Cecil and Anna Pierce:1950s

After he left the Pierce Level community in Wilmer, Alabama, Cecil Alvy Pierce (1907-1975) never returned to live in Alabama.

He moved to Akron, Ohio, and worked for the Goodrich Rubber Company, where he met Anna Edwards (1909-2008). They were married on November 28, 1929. Cecil later got a job with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad company in Akron. Cecil and Anna made a number of trips to Mobile to visit Cecil's parents and other relatives. They always travelled by train, arriving at the L&N station at the foot of Government Street.

This above portrait of the couple was probably made in the 1950s.

Bonie Pierce: Service Station

N.B. "Bonie" Pierce stands in front of his business, the Reservoir Inn, 4900 Moffet Road, Mobile, Alabama. Note that the service station has switched to selling Citi Service gasoline from Sinclair gas, which it sold when it first opened in 1940.

Pierce Clan on W.T's Farm

Some members of the Pierce clan gathered for this photo probably taken on the Saraland, Alabama, farm of Wilson Taft "W.T" Pierce (1910-1983) in the 1940s.

Standing from left are: Beatrice Valara Pierce (1921-1993), Napoleon Bonaparte "Bonie" Pierce (1880-1964), Velma Moree Pierce (1913-1993) and her husband Charles E. Barnhart (1913-2004), "W.T" and his wife Pearl, an unidentified man, and Ella Lee Pierce. The children in the wagon are not identified.

Raymond and Ella Lee: 1940s

Ella Lee Carley met Raymond Lamont Pierce (1923-1981) when the two of them were working at Gulf Shipbuilding Corp. in Chickasaw, Alabama, during World War II.

Ella Lee, as she was always called, joined the war workers flooding into Mobile from the rural areas of Mississippi and Alabama. The demand for workers at the city's shipyards and Brookley Army Air Force Base was so great that the city's population doubled almost overnight. Ella Lee moved from Electric Mills, Mississippi, and counted herself lucky because she had friends in Mobile who gave her a place to live. Housing was very scarce. So scarce in fact that many places rented beds for 8-hour shifts.

The above photo was taken in front of the Reservoir Inn. As you can tell by the sign, N.B. "Bonie" had switched from selling the Sinclair gasoline brand, which he sold when the business first opened, to the Cities Service brand.

Reservoir Inn: Interior

The inside of N.B. "Bonie" Pierce's Reservoir Inn did not have any fancy appointments. Simple aluminum frame tables and chairs filled most of the open space. Along one wall, in the background above, Bonie built plywood booths.

In the above photo, Beatrice Valara Pierce (1921-1993) sits with her hand resting against her face. She is wearing an apron because she did most of the work tending customers. The Reservoir Inn did not serve prepared food, but it had all sorts of convenience foods and served beer and soft drinks.

Bonie is in the background walking toward the old-fashioned wooden phone booth. Barely visible behind him in the window is Bonie's wife Julia, looking in on who is in the store. Behind the window wall was Bonie and Julia's home.

The names of the three customers at the table are not known, but they were regular visitors to the Reservoir Inn. This photo was probably taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Gibsons at Jack Dempsey's

For many people in the late 1930s and 1940s a trip to New York City was not complete without a visit to Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant. Located on Broadway between 49th and 50th streets, the restaurant became an American institution. Heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey opened the restaurant in 1935.

On the left side of the table in the above photo are a 14-year-old Ralph N. Gibson (1933), his father Joseph Gibson (1900-1966) and mother Ina Mae Pierce (1903-1977).

The names of the couple on the right side of the are not known, but the man was Joe Gibson's partner in Sweet's Foundry in Johnson City, New York. The photo was taken about 1947.

As he did most nights with customers, Dempsey came by the Gibson's table to greet them.
The painting on the wall behind the table is a well-known one. It shows Dempsey on the right, crouching and bobbing his way to a heavyweight victory over the giant Jess Willard to win the championship on July 14, 1919.

Cecil Alvy Pierce: 1940s

Cecil Alvy Pierce (1907-1975) stands proudly with one foot on the running board of his car.

Does anyone recognize the make, model, and year of the car? The style is typical of the 1940s.

Photo courtesy of Lisa Pierce Tilley.