The general store in Carolina, Rhode Island, which also housed the post office and a grain outlet, was first established as a company store by the Carolina Mill Company circa 1837. Edwin A. Kenyon of E. A. Kenyon and Co. made two attempts at running the business. It is not known when he first bought the business from Carolina Mills. However, he sold the store and the post office back to the Carolina Mill Company in 1871 and bought them back again in the mid 1890s.
William McVay began operating the store in 1901 and was acting postmaster. In 1905 he became postmaster. His successors were Harold and Becky Burdick, who ran the store until it closed in 1951.
Sources for more information include:
Charlestown Bicentennial Book Committee. Reflections of Charlestown, Rhode Island 1876-1976. Westerly, RI: The Utter Company, 1976.
Richmond Bicentennial Commission. Driftways into the Past. Westerly, RI: The Richmond Historical Society, 1977.
Open for research.
Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
Records of the E.A. Kenyon Mill Store, 1873-1944, Mss. Gr. 103, University of Rhode Island Library.
The records of the E. A. Kenyon Mill Store were recovered in the abandoned Carolina Mills in Carolina, Rhode Island in 1982. They were then deposited in Special Collections at the University of Rhode Island Library. Fire and mold growth have left the collection incomplete and in poor condition.
The records were organized into the three following series:
Series I, Financial Records, 1866-1894, primarily contains the statements of goods purchased by Kenyon from other companies. There are also some checks and receipts from those suppliers.
Series II, Account Ledgers, 1857-1946, contains the records of purchases and sales made by the mill store.
Series III, Post Office, 1873-1946, contains records accrued during postal business, including registers of money orders and quarterly reports.
The records are organized into the three following series:
The records of the E. A. Kenyon Mill Store were recovered in the abandoned Carolina Mills in Carolina, Rhode Island in 1982. They were then deposited in Special Collections at the University of Rhode Island Library.
This series contains records concerning the mill stores' business with their suppliers. Included are checks and receipts from outside companies, statements of goods purchased from suppliers, and a few incoming letters.
The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by the subject or type of record and chronologically within folders.
This series records the financial transactions of the mill store, including customer accounts and purchased supplies. This series is arranged chronologically.
This series contains records of the transactions of the post office within the mill store.
Types of records include a sampling of the following: quarterly reports to the postmaster general, a postal guide, registers of money orders, armed forces forms, newspaper and magazine price books and postage stamps, parcel post coupons and registered letter coupons.
This series is arranged alphabetically by type or subject of record and chronologically within folders.