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Mr. & Mrs. W. G. Trevathan, Founder and Owner
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The founder of
Columbia Tent & Awning Company was a quiet but strong-willed man with
an active mind and body. W. G. Trevathan, Sr. was born near Raleigh, May
6, 1888. After his Mother's death in 1902 the Trevathan family, one
brother and two sisters, moved to Columbia in the spring of 1903 and lived
with his sister's family for a while. At 15 years of age he started his
canvas education by working in the Columbia Duck Mill where cotton canvas
was made. Here he learned how canvas was constructed, how it was graded,
and its many uses. His part time job, while he |
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was helping to hang awnings for a company out of Charlotte, N. C. He
enjoyed this kind of work. He, of course, did not realize how important
two jobs were in shaping his future. |
On January 10, 1907, he married Miriam Blanche Ogg and for several years
they lived with his inlaws, the George S. Oggs, at 702 Richland Street
where his first awning was installed. The domestic pedal
"Honeymoon" machine used for making awnings, along with many
other World War items, is still in the family's possession. After serving
the World War I in Charleston Navel Yards as a sail maker and rigger, his
knowledge and interest was spurned.
Several letters from Columbia urged "The Awning Man", as he was
referred to, to return and continue his trade. In 1920 the family moved
back to Columbia and settled on College Drive in Eau Claire. The first
tent was made in the front room of this home on the same above mentioned
machine. The young people up to now, in their struggle for survival,
bought the canvas they used, from an uptown dry goods store "Mimnaughs"
and the framing from a local hardware store. The trolley was the means of
transportation with the conductor stopping and helping to load up and in
some cases, passengers holding one end of the pipes out of the windows.
His bicycle was another means of transportation until the old
"Maxwell" was purchased. This not only increased business
pleasure, but family pleasure also. Already there were two sons: Cecil
Edgerton and William Gaston,Jr. before leaving this house twin sons,
Charles Leigh and Earnest Kay were born. The family moved to King Street
for a number of years and while here a daughter, Beverly Esther, was born.
The first building for the business was at 2400 Main Street in 1923 and a
loan of .00 was the beginning of the expansion. His father, Matthew
Garrett, cousins, Leather & Sam Lilly, were among the few that helped
in this start. As the business grew the family also grew and the four sons
and one daughter learned to cut and sew and other arts of the trade. The
slogan "If
its made of canvas, we make it" was written by W. G. Trevathan, Sr.
during these times when no canvas job was refused and the meaning was
literal. |
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