In 1913, Two Ohio Families Become Determined to Purchase a Tire Vulcanizing (Repair) Business
In 1913, two families from Ohio were contemplating a journey and a move that would change their lives forever. Leander Hoy (Jack) Starmer and his wife of two years, Mabel Snyder Starmer, and his father-in-law, Franklin Emmett (F.E.) Snyder, with his wife Mary Crane Snyder moved to Greensboro, North Carolina in early 1914.
Jack Starmer was born on October 20, 1888, in Mount Vernon, OH. He moved to Burbank, OH and worked as a butcher in a meat market as a young man and later in a bottle factory, where, as he related to me with much humor, “he was fired for breaking too many bottles.” He later worked for Goodyear Tire Company in Akron, where he held an apprenticeship, learning tire manufacturing and repair.
Franklin Emmett Snyder was born on September 2, 1857, in Wayne County, OH. In December of 1882, he married Mary Crane Keck, in Burbank, OH, where they resided and ran a flour mill. Jack Starmer met Mabel Snyder in Burbank, OH while working at the meat market. The Snyder’s flour mill in Burbank burned to the ground on February 19, 1897, and the family moved about 5 miles away to Lodi, OH.
Around 1911 or 1912, a doctor told Frank Snyder that he had to get out of the cold weather in Ohio for his health. The Snyder family including Frank and wife Mary, and the three surviving children (of five born) who all played a future role in Dixie Sales Company, Henry Emmett, Ida Mabel, and Ellis Bowers Snyder moved to Atlantic City in New Jersey. Jack Starmer followed Mabel and her family to Atlantic City and on November 10, 1912, married her there.
One story (of two) goes that Jack and Frank were on a train from Ohio going to Florida and that their intention was to purchase a tire vulcanizing business there, a business Jack Starmer was very familiar with. Someone on the train overheard them talking about the potential business acquisition and told them about Dixie Sales Company in Greensboro for sale. They got off the train in Greensboro instead of traveling on to Florida, and Frank Snyder and his son-in-law Jack Starmer obviously liked what they saw in Greensboro and Dixie Sales. Dixie Sales Company, still located at 111 East Washington Street, was under their ownership by March 1, 1914, and re-opened for business on Monday, March 2, 1914.
The second (other) story about coming to Greensboro says that after almost two years in Atlantic City where Frank had bought or rented two concession stands on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, the family decided that the weather in New Jersey was no better than in Ohio. And so we believe they went back to the Akron, Ohio area for a short period of time. While there, they read an ad in a tire trade journal about a tire vulcanizing business for sale in Greensboro, NC. They then came south on a train directly to Greensboro to look at Joseph Leahy’s tire repair and vulcanizing business, Dixie Sales Company.
Joseph Leahy’s last known address was the Carolina Hotel and Café. He moved there after the sale with his family from his home on Schenck Street, where he had rented space for his family from a nurse, Mrs. J.L. Burlingame.
In the February 25, 1914 edition of the Greensboro Record newspaper, there was this notice: MOVE TO WASHINGTON: Mr. Joseph Leahy owner and proprietor of the Dixie Sales Company, operating an automobile tire repair shop in the building with McGlamery-Markham (sic) Auto Company, sold his establishment to Messrs. F.E. Snyder and L.H. Starmer of Akron, Ohio, and on the first of the month will move with his family to Washington, D.C., where he will engage in the automobile repair business.
Frank Snyder And Jack Starmer Purchase Dixie Sales Co. – Open For Business March 2, 1914
By February 25, 1914, the sale was consummated, and preparations made to open for business the following Monday, March 2, 1914. L.H. “Jack” Starmer was 29 years old. His father-in-law, F.E. “Frank” Snyder was 57 years old.
Dixie Sales Company, under its new ownership, catered to people or companies who could afford to purchase motor vehicles. For example, on March 2, 1914, their second customer Mr. A. W. McAllister, the founder of Pilot Life Insurance Company, entered the store and paid $3.75 for 4 inside tire sleeves. During his lifetime, Mr. McAllister was a regular customer of Dixie Sales Company.
The total sales for the first day of business on March 2 totaled $6.65, Tuesday March 3 totaled $4.80 and business on March 4 totaled $2.50. By the last day of the month, total March business reached $235.70.
Services provided included repairing tubes, installing a valve in a tube, install a new tube, repair a baby carriage tire, two baby carriage tubes sold, change a tire, repair a water bottle or an ice bag, patch a tread, or patch the inside of a tire.
Dixie Sales was still on the second floor of the McGlamery-Sutton Ford Auto Dealership in March 1914.
Many names in the first Dixie Sales ledger book were ones we would recognize today in the Greensboro area. They included A.W. McAlister mentioned earlier, McGlamery-Markam Auto Company, McAdoo, Alderman, Vick Chemical Company and L. Richardson, Michaux, Sternberger, Fortune, Benbow, Schenk, Pegram, Brooks, Phipps, Craven, Stern, Justice, Morehead, Barringer, Linville, Causy, Albright, Morris Motor Company, Cassell Motor Company, Odell Hardware, Guilford Motor Car Company, Lexington Motor Company, High Point Motor Company, Asheboro Motor Company, Reitzel Auto Service, Mount Airy Motor Company, Virginia City Motor Company in Danville, VA, Greensboro Motor Company, and many more.
Dixie Sales in 2nd Floor Space of McGlamery-Sutton Auto Building
Another View of Dixie Sales in 2nd Floor Space of the McGlamery-Sutton Auto Building
A Running Statement Signed by Frank E. Snyder April 1, 1915
First Days of Business for Dixie Sales Company under Snyder and Starmer Ownership
From the March 2, 1914 opening under the new Snyder-Starmer ownership until October 17, 1915, I did not find any newspaper advertisements for Dixie Sales Company in the Greensboro Daily News.
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