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Black's In Plant City Was A Special Place

Plant City Photo Archive

The holiday displays in Black's Department Store windows, like this one in 1954, always attracted attention, writes Ebbie Colson Hamilton.

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By EBBIE COLSON HAMILTON

Special to the Tribune

Published: September 21, 2008

PLANT CITY - In the 1940s, Black's Department Store opened downtown on Drane Street and grew to be one of the town's most popular places to shop. Everybody knew Black's. On Saturday evenings, so many customers flocked to the store you could hardly move. And you would not believe the number of people who were there each Christmas Eve to pick up their layaway items.

Bill and Lil Black were the owners and proprietors. When the store first opened, it was small but offered clothes for the whole family. In the next few years, the business expanded and Black's occupied the entire building on the corner of Drane and Palmer Streets across from the railroad tracks. For a small town, it was a big store.

Mr. Black's intention and theme was to provide good clothing at a price working people could afford. The linen department was very popular for buying shower gifts through the years and free wrapping was provided. The layaway plan was used by many families for school clothes, as well as Christmas gifts. When the phosphate plant had a strike, the store honored the workers by holding their layaways without expecting payments.

At Christmas, Mr. Black decorated his display windows with life-size angels and the nativity scenes were in motion. He added Christmas carols that could be heard for blocks. People drove their cars past the store windows every Christmas. It was a tradition to go and see the decorated window displays and hear the carols.

Mr. Black always hired high school and college students when possible, along with his regular employees. He treated every person with respect; many of his customers considered him to be a friend.

He also had a knack for knowing how to move merchandise. When sales were slow for certain items, he would move them to a new location and table display. Sales would pick up - you could see how his intuition paid off.

Many of our friends from that time, including Mr. and Mrs. Black, have passed on. But you can't go far in Plant City without someone asking, "Did you work at Black's?"

I was one of his employees from the early beginnings of the store and off and on until Black's closed in the early 1970s. I was nearly 50 when I went to college to complete a degree in education. Mr. Black allowed me to name my hours of work around my schedule at the University of South Florida. I received my degree on the same weekend Mr. Black turned the key for the last time.

The building that was once Plant City's favorite department store is now a bingo hall several nights each week. But for many of us, the memories of a special place in the history of our town live on.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ebbie Colson Hamilton, 82, is from one of Plant City's pioneer families. She was born in Plant City and it is still her home. After earning an education degree from the University of South Florida when she was 47, she taught fourth grade for 17 years at J.S. Robinson Elementary School in Turkey Creek. Hamilton has two children, one grandchild and two great-grandchildren.

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