REMEMBER WHEN

Photos tell more about the Mattox family

Joyce Harvey

A story appeared here on April 13, 2015, about Joe Mattox who operated a men's clothing store on West Main Street from 1897 to 1926, and his son, Clyde Mattox, who operated a men's clothing store on South Broad from 1931 until his death in 1956.

After Clyde's death, Charles Goslin managed the store until it closed in 1969.

Joe Mattox's first wife, Eva J. Bell Mattox, died in 1896 and left him with three children between ages 6 and 12. The children were Clyde, Herbert and Hazel. Joe's great-granddaughter, Claudia Turner Aycock, now resides in Texas.

After reading the story, she offered to share photos of Joe's first three children.

This house stood at 234 N. Broad St., at the southeastern corner of Broad and Mulberry streets, and was home to Joe Mattox’s family for 35 years. Today, the sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church sits on this site.

Joe married Fanny Wyman in 1898, and they had two sons and three daughters. Their son Thomas married a widow with a young son, Jack Walker. Jack resides in Lancaster and offered to share a photo of Joe Mattox's house.

The house, at 234 N. Broad St., was built for S.J. and Sarah Wright in the early 1870s.

Joe purchased their "handsome residence" in 1905 and moved his family into the house in 1915. Joe died in 1927, and his wife Fannie lived in the house until the late 1950s, when she sold it to the First Presbyterian Church. The house stood on the southeastern corner of Broad and Mulberry streets where the church's sanctuary stands today.

The three children born to Joe Mattox and his first wife, Eva, are shown in this 1893 photograph. Shown, from left, are Herbert, Clyde and Hazel Mattox.

Jack Walker remembers visiting the house when he was a boy. The house had a large front hall with a curved stairway to the second floor. To the south was the library and to the north the living room. On the first floor, there also were a large dining room, butler's pantry and kitchen. There were four bedrooms upstairs and a large garage behind the house.

A neighboring house still stands at 122 E. Mulberry St. It also was built in the 1870s for John C. and Mary Hite. Today, it is an attractive house with a long history in the neighborhood, and it continues to stand proudly on Mulberry Hill.

Readers are always encouraged to share historic Lancaster photos.

Readers may contact Joyce Harvey at joycelancastereg@gmail.com.