A celebration was held Thursday to commemorate the centennial anniversary of a downtown landmark and its recent renovation.

Local attorney Jeremy Trapp and his family and staff hosted an open house to show off his law office located on what was once referred to as “the white corner” on the public square, the former home of Cantrell’s Jewelry.

Director Suzanne Williams and other representatives of the Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce were on hand to present a Community Improvement Award.

The two story building with 1200 square feet on each floor was erected 100 years ago and has been used for a variety of purposes including a bank, department store, dentist office, jewelry store, and law office.

Trapp relocated his law office there a few years ago after purchasing the building and making renovations.

“I purchased the building from Imogene Cantrell a few years ago when it was Cantrell’s Jewelry and I just wanted to do a complete renovation of the building. I always thought it would make a nice office. I thought it was a unique building. It’s taken a while. We did the outside and the bottom level first and then we moved in. A few years later we decided to go ahead and do the top floor of the building, which really hadn’t been used much except for storage since about the 1940s. We basically gutted the top and completely renovated that too so now the whole building is completely restored after 100 years and we’re using both floors for law office space,” said Trapp.

Trapp said there are a lot of interesting facts about the history of the building.

“It started out around 1917-18 as People’s Bank & Trust of DeKalb County. That is what it was originally built for. In the late 1920’s First National Bank bought out or took over the bank. From that time period until about maybe the late 1950s or early 60s it was actually Puckett’s Department Store for a while. We have a picture of that. Not many people remember Puckett’s Department Store being at this location. I believe Joe L. Evins bought it from First National Bank and let Puckett’s Department Store rent it for a while until Imogene and Max Cantrell bought the building in 1965. From that time on, she and Max owned it,” said Trapp.

A dentist and attorney also made use of the upstairs portion of the building many years ago.

“In the old days there was a dentist office upstairs. I talked to some older clients who had actually been up here when it was a dentist office. There was also an attorney’s office in one part of the upstairs building. His name was R.L. Turner and that name was still on the door on the top level when I bought the building,” Trapp continued.

Since acquiring the building, Trapp has added a stairwell to gain access to the upstairs from the first floor, as the original structure had none.

“They didn’t have a stairwell in. The only access to the upstairs was from the outside of the building in an area that joins the neighboring or adjacent building. It was basically an easement that both buildings used to get to the top half of each building. I went ahead and put in a whole new stairwell and made it look really nice,” said Trapp.

As part of its community outreach ministry, the Smithville Cumberland Presbyterian Church is again sponsoring a drive thru mobile food pantry Saturday morning, March 17 rain or shine.

In partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank, the church plans to prepare enough food boxes to serve up to 300 families regardless of their income status, on a first come, first served basis. Families will receive enough food to last them for a full week. Second Harvest will bring in pallets of food on trucks. The food will then be off loaded and organized in preparation for the distribution.

Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and the food will be delivered from 9:00 a.m. until noon. Unlike most food distributions, those being served by the mobile pantry will not have to get out of their automobiles. They will drive thru in a pickup line and volunteers will deliver the food directly to their vehicles, placing the food boxes either in the back seat or trunk. Cars will line up facing north on College Street across from the Smithville Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

“It’s a mobile food pantry but it’s also a drive thru. The recipients will stay in their cars. They will line up starting at 8:00 a.m. on College Street and when we have everything prepared and organized we’ll start the line moving, hopefully around 9:00 a.m. Recipients will drive through. As they enter in we’ll have a team there to put a box of food in their cars, either in their back seat or trunk,” said spokesperson Teresa Trapp Brown.

“We will line up right across from the church (Smithville Cumberland Presbyterian Church) on College Street. We’ll start registration at 8:00 a.m. We’ll need the name of the recipients and how many families are being served. We’re limited to two families per vehicle to make sure we have enough food,” added Isaac Gray, Minister of the Smithville Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Others who wish to volunteer may show up Saturday, March 17 or call for more information at 615-464-7896 or 615-597-4197.