Oldest business in the area has it place in history

COLUMBUS – “I don’t know how they got that thing on the truck,” said Jamal Hannon of Hannons Hauling. Hannon spoke about the first printing press for the Tryon Daily Bulletin during an African American Heritage presentation sponsored by the Polk County Historical Association Tuesday, February 6.

“They went to Hendersonville to get it [the press],” Hannon said. “They had to come through Howard Gap on dirt roads and cross the Pacolet River.”

Hannon’s grandfather, William Hannon, delivered the press to Tryon in 1929 on his first truck that he’d bought in 1925. William Hannon started his dray line with a horse and wagon on February 1, 1912.

“He’d haul whatever people needed hauling Hannon told the audience of 25 or more at the Polk County History Museum. Today Hannons Hauling includes not only a moving company, but a waste removal service as well.

Hannon continued with stories about his family and how the business grew under his Uncle, Edgar Hannon’s management. He talked about how he and Edgar had played baseball, and that Edgar could have been a professional ball player, if he hadn’t stayed to run the business. Hannon added that he, himself, would have helped to expand the business if he hadn’t joined the military. He said he joined because that is what his family did.

“My family has served this country in every conflict since WWI,” Hannon said. When a member of the audience asked if any of his ancestors served in the Civil War, Hannon said he did not know, but that he had traced his family back to a man named Green Hannon who lived in the Tryon area in 1803.

“The Hannon family was always about service,” Hannon said. “I guess that’s why we served in the military. My grandfather’s motto was ‘professional service with the personal touch.’”

Hannon also remembered how hard working his family was. He talked about how his father, Haywood Hannon, worked at the Bank of America in Tryon as well as helping out with the family hauling business.

“I worked with his [Hannon’s] dad in the Caro Mi dining room,” said Paul Rhodes. “His dad was a working soul. He always had three or four jobs.”

Hannon was very proud to be a part of the family business. He showed several old pictures and proclamations the business had received throughout the years, including one from President Obama. He talked about how they were able to pay a wage of $10 an hour in 1962.  “We provided a lot of employment for folks over on the east side,” Hannon said.

Hannon Hauling celebrated 100 years in 2012 and is now the oldest continuously run business in Tryon.