In the above picture, the " First Electric House " consisted of an old Delco electric system which many of the local farms had at the time. The Zeb Stafford family in the two story gray house in the corner of Hickory Ridge Road and Stallings Road was responsible for the operation of this Delco system. Just before dark each day one of the Stafford boys would cross Stallings road , refill the gas tank, crank the generator, and then all connected to the system would have power until the generator motor ran out of gas. While the generator was working, a battery was being charged so that when the generator ran out of gas, the lights would dim and everyone was required to turn off all lights. There was still some energy in the battery so they would have one light available to turn on if they had to get up in the night. The only surviving part of the system is the building roof which J. C. Higgins got and was used on his property for a long time but on our latest search we were unable to locate it.
 
 
b
Map drawn by Mary Sims Hall (1903-1998) in 1920. Note the Oglesby and Stafford store. There is a picture of the interior of the Gray Store that is in the Restored Morrison/Sims store and it shows Mr and Mrs Gray and their dog, sorry but I do not know the dog's name. Also notice the Sims Gin on the North side of the Railroad is not shown so it was evidently built after 1920. The RR section house is shown but not the house beside it, the house beside the section shed was purchased from the RR by Robert Stafford - mover to where Martha Melvin's house is and was used for the Boy Scout meeting house for many years.
 
a

The above map is from a meeting with Sonny Brown at his house on the early roads of Harrisburg.

The road North of and paralleling the Rail Road is the present Railroad Ave. The road in the lower right between the Railroad and Stallings is the old road between Charlotte and Concord. This section of road was never paved but the road bed is still there and clearly visible. This road continued off the map to the right to the old RR crossing at Foils Scrap Metal where it crossed the new HY49 and continued on to ford Coddle Creek , then thru the back side of Jackson Training School where it met up with the present Charlotte Hwy. In the upper left the road continued North and made a long curve to the left at about the location of the HPC sanctuary where it met up with the current HY49 and continued to Charlotte. The large oak trees that are visible around both sides of the county line lined the road. This road meeting was around 2013-2014.

copyright 2011 Ted McCachren