curb market n
1 also curbstone market: A regular street-side market for the sale of farm produce by the producers (and sometimes meat or fish by independent vendors); later extended to similar markets held under cover and sometimes including local vendors of non-food items; the building housing such a market. Note: In recent use mostly in, or as, the name of particular established markets; farmers’ market appears to be the usual generic term. chiefly Atl (exc NEng), Gulf States
1849 Lancaster Intelligencer (PA) 13 Nov 1/6, Crack goes the whip and with a mighty retrograde motion the carts and wagons are dashed against the curbstone Market Place, where a crowd of our country friends are squeezed in a row in front their nice baskets of eggs, butter, cheese, poultry, &c. 1868 PA Genl. Assembly House Repr. Jrl. 248, Mr. Thorn presented the petition of inhabitants of Philadelphia, praying for the passage of an act abolishing curb-stone markets, and to allow farmers to sell produce from their wagons at the residence of the inhabitants. 1869 Hartford Daily Courant (CT) 9 Apr [2]/3, A shed is being put up in Market street, between State and Kingsley, to be used for curbstone markets, which will be removed there from the south side of the State House square. 1897 Wilmington Daily Republican (DE) 10 July 1/8, City Council held a special meeting . . to consider the ordinance for the establishment of a curb stone market. It will be only a matter of a short time until we see the farm wagons backed up to the curbs loaded with farm produce. 1903 Sun (NY NY) 28 Mar 12/1, The employees of the Street Cleaning Department went through these curb markets shouting and threatening the pushcart men, who seemed ever alert for a chance to throw decayed fish into the street or spill their refuse on a sidewalk. 1920 Palm Beach Post (W. Palm Beach FL) 10 Jan 3/2, To all of these . . the curb market presents features which are admirable—for there the vegetables are always fresh and the prices are kept down. 1931 Park City Daily News (Bowling Green KY) 8 Sept 1/7, Bowling Green’s Curb Market will remain open each day during the week, except Sunday, according to a decision reached last night at a meeting of the Board of Trade, Retail Grocers and Farmers committees. 1940 Faulkner Hamlet 63 MS, He called on the twelfth customer, a distant kinsman, and found that he had departed a week ago with a string of mules to sell at the mule curb-market at Columbia, Tennessee. 1940 Writers’ Program Guide Pennsylvania 100, Curb market: Open air or curb markets are found in most of the smaller cities. 1943 Anniston Star (AL) 14 Mar 10/7, The attendance of this meeting will largely determine whether or not a curb market will be set up in Anniston this year. 1952 Twin City Sentinel (Winston-Salem NC) 9 Aug 5/6, The Cherokee Historical Association is sponsoring a new curb market. . . The building has been equipped with display booths and tables to hold produce from Cherokee farms. 1954 Monroe News–Star (LA) 19 Apr 2/4, Tentative plans for the site of the proposed curb-market have been set for the Ouachita Valley Fair grounds, in order to utilize the shed-type buildings and tremennous [sic] parking facilities afforded by the fair grounds. 1966 DARE Tape FL38, They had a curb market, they called it, there right in town, and all the little farmers that you know just had . . their own small farms would come in with their produce and line up there on that curb and sell fresh produce every Saturday morning. 1971 Thompson Coll. cnAL (as of 1920s), Curb market: A market at which farmers, along with some ringers, sell produce. The ringers buy from farmers and from produce wholesalers. Open-air. 1987 Ellwood City Ledger (PA) 19 June 5/2, [Letter:] Why couldn’t Ellwood City Borough Council leave the curb market on Spring Ave. where it used to be? That was an ideal place where the farmers could display their goods on tables and not on the sidewalk where most of them had to put the food last year. 2014 Montgomery Advt. (AL) 21 Jan sec A 7/1, [Letter:] The Curb Market on Madison Avenue is a treasure that deserves adequate funding. The farmer’s market is more than 90 years old and one of the few facilities of its kind in the nation. 2024 DARE File—Internet Atlanta GA, Founded in 1918 as an open-air market, The Municipal Market opened the doors to its new building in 1924. Referred to as the Curb Market by locals, it houses thirty local businesses, including produce, butchers, seafood, retail stores, and some of the most popular eateries in the city. Ibid NC, Since 1924, Henderson County Curb Market is a unique farmers market requiring sellers to be residents of Henderson County. All items sold at the market must be either hand-made or locally grown.
2 A small store selling esp fresh fruit and vegetables and sometimes also meat and fish; broadly, a small grocery or convenience store. chiefly SE
1935 Miami Daily News (FL) 17 Mar sport sec 9/3, [Advt:] Filling-station or curb-market site. $25 per month. 1945 Enterprise Ledger (AL) 15 June 4/8, [Advt:] Enterprise Curb Market. . . Fresh Fruits Vegetables and Eggs—Pay Highest Prices For Your Farm Products—Owned and Operated by S. B. Livingston. 1953 Blytheville Courier News (AR) 28 Aug 10/4, [Advt:] Peaches From Central Illinois Orchards . . Blytheville Curb Market. 1967 Daily Herald (Biloxi MS) 26 Apr 1/6, A lone gunman walked into a curbmarket in Pass Christian Tuesday night. . . The gunman . . entered the Li’l General Food Store . . about 10:50 p.m. 1971 High Point Enterprise (NC) 13 Feb sec A 3/7, A volunteer fireman received extensive burns . . as he was attempting to cut off escaping gas at a local curbmarket. The explosion caused a fire which burned out the South Randleman Package Store. 1971 Thompson Coll. cwGA, On a building: so-and-so’s “curb market.” 1973 Tennessean (Nashville TN) 25 Mar sec C 24/1, [Advt:] Red-E-Stop Curb Mkt. Take-Out Sandwich & Soft-Cream Bar. . . Building . . is 50 ft x 50 ft., block constructed. . . Curb market occupied ⅔ of this building & short-order bar ⅓. . . This is an excellent curb-market location & could be continually used for this purpose. 1982 Alexandria Daily Town Talk (Alexandria–Pineville LA) 3 Mar sec C 7/3, [Advt:] Walding’s Curbmarket. . . Live & Boiled Crawfish Fruits & Vegetables. 1988 Greensboro News & Rec. (NC) 26 May sec D 9/7, [Advt:] Convenience Store Clerk. . . Apply 9-12—Mon thru Wed. Terry’s Curbmarket. 2023 in 2024 DARE File—Internet Anderson SC, [Signs on roof of store:] Curb Market—Sams—Sea Food. [Neon sign in window:] Fresh Produce. [Google Street View.]