From These Roots

John Heiskell Roe was a prominent merchant in the Tigerville community. His parents were early settlers in the area, and he had grown up in Tigerville. He was interested in agriculture and business and in 1904, he built a store in his hometown named J.H. Roe & Son. Brick was starting to rise in popularity at the time and Mr. Roe’s store was one of the only brick buildings in the area. In addition to his store, Mr. Roe also built a brick home nearby. Because brick was difficult to transport, the bricks for both projects were made using a local creek.

The J.H. Roe & Son store was one of the largest in Greenville County at the time. According to the store’s letterhead, they sold dry goods, notions, groceries, hats, shoes, hardware, guano, drugs, medicines, and more. In addition, Mr. Roe would also take country produce in exchange for goods. This allowed local farmers to trade their produce for other items their family needed.

J.H. Roe and his wife Elizabeth “Lizzy” Dill Roe frequently hosted parties for North Greenville students. The couple also let students pile into their wagon to ride to Tyger Baptist Church for Sunday services. Mr. Roe passed away in 1946 of pneumonia. Around 1934, a longtime employee and manager of the Roe Store, Madison “Mack” McCracken, took over operations and the store name changed to McCracken’s Store. Mack McCracken ran McCracken’s Store until he died in 1957. By 1967, Callie Heath ran a sewing store called Mrs. Heath’s Notions in the old Roe Store building. After Mrs. Heath’s Notion Store, Fred Kissling ran a store in half of the building where he sold stoves.

In 1990, the Roe Store building was used in the film Coupe de Ville. The film crew transformed the old building into a fictional “Futral’s Feed Store and Hardware”. Signs for the fictional store were placed on the side of the building and on the front windows. The production crew removed the sign from the side of the building, but the fictional store name stayed on the front windows of the Roe Store building for over a decade.

In 2001, North Greenville purchased the old Roe Store building from Willie Wood. North Greenville Art professor, Jim Craft, was instrumental in the purchase. For years, Mr. Craft had dreamed of turning the old building into a facility for the art department. He frequently spoke with Willie Wood, the retired owner of Wood’s Store in Tigerville, about selling the building to North Greenville. Mr. Wood finally agreed and gave the school a great price.

During the fundraising process for the old Roe Building, former trustee, Kathy Runion Varner and her family agreed to donate half of the funds needed for the project. The family named the building the Eddie Runion Creative Arts Center in honor of Eddie Runion. Mr. Runion owned and operated C.E. Runion Manufacturing Company, Inc. in Greer until 1970. He also owned and operated Runion Developers, where he developed and managed properties including shopping centers, apartment homes, and industrial warehouses in the Upstate. Mr. Runion was also a former trustee of North Greenville.

The first step in restoring the old building was to replace the roof to prevent further damage. The old windows in the store were bricked in to match the other brick of the building. During the roofing process, the roofers tore down the 100-year-old brackets and finials from the store. Thankfully, North Greenville maintenance staff member, Denny Marchbanks, saw the discarded pieces and rescued them from the trash. Mr. Craft, who had experience with historical restorations, took the pieces and used fiberglass, clay, and wood to cast new molds and redesign the finials. Work was also done to reuse other features of the store such as the old countertops.

Due to code restrictions, the original plans Mr. Craft had drawn up for the building had to be reconfigured. While the upstairs remained an area for classrooms and offices, the art gallery and art studios were moved into a new building next door to the Runion Creative Arts Center. The left side of Runion became an Einstein’s Bagel Company where students could use their meal accounts to purchase coffee, bagels, sandwiches, and other items. The right side of the building downstairs became a branch of the Carolina First Bank. An outdoor patio area with seating was adjacent to Einstein’s.

Carolina First Bank and Einstein’s Bagel Company opened for business at the start of the Spring 2009 semester. The upstairs area was delayed due to a complication with the new elevator but opened soon after. The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new bank was held on February 5, 2009. The North Greenville Branch of Carolina First was the 181st for the bank.

Eventually, the Carolina First Bank closed, and the North Greenville ROTC moved into the space in 2017. Einstein’s Bagel Company never re-opened after the Covid-19 shutdown in 2020. In early 2023, the downstairs of Runion was remodeled and turned into the home of the Office of University Marketing and PrintHub administration.