CW Gilliam General Store

CW Gilliam General Store - now a vacant lot.

Mr. Gilliam owned and operated a general merchandise store in Okolona for more than 70 years. "He was an inspiration to many"

Charlie W. Gilliam. widely known Negro merchant and one of Okolona's oldest residents died April 19th, 1962 at his home in Okolona. The 92-year-old familiar figure had owned and operated a general merchandise store in Okolona for more than 70 years(C. W. Gilliam General Store). He had managed his own business since its organization.

His old-fashioned, mirrored, handsomely carved soda fountain, and other unusual features, attracted much attention.

Charlie, as he was known to his host of friends, white and colored, assisted in the founding of the Okolona Industrial School, now Okolona College, in 1902, and had been a trustee since its inception and for the past few years had been the only living charter member of the board. Last year when the Henry Rockwell, Fund, Inc., of Houston, Texas, made a donation of $75,000 to the City of Okolona a substantial gift was also made to Okolona College in special honor of the work done by C. W. Gilliam.

He was an authority on Okolona's early history and his information was often sought relative to dates, places and persons. When very young he was a porter at Memphis's old Gaston Hotel and later was a Pullman porter for the Frisco Railroad.

He claimed to be William R. Moore's oldest customer and he prized a letter written to him by the firm when he was ill in a Memphis hospital. He kept a large interest file including letters from Booker T. Washington and invitations to speak at Tuskegee and other Negro colleges.

Source: The Okolona Messenger, April 26, 1962, Page 2.