Colonel Charles Davis 

A fortune amassed, lost and regained.
 
“The Big Store,” which encompasses what is now Main Street Furniture, McCommons Desktop Publishing and the Greensboro Antique Mall, was erected in 1858 by Charles Alfred Davis, Sr.  It was the largest store between Atlanta and Augusta at that time.  It boasted a blacksmith shop and stable in the rear lot.  The store officially opened in 1860 and was the price-setter for stores in Greensboro.  Mr. Davis would set the prices on Monday, and if a market bucked him and sold goods at a lower price, he would put the competitor out of business.  He was successful at this because he had contacts all over the country and could absorb the small losses that he incurred when he undercut his competitors.
 
Mr. Davis amassed a great fortune before the Civil War.  He fought for the Confederacy and while he was gone, the store was used as a hospital for Confederate soldiers from the battles of Atlanta, Newnan, Sharpsburg, Jonesboro and other areas of Georgia.  When he returned to Greensboro, his fortune was almost completely drained and his store goods consumed.
 
Once again, Mr. Davis contacted his friends in New York and was back in business.  Once more he amassed a great fortune.
 
In 1900, Mr. J. H. McCommons bought the store and a funeral home was added to the upper floor.  Today the building is owned by the third and fourth generations of McCommons, Steve and son, Billy.  In addition to the McCommons Funeral Home, now housed in the historic Jonas Fauche House, the McCommons also run an office supply and desktop publishing business in The Big Store.