Jeter Mercantile was a stalwart of Montevallo Main Street retailers for most of the 20th century. Beginning as a partnership known as Davies & Jeter, Mr. M.P. Jeter, Sr. became the sole proprietor fairly early on. The original two-story Davies & Jeter building burned sometime after 1910 and was soon rebuilt and replaced by the store that was most recently occupied by the House of Serendipity.
The Jeter building familiar to its customers was a large space compared to its neighbors. It had two entrances from the Main Street sidewalk and offered pedestrians protection from the elements and summer sun with a deep covered shed that ran the width of the store along the front. Regularly displayed in this sidewalk area were gardening tools, seasonal bedding and vegetable plants, and miscellaneous items such as wheelbarrows, metal garbage cans, and rolls of chicken wire. Inside, customers found the usual mercantile-type merchandise, such as boots and shoes, work clothes, socks and underwear, sewing notions, hardware, and garden seed. Jeter’s also carried a full line of grocery items, fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and fancy candies. They had their own butcher shop at the back of the store with a walk-in cooler. For customers needing livestock feed, fertilizer, or pesticides, these items were kept in a large detached warehouse across an alley behind the store.
The interior of this store today, although unoccupied, looks pretty much as it always has. Any fan of western movies would be forgiven for thinking, at first glance, that this space had to have been an old-time saloon in days gone by. There is a large central staircase at the back of the store that leads to a second floor loft and balcony supported from the roof joists that completely surrounds the store on three sides. In its early years, the store was heated by a large pot-bellied stove located at the back near the staircase.
Thank you to Clay Nordan, Vice President of the Montevallo Historical Society, for this information!
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