A Holly Springs commercial building designated a Historic Site Worth Saving by the Cherokee County Historical Society will be lost to a road widening for the city’s Town Center project.
The E.M. Barrett Store, a single-story brick building at Palm Street and Hickory Road, will be razed for the widening of Hickory in connection with a planned roundabout at Hickory and a Palm Street Extension, city officials said.
“When engineers suggested this option, we asked them immediately if plans could be reworked to avoid the demolition of the E.M. Barrett Store,” said Mayor Steven W. Miller. The other option entailed the destruction of the nearby Hardin House, so the city had to decide which building to save.
“While the E.M. Barrett Store was a staple in our community for many years, the building as it currently stands is not indicative of its importance to our history,” Miller said. “We do plan on salvaging what materials we can from the current structure and integrating those pieces into a permanent feature in the redeveloped Town Center.”
The store was built by brothers Frank and Hardy Delay in 1925 to replace a wooden structure that burned. E.M. Barrett purchased the building in 1933. It was expanded in the 1950s, doubling its size. It currently houses Bloom Hair Design.
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