Originally there were three frame buildings at this location. The first one housed a cigar factory, the second a barber shop and the third was offices for J.B. Fields, Realtor. John Degenhardt purchased the lot and moved the buildings around the corner and built the White Eagle Service Station. His son, Leo, later operated the business as a Mobile station and then Leo’s son, Jim, ran the business for awhile. This corner has quite a history; it is known as the famous Lynching Corner.
Around the turn of the 20th century a colored man murdered a man in McFarland, robbed him and threw the body in the creek at McFarland. The colored man was apprehended and put in the county jail at the old courthouse in Alma. On a Sunday afternoon about 25 men broke into the jail, put a rope around the Negro’s neck, drug him down the hill to main street and strung him up on a light pole. An eyewitness of the account said that after 15-20 minutes the crowd left him for dead and Marshall William Pippert climbed the pole, cut him down and discovered his was still alive. A doctor was summoned, the man revived and rushed away to keep the lynching from re-occurring.
