. Evelyn Redmond Redfearn took her skills to the high school classroom and prepared many young students to enter the work force with a high degree of competency in the cosmetology field. Betty Brown Caulder
and Tillie Shoemake Scott picked up where these other women left off and made their own successes in the business world in the little shop on Main Street. Louise McDaniel Wiley had a dream for a Chesterfield town library, and she was willing to start small in a tiny space at DaMond; her dream evolved into a county library system. These women are shining examples of the kind of people who helped move our town forward and who paved the way for women’s participation in the business environment.
Many different people have been associated with the DaMond building over the years, and renovations have changed its appearance to accommodate the different services its proprietors have offered. One thing that has never changed, though, is the friendly service that has remained through it all. There are few things in life as comforting and relaxing as having your hair shampooed by someone other than yourself. As long as people indulge themselves in such pleasure, the beauty business will continue for a long time to come. The future for the little shop looks bright, all eight feet of it.
Elizabeth Ann Gaddy Rivers: I can remember whe Bart Allen had a shoe shop at this location. I don't remember if it was before or after he was located at the end of the street next to where Chesterfield Cleaners is today. I also remember when Sue Lee King Davis had her beauty shop here. When I was in high school, the price at her shop for a shampoo and set was $1.25. One distinct memory is that her son Lee had to come to the shop after school and sit in the back and do his homework, and he protested every day!
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