S. E. Stewart / Strand Theatre

S.E. Stewart’s General Store was built in the early 1890s at the southwest corner of Main Street and Bowery (now Sparkman) Street. Stewart sold a variety of farming supplies along with wagons and plows. Like many of Hartselle’s early commercial buildings, S.E. Stewart’s had rooms upstairs which were variously rented to out of town visitors or occupied by owners of the downstairs business. Farmers who patronized the store would often buy on credit during the year and pay their bill in the fall when their cotton was harvested.

Neighboring the store to the west was a large parking lot where Mr. Stewart would allow farmers to leave their mules and wagons as they shopped in the downtown area. Also located on the lot was a camp house where farmers could stay overnight if necessary.

In the 1930s, the store was torn down and replaced by the brick building which stands on the site today. At one time, Cook & White Feed Store was housed in this building, and Kuhn’s 5 & 10 Cent Store moved to this location in 1950. Today, the building is occupied by Moe’s Original BBQ.

A few doors west of the Stewart’s property, the Pearl Vaughan Theatre was built in the early 1920s, changing its name to the Strand Theatre in 1932. Hubert Mitchell purchased the theatre in 1955 and changed the name to the Rodeo Theatre. Since the closure of the Rodeo in the late 1960s, the old theatre building has housed several businesses, including Cato’s Dress Shop and Spinning Wheel Antiques.