HISTORY
The Five Star building was originally owned and operated by the White family; who also owned the White Furniture Company building across the street. The White Furniture Company building is currently undergoing a major renovation to be repurposed as industrial style apartments.
The White family lived in a house directly beside The Five Star Building. At that point in time, the building also had one additional retail bay which housed a barber shop. That addition was destroyed at an unknown point in time. Locals may recognize the location as a former Kerr Drug Store, but it is currently being utilized as a small furniture store.
A train station was positioned directly across from the building. Those train tracks are still operatable today, but the train station has since been torn down.
According to various sources, the building formerly housed the town's bank, post office, department store, grocery store, drug store, hotel, and more.
More specifically, these establishments were operated under the following business names: Mebane Hotel, Mebane Grill, Roses Dime Store (similar to a dollar store), Carolina Drug Co., Penders Grocery, and Durham Bank.
There are some interesting facts in relation to the businesses at the Five Star Building. These facts include that the Durham Bank was the only bank in Mebane for many years. It later became Central Carolina Bank and then Suntrust Bank.
Also, larger grocery (stores such as The Colonial Store) put smaller grocery stores (such as Penders Grocery) out of business.