Following a prosperous eleven year residence in the Albright building and escaping the “close call” of a nearly disastrous basement fire in 1942, R. E. Whaley, the owner of Whaley Furniture Co. and future Montevallo entrepreneur, in 1948 constructed and moved into a brand new, modern retail building just a few doors down Main Street on a vacant lot next to the Masonic building.
Eddie Mahaffey, the proprietor and manager of the Gulf service station in the same block, whom we have spotlighted previously, saw Whaley’s improving fortunes as potentially a boon to his own. Mahaffey knew that a successful Western Auto Associate Store had been open and operating in nearby Calera for several years and saw the potential for a similar store in Montevallo. He decided in 1949, with the full support of his wife Mary Lee, to close the gas station and open his own Western Auto franchise in the space recently vacated by Whaley.
As can be seen from Mahaffey’s Grand Opening advertisement that ran in the Montevallo Times, Western Auto offered a wide variety of home, auto, and recreational items in addition to traditional hardware. Upon entering the store, customers’ noses were met with the strong aroma of new rubber from the auto and truck tires on display, giving the store a distinctive olfactory identity. Eddie and Mary Lee Mahaffey were active and attentive merchants in their new store and went out of their way to provide quality products and services to customers.
Before becoming known for their well-run store, Eddie and Mary Lee had earned considerable local fame as musicians in a popular “Big Band” dance orchestra called the “Bama Skippers.” Along with Eddie’s brother Charles and several classmates from Montevallo High School, the group formed in the mid-1930’s and played regularly at dances and formal balls all over the state, particularly on college campuses. Alabama College’s campus newspaper, the Alabamian, chronicles many events over the years where the Bama Skippers provided the music for dancing. When the Strand Theatre re-opened in 1935 after an expansion and complete remodeling, the “Skippers” performed for several nights in a row prior to the evening’s feature film.
The Mahaffeys remained in the Albright building until a larger, more modern space opened up for them with the coming of the new Whaley Shopping Center in 1962. Upon their departure, the venerable Albright building was soon torn down to make way for even more stores facing Main Street as part of the new shopping center.
Thank you Clay Nordan, Vice President of Montevallo Historical Society, for this information!