The Dollar Saver building was actually called the Mitchell Building, named for its owner, Dr. W. J. Mitchell, who had a dental practice in the front portion of the second floor. A staircase led to the upper floor from the street. Dr. Mitchell was a dentist of the “old school,” favoring tooth extractions over the more modern fillings, crowns, and restorations so familiar today. He worked in a time before high-speed drills and improved techniques for minimizing patient pain when in the dentist’s chair. It was dentists such as Dr. Mitchell who engendered fear and dread in severe toothache sufferers of the time who viewed enduring their uncomfortable ordeal as more tolerable than a visit to the dentist.
Also located to the rear of the second floor during World War II was the local Draft Board office. When the office closed at the end of the war, the space was occupied by a studio opened by photographer Kenneth Land in 1947. Mr. Land’s business lasted for only a few years before selling out to Otha Rakes Studio, which remained there until the late 1960’s. The tradition for high quality studio portrait photographs began with the invention of the photographic process and has remained popular ever since. Land and Rakes made baby photos, formal photos of young children and families, high school and college beauty shots, and portraits of adult men and women. These pictures were important milestones in the lives of many residents of Montevallo that presented them looking their very best for posterity while documenting their likenesses at various stages of life.
Thank you Clay Nordan, Vice President of Montevallo Historical Society, for contributing these images and information!