Editor
Over 300 people gathered Saturday at the Norris Recreation Park in honor of the town's centennial celebration.
A static display of historical photographs depicting life during the town's beginnings and a collection of antiques used in Norris' past lined one side of the recreation center while town employees and volunteers occupied another side of the building and dished out homemade barbeque, baked beans and coleslaw to all in attendance.
Life-time residents of Norris shared stories about the town's history, recalling the grocery stores, a mercantile, a barber shop, bank and train depot that sprouted among the many industries that called the then recently-founded town home.
Outside, in the crisp breeze of Fall, children played on inflatable bounces set up on the park's ball field.
Long-time Norris resident Peggy Cooper said that her grandmother graduated from Norris High School, where their class, one of seven, had as their motto "Jog on." Pink and green were the class colors and a pink rose represented the class flower.
"My grandmother passed a test when she finished high school which showed she was eligible to teach second grade," Cooper said. "But her mother wouldn't let her because, with all the men working in the fields, she had to stay home and learn how to cook so she could help out."
Back then, flour was purchased in decorative cloth sacks, which mothers used to make soft shirts, bedding and pillow cases, Cooper said.
"I remember seeing my father walking down the road, heading to the store to buy flour, and the last flour sack hanging out of his pocket so he could match it with the new flour sack perfectly," she said. "Mama said she wanted matching pillow cases."
The trains, which ran through the heart of Norris, were important to the town, and very special to Cooper, she said.
"My uncle worked for the railroad and lived in Atlanta," she said. "And he knew how much I loved to read, and things to read were in short supply then.
"My uncle would pass through Norris on a train and toss out a package of newspaper and magazines for me. I would sit near the tracks for hours, waiting for him to come by," she said. "Sometimes it would take me another few hours to find where it landed."
Cooper said several bars were located in Norris, some having jars filled with large cookies that cost only a penny.
"I use to walk around looking for pennies," she said. "And when I found one I would sneak into one of those beer joints to buy a cookie for a penny.
"I had to sneak, because I didn't want my mama to know that I was going into a beer joint for a cookie," she said.
Five cents was a huge amount of money for families then, and wasn't to be spent frivolously, she said.
"Once, in the grocery store, I saw a little tin filled with marshmallows and it cost five cents," she said. "I wanted those marshmallows so bad, and I went home and asked my mother for five cents.
"She asked me why, and I told her about those marshmallows. I don't know how she did it, but mama, bless her heart, gave me five cents," Cooper said.
When Peggy and Floyd Cooper married 53 years ago, they moved from Norris and lived briefly in Greenville.
"And I just didn't like living there, she said.
"One day, Floyd came home and found me crying," she said. "When he asked me what was wrong I said, 'Floyd, if you love me, you'll get me back to Norris.'"
Soon after, the young man brought his wife back to the town she loved, where she became the town clerk for Norris.
"I earned $100 a month, and only brought home $81.12 of that," she said.
"There are a lot of good, good memories, Mrs. Cooper said. "Those were the good, ol'days.
"Good days, gone, but not forgotten," she said.
James Cook, who lives on the first homestead in Norris, said he also remembered the time when the town supported a school.
"We had to walk back and forth to school then," he said. "Barefooted, most of the time."
Feed for farm animals also came in cloth sacks, which his mother cut and sewed into clothing, he said.
"I wore feed-sack shirts to school because that's all we had," Cook said.
Flour could be purchased in 100-pound sacks, he said.
"That's because we had biscuits every morning back then," Cook said. "I just recently told my wife that I wanted biscuits and syrup for breakfast, and she said that I didn't need biscuits because I was gaining weight.
"I told her that I didn't start gaining weight until she stopped making biscuits," he said.
Cook said that the Norris of his childhood provided for families in many ways.
"You could get everything in Norris that you needed," he said. Maybe not all that you wanted, but certainly everything you needed."
State Senator Larry Martin told the crowd that he was "proud to help celebrate Norris' 100 years of history that is so important to Pickens County."
In 1890, Norris was called Gates, Martin said,
"A writer for The Pickens Sentinel then said it was next to the Gates Community," he said.
The history of Norris is rich, and significant, Martin said.
"Jerry Alexander, long-time publisher of The Pickens Sentinel, and who is sorry that he couldn't be here due to other commitments, sent me three pages of notes on Norris' history," he said.
"I am happy to join in this special celebration," Martin said. "And I am very proud of this community and what you all have contributed to Pickens County."
Norris Mayor Odell Williams said the town now owns all of the fire department's equipment and contracts with the Pickens County Sheriff's Office for five deputies to patrol town limits.
"We have come a distance, and we are going to keep going forward," Williams said.
Ann Clardy, town clerk, said that many local residents pulled together to make the centennial celebration a success.
"We worked many long, hard hours on (the celebration)," Clardy said. "And now that this is over, we need to get started on our Christmas parade."
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