Only the older generations of Greenville’s natives will remember going north on Main Street and turning left onto West Coffee Street.
Two hundred years ago, the newly created street was named for John R. Coffee — a Tennessee general who was famous for his military victories in the War of 1812. It was the edge of downtown then. Coffee Street connected to “the Buncombe Road,” which was likely the first entry point into the pioneering village. For the next 175 years, Coffee Street stretched from Church Street through the intersection with Laurens Street and Buncombe Road, and continuing to Academy Street, thus forming a convergence of five streets called “Five Points.” The naming of the area was officially adopted by the city in 1927.
In the 1930s photo, we see the portion of Five Points that forms the angled corner between West Coffee and North Laurens streets. On the far left of the photo are the last letters of the Meyers-Arnold department store painted on the side of the building which is now home to Mast General Store.
The Five Points Gas Station’s quaint architecture looks more like a little British cottage than a service station. While waiting for their cars to be fixed or washed, patrons could easily go next door to Tollison’s barber shop for a convenient haircut. Another option at the next storefront to the right afforded them an opportunity to discover a good deal at the Piedmont Pawn Shop. For waiting on longer repairs, Grants department store to the far right could amuse them for hours with the latest styles in clothing and home goods. If just gassing up, the 15-foot-high Atlantic Ale and Beer sign could convince them to stay at the station for a 10-cent fill-up of another kind with a promise to make them “full of good cheer.”
In 1975, the entire block of West Coffee Street was turned into the pedestrian-friendly Coffee Street Mall. This was one of the early components of Mayor Max Heller’s plan to revitalize downtown. Further restructuring of downtown’s original street configuration came four years later when Heller hired urban planner Lawrence Halprin to transform Main Street, which he did with wide sidewalks and a tree canopy. The Coffee Street Plaza has since been redesigned, including as Piazza Bergamo in the mid-1980s and, most recently, as the ONE City Plaza. #greenvillethenandnow
John M. Nolan is owner of Greenville History Tours (greenvillehistorytours.com) and author of “A Guide to Historic Greenville, SC” and “Lost Restaurants of Greenville, SC.”
