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Many of Newton County communities got their names as well
as their existence from sawmill industry. Nearly every place had a sawmill,
but some of them were operated by big lumber industries and would have
a "big mill." One such town was Call community.
Call is in west central Newton County on the Orange and
Northwestern Railroad and was named for Dennis Call, a business associate
of the town's founder, George Adams, Sr. The dividing line between Jasper
and Newton Counties goes through the town, both the sawmill and the school
being in Jasper County. The town was established in 1895 when Cow Creek
Tram Company built a sawmill, which in 1901 became a part of the Kirby
Lumber Co. The pine mill burned in 1924 and was rebuilt as a hardwood
plant which has been discontinued.
The Call post office founded in 1896, burned in 1906 along
with the Commissary (the company store), and was moved into a small building
north of the doctor's office. In 1915 a remodeling job was done for the
post office. The money order and general delivery windows were left facing
the front, while the box sections angled back to form an L-shaped lobby.
Mollie Eddlemon says that this is the way she remembered the office on
November II, 1918 as she walked home from school, a man sitting on the
post office porch told her that the Armistice had been signed.
After the war was over, a larger building was needed.
The women of the town had fought hard against keeping a pool hall open,
although sometimes one could send a boy inside with a message. The pool
hall was in operation as early as 1906, with two white circles painted
on the ceiling to reflect light on the pool tables. Since the women had
been successful in closing the pool hall, the building was the logical
choice for the new site of the post office. It was south of the Commissary
and the lumber company office building. Only the barber shop was south
of the post office and it was important because it was situated in a place
that never blocked the south breezes.
In 1927, another section of boxes was added and, a parcel
post window was added. The 1927 expenditure added to Mr. Gee's running
inventory shows a total of $452.33 spent. Such precise records have not
been kept regarding the addition of a rest room in 1958, nor other purchases
or repairs. When the ceiling of the lobby was painted, part of one of
the white circles of the old pool hall was obliterated.
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