Dyson legacy started with George and Annie Bell Dyson

James Dyson met his future wife when he was in elementary school. He and his friends were walking down Center Street in east Winter Garden, coming home from a boxing lesson, when he saw a young girl run by and said, “Who is that girl with the big head and the pretty ponytail? That’s going to be my wife.”

Years later — after graduating from Jones High School with her and being drafted into the United States Army — he married that girl, Margaret Barkley. Throughout their marriage, they continued to serve the residents of east Winter Garden with a series of businesses that filled the needs of the black community.

The second generation of Winter Garden Dysons continued the legacy started in 1939 by James Dyson’s parents, George and Annie Bell Dyson, who purchased land at 215 Center St. There, they established a home for their three children and operated a beer garden and juke joint.

“The lively music and blues from the jukebox gave some of the laborers, maids, seasonal workers, etc. an opportunity to unwind and forget about the hard, back-breaking work of the jobs’ labor for the day,” Linday Dyson-Smith wrote in a family history.

James and Margaret Dyson, Dyson-Smith’s parents, kept the community thriving in the 1980s with multiple businesses on that Center Street property — called Dyson’s Plaza — including Mr. Hope’s Barber Shop, Mr. Cow’s Store, Ginny’s Soul Food Restaurant, Dyson’s Beer Garden, Dyson’s Taxi, Dyson’s Short Stop and an icehouse company.

This site — and the Dysons — provided a safe space, a place of community, a place of hope.

“Dyson’s Plaza was to fill a need, and Granddaddy was all about entrepreneurship for others in the community,” said Chanell Northern, one of James and Margaret Dyson’s grandchildren. “If someone had an idea to have a store, maybe with clothing, or a place for kids to do their homework. He wanted to provide an opportunity not only for those who needed goods and services, but also those who wanted to have their own business. … Sometimes you can want to make something happen, but you don’t know how to make something happen. He was one of those people who made it happen.”

Dyson-Smith recalls growing up on the property; the businesses were in the front, and the back of the building had an upstairs and a downstairs apartment. She, her parents and her three siblings, Wanda Northern, Marlena Francis and Dwane Dyson, lived on the second floor, and their grandparents lived below them.

James and Margaret Dyson bought property on East Bay Street in 1962 and opened Luca’s Community Store. The property still is in business as a convenience store.

Dyson-Smith said her father saved every penny and spent his money wisely. He built Dyson’s Plaza and the family home with his own hands.

“My daddy, when he was paid, he would buy a few bricks at a time with his paycheck to build his businesses and our own house,” she said. “Even when he built our primary residence. … It took six or seven years to build our primary residence, but it was mortgage free. He was ahead of his time.”

While he was building his first store on Center Street, James Dyson allowed the community to help with the construction process — children moved bricks, and neighbors kept the construction site clean.

“There are different people’s fingerprints on the building,” said Alycia Graham, another grandchild.

She remembered her grandfather’s generosity.

“Our grandfather, and our family as a whole, has always been about community as a whole,” she said. “There was a need there, and they saw a need. And our grandfather and our family are about action.”

She also recalled the family pitching in when something needed to be done. The grandchildren worked at Dyson’s Short Stop convenience store. They learned early that the purpose of a business was to make money — but if residents needed a food item and couldn’t afford it, their grandfather gave it to them.

As much as James Dyson was generous with his goods and services, he was equally as adamant about sharing history with the community.

“He was always big on the Juneteenth celebrations,” Graham said. “We would bring food and chicken and hotdogs and baked beans, but we always had to have red soda. We served the community until the food was gone, and there was music and dancing.”

James Dyson passed out flyers explaining Juneteenth, and he had T-shirts made commemorating the day. It was fitting that he died on Juneteenth.

“It was very touching and ironic to me because it was finally a day he could rest,” granddaughter Chanell Northern said.

The family hasn’t hosted a Juneteenth celebration since their grandfather died in 2017, but they are making plans to hold an event next June on Dyson property.

The third and fourth generations of the family continues to look for ways to enhance the neighborhood and provided opportunities for entrepreneurs to set up shop.

More recently, the Dyson’s Plaza building has housed the Taste of Tasha restaurant, Mr. D’s retail store and A&E Grocery Store.

The Friday, Aug. 16, groundbreaking marked a new beginning for Dyson Plaza.

“It’s almost a full-circle moment for me because I have children now and I can remember coming to work with my grandparents when it was Dyson Short Stop,” Graham said. “My kids will see the continuation of the legacy.”

Chanell Northern said the Dyson family still owns other pieces of property in east Winter Garden and plans to build other businesses in the neighborhood. Dyson-Smith said they want to give residents a chance to lease space and run their own businesses.

“We still want to give back to the community,” Graham said. “We’re the faces of the legacy. … We’re not trying to take anything. We’re just trying to give.”

(PHOTOS COURTESY OF WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION)