History of our buildings

SHAC is comprised of three connecting buildings: the 1895 City Hall, the 1900s Fire Station, and the 1920s Western Auto Store. SHAC uses all three buildings. The Office and Studios (Old City Hall) is used for art classes, Kids Summer camp (K-HS) for Music, Art, and Drama, and SHAC’s Office.  The front part of the Exhibit Hall Gallery (Old Fire Station) was reopened in February 2013 with heat and electricity. It is a multi-use building for art exhibits, concerts, lectures, dinner shows, and special events. The back half was opened on October 4, 2013, for the Haunted House. After the renovations are completed it will be used for year-round exhibits and events. The Performing Arts (Old Western Auto) building was converted into a theater and art gallery.

SHAC became a reality in 2008. The old city hall and fire station buildings at 123 and 125 West Davie Street were empty and they seemed to be the ideal space to restore for use as a writing and literacy center the Shawnee Hills Writer’s Group. The group led by Joanne Blakley went to the city of Anna with a proposal. They were able to purchase both buildings for $10 with the caveat that the buildings would house an arts center to include visual and performing arts. Joanne Blakley and Linda Kall became the co-directors of SHAC. A year later Anna-Jonesboro National Bank graciously donated the building at 117 West Davie Street to the Anna Arts Center, which became the Performing Arts Center.

The History of Each Building

 Performing Arts Building, 117 West Davie, Lot 84
The Performing Arts building at 117 West Davie Street, Lot 84, started as a Fruit  Processing Company owned by Brunch & Alden, a $2100 value, from 1872 to 1875 (court records). The fruit processing plant was renamed Anna Branch Alden Fruit Press Company in 1876.  Robert Burns Stinson bought the land in 1879 and became a grain dealer for 16 years. Stinson then formed a partnership for his organization and it was called  Stinson, Buck, Miller & Willard and they built barrels – about 80,000 barrels annually until 1901. The 1888 and 1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for Lot 84 showed the same usage for the land – a lumber shed and offices/businesses. The 1900 Sanborn Fire Insurance map showed Agricultural Implements, Masonic Hall, Print Shop, and offices. 

 Russell Tuthill bought the land in 1905, the value was $4000. He owned it for five years before selling it to  Henry Reeves in 1911. The 1910 Sanborn Fire Insurance map showed a vacant Lot 84. In the 1920s Van Crane bought the land from Henry Reeves and established the Van Crane Buick Auto Sales & Service business. The 1929 Sanborn Fire map illustrates the Auto Sales & Service business for Lot 84.

 Francis W. and Mary Edythe Woestaus individually owned and operated the WESTERN AUTO STORE at 117 West Davie from 1944 to 1985. The Woestaus’ original store was opened in 1939 on Main Street and moved to West Davie for more space. They advertised “Everything for the Automobile: Tires, Tubes, Batteries, and Accessories.” It is believed that Western Auto expanded the store from West Davie Street to Washington Street. As a child, Barbara (Boyd) Bauer was amazed, “It was a nice store with everything in it.” Elaine Crain remembers buying bikes and toys for Christmas at the Western Auto.

 Floyd Mayberry opened his music store, Mayberry Music & Sound, in the 1960s and moved his store to West Davie Street when Western Auto closed in 1985. After almost 30 years, Floyd thought he would retire and closed the store in 1989. However, that was short-lived as he opened a new store in Jonesboro.

 Exhibit Hall Gallery, 123 West Davie, Lot 85, South Half
Henry F. Brockman bought the land in 1868 and sold it in 1874 to Lizzie Brockman. From 1865 to 1870  Henry F. Brockman built large wagons.  Martin V. Ussery bought the land in 1879 for $1,100 and built Ussery’s Opera House.  Ussery’s Market and a blacksmith (Furrie) were on the first floor, the opera house was upstairs, and possibly a skating ring in part of the building. Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas, “The Musical Amateurs of Anna and Jonesboro,” a benefit concert for the aid of Yellow Fever suffers, and other concerts were presented at the Ussery’s Opera House. The Anna Dramatic Society formed in 1870 performed popular dramas and other entertainment at the Ussery’s Opera House and the Miller’s Opera House. Ussery’s market furnished meats to the asylum in 1882. He slaughtered 542 beeves, 156 sheep, and 90 hogs and made 14,500 pounds of sausage. The J.W. Willford furniture store was also on the ground floor. The 1888 and 1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps both showed the same footprint for the Ussery’s Opera House and a warehouse behind it.

The 1895 fire destroyed the Ussery’s Opera House and damaged the City Hall to the north and the Dry House to the south. The Daily Inter-Ocean newspaper, Chicago, Saturday Morning, March 30, 1895, explained the damage.

James DeWitt and his heirs owned the land from 1896 to 1920s. The 1900 Sanborn Fire Insurance map showed a repository and office with a wagon shop behind these businesses. DeWitt built wagons and plows.

The 1910 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map showed a tin shop works and sheet metal shop on the first floor and a plumbing shop on the second floor.  The 1929 Fire Insurance map showed an implement warehouse that was an open building from West Davie Street to Washington Street owned by Claude E. Lee, who sold farm implements. Lee sold the building to the city in the 1940s for the Fire Station. It was the fire station until it moved to Market Street in 2003.

SHAC Office and Studios, 125 West Davie Street, Lot 85, North Side
Charles Mann Willard bought the land in 1868. Willard opened a  drugstore that also sold general merchandise. The 1888 Sanborn Fire Insurance map showed the drugstore with part of the store on Lot 86.  He sold the property to the city in 1893 and the construction of the City Hall began in 1894. The 1900 Sanborn Fire Insurance map showed that the Fire station, Police, jail, and public school office was in the City Hall. The map describes the Fire Station’s equipment: one small hand fire engine and 300 feet of hose attached to the engine. 

The 1900 and the 1910 Sanborn Insurance maps describes the Fire Station equipment as shown below. The 1900 description doubles what was described by the foot print of the City Hall.