The Sugarplum Tree

This building was built after 1850 and is the only one on Carroll Street that has retained its original design. At one point it was owned and operated by Miss L. M. Kunz as a millinery shop. Later it became Hugh Lawson’s hardware store where tragedy happened in November, 1889. As the story goes, Dr. Minor Havis was inspecting a new 38 caliber hammerless Smith & Wesson pistol here when the pistol accidentally fired entering Dr. Havis about an inch to the left of the spine, passing through the bone near the hip bone. He attempted to walk home, but stopped at the post office where Drs. Smith, Mann, Holtzclaw, and Felder attended him. About an hour after the wound was received, he walked about 300 yards to his home accompanied by the physicians and several other friends. At home he was constantly attended by the physicians, with the utmost care and skill. At no time was death apprehended. He slept well the latter part of Monday night and at noon on Tuesday it was believed that the crisis had passed and that Dr. Havis would recover. However, by midnight he was deceased. The store later became Houston Hardware, owned and operated by Carey B. Andrew and later by his son, Charles Andrew, until 1977. In the 1980s it became a children’s clothing store known as The Sugarplum Tree and has operated as such to the present day.