Harrison Brothers Hardware

The story

Behind the sketch.

124 Southside Square | 1897 Harrison Brothers began in 1879 as a tobacco business, and moved to South Side Square in 1897. After a 1901 fire damaged two adjoining buildings, the brothers joined them behind the double storefront seen today. Hardware became the main business by 1913, although the shelves accumulated nearly everything, and apparently discarded very little. When the last Harrison brother died in 1983, the Historic Huntsville Foundation bought the buildings, fixtures, inventory, and name rather than let the place disappear. It now sells local art and gifts, but the old counters, bins, ledgers, and creaking floors remain. It is less a recreated old store than one that simply refused to go away.

Neighborhood

Downtown

Book location

Page 16