Historical Happenings
2 by Peggy Butterfield
March 2017
Uncle Tom ' s Cabin , New Brighton
About 1911 , Uncle Tom ' s Cabin , a general store , was established on the south side of Bowhill Road in the , then , new community of North New Brighton . H . R . Wade built the store , and in the early days the store was the centre of the community , being a popular tea-rooms run by the proprietor and his wife and daughters .
The next owner was William Edward Leverett ( 1874 ? -1943 ) who was commonly known as Uncle Tom . However , it is likely that the store derived its name from the title of Harriet Beecher Stowe ' s novel , Uncle Tom ' s cabin . Mrs Jillian Alice Leverett took over the store and the Post Office on 16 October 1917 and ran it with the help of her husband until November 1922 , when the Chief Postmaster obtained approval to remove the Post Office to a new fancy-goods shop at 45 Bowhill Road , run by Mrs Caroline Agnes Peters and her daughter . Mrs Peters became Postmistress on 12 March 1923 at a salary of 32 pounds per annum . We have extensive photos and history of the local area at the museum , open every day from 1 to 3pm corner Hardy Street and Seaview Road .
Golden Oldie movies every Monday at 1.30pm , come early for a cuppa and a chat . $ 2 donation
Movies for March are- |
6 th Grand Hotel |
1932 |
Greta Garbo , 1hr 52mins , Melodrama |
13 th Jumbo |
1962 |
Doris Day , Jimmy Durante , 2hrs |
Musical |
20 th Key Largo |
1948 |
Humphrey Bogart , Lauren Bacall , 1hr 41min Thriller |
27 th Carmen Jones |
1954 |
Harry Belafonte , Dorothy Dandridge , 105m , Musical |