Mast General Store owners, John and Faye Cooper, have been committed to selecting older, often historical buildings, for our store locations from the very beginning. The Original Store in Valle Crucis first opened its doors for business in 1883. The store served as the hub of commerce in the heart of the Valle for decades, but was temporarily closed for several years in the late 1970s. Thankfully, the Cooper’s unique vision led them to reopen the store in 1980, nearly 100 years after Mast General Store was originally built. Since that time, our company’s leadership continues to select older buildings for new store locations. Just like the Original Store, each Mast Store building has its own incredible history. Today, we uncover a Mast Store mystery that’s eluded us for 25 years… the exciting history of the Mast Store in Waynesville, North Carolina.
We’ve known very little about the history of 63 North Main Street before it became Mast Store Waynesville. The store, pictured above as you see it today, was built in the 1930s as an upscale clothing store, The Toggery. It was a successful business in this location for decades. What we didn’t know was that this location was home to some incredibly colorful characters with strong ties not only to the early history of Waynesville, but to our nation as well.
With the generous help of Carol Litchfield and Alex McKay, both members of the Haywood County Historical and Genealogical Society*, we first uncovered the earliest known photo of 63 North Main Street. As you see in the photo pictured at the top of the blog, oxen once rested in front of a beautiful Victorian home where Mast Store now stands (pictured below, right). The photo is thought to have been taken somewhere between the years of 1905 and 1916 and belonged to Dr. Hugh Manson Rogers. This enchanting scene is a far cry from the bricked sidewalk and car-lined street you see in the same location today.
A fascinating story about Dr. Rogers appears in the book A heritage of healing: The medical history of Haywood County. He and another physician helped steal the body of a man, Bayless Henderson, who had been charged with committing a brutal murder, and after a sensational trial, was subsequently hanged. The book shares, “Everyone at the hanging knew the sheriff had taken Henderson’s body and buried it on a corner of his own property. In the middle of the night the doctors dug up the body, refilled the grave and drove back across the Balsam Mountains to Waynesville. Dr. Smathers took the
The book goes on to say, “In mountain communities, children were often told the story of Bayless Henderson… The tale ends by saying some doctors, who had no other way to study the human anatomy, dug up body for medical use. The moral of the story seems to be that it is possible for even the worst scoundrel to someday make a useful contribution.”
As for Dr. Rogers’ house at 63 North Main Street, we’ll explore its incarnation as The Toggery and Mast General Store next.
The Toggery
Mrs. Enloe goes on to say, “The Massies went to market in New York City and The Toggery sold top of the line merchandise. When I was 25-years-old and Mother was 45, she and I had matching mink-trimmed cashmere coats from The Toggery. had an x-ray machine for your feet that showed where your toes came to your shoes.
"I don't remember what they sold in the basement, but the staircase has always been where it is now. Velma Blanton was their bookkeeper for decades. The business office was at the front on the building on the top floor and had glass windows that looked down on the main floor."
The photo above shows Main Street as it looked in the 1930s. The Toggery is on the far left corner underneath the sign “Florsheim Shoes”. In the photo below, you’ll notice The Toggery in the middle of the photo and under the same shoe sign, just past the Park Theatre.
Our research also uncovered a couple of classic ads from 1961 declaring, "Men's clothes for the fall season have a 4-star rating" and offers gift suggestion like “acceptable gifts for ladies” like lovely silk robes, hosiery, and leather travel kits.
Last fall, we met with 90-year-old John Burnett, who was a janitor at The Toggery for several decades. He said, “The Toggery was always busy. They sold lots of nice clothes and shoes for men and women. They had the nicest suits. It was a very popular place to shop and a wonderful place to work for so many years.”
From Dr. Rogers’ beautiful Victorian house, The Toggery’s success under the ownership of the Massie and Way families, and Mast General Store’s 25 years of enjoying Waynesville’s vibrant downtown community, 63 North Main Street has revealed itself to be a location as rich and interesting as its former inhabitants. At Mast Store, we’re a proud to be a lasting part of Downtown Waynesville’s incredible legacy.