The Mayflower

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This unusual view of Huntington’s Mayflower Super
 Dairy Store is one of dozens of pictures included in
 ‘Huntington — The Levi Holley Stone Collection,’
 by John Witek and Deborah Novak. 

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Opened in 1941 on the northwest corner of 4th Avenue
 and 11th Street, the Mayflower Super Dairy Store
 was a luncheonette and soda fountain with a
 curving, glass-brick facade and a
 stainless-steel countertop.

The “Dairy” in the Mayflower’s name referred to the rich
 ice cream sodas, milk shakes and sundaes it served.
 Customers could sit at the counter or in booths
 and enjoy their tasty treats in air-conditioned
 comfort. The booths had keyboards for
 selecting tunes on the jukebox.

For decades, self-taught Huntington photographer
 Levi Holley Stone (1898-1981) made images of
 the people and places of his hometown

Stone apparently captured an unusual view inside the
Mayflower in mid-afternoon, long after the lunchtime
 rush. A lone customer can be seen leafing through a
 newspaper. The photographer shot his photo
from a low angle to exaggerate perspective.
 The effect creates a sense of depth, while
 the converging lines of the floor tile
 lead the eye into the picture.

After Stone’s death, local historian John Witek was
 browsing at a Proctorville flea market when he
 found a treasure trove of his photographs.
 Purchasing them, he set out to find out
 about Stone’s life and try to garner
 him the reputation he deserved.

Witek’s efforts led to a 2013 exhibit of Stone’s photographs
 at the Huntington Museum of Art. Later, Witek and
 Deborah Novak gathered dozens of his photos in
 a paperback book, “Huntington — The Levi
 Holley Stone Collection,” issued by
 Arcadia Publishing.

As for the Mayflower, the former dairy bar and the
 adjacent State Theater were demolished in 1964
 to make way for construction of a new
 building to house the former
 Huntington Trust &
 Savings Bank.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Sept. 3, 2024.

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