The commissary was the social heart of a lumber or logging town, handling the necessities of life and serving as a meeting place for families and off-duty workers. The third commissary at this site at Longleaf was built in 1948 to replace the 1913 commissary, which was destroyed in a fire set by an arsonist. The same fire also destroyed the Crowell office building on the site of the present parking lot, and the safe on the east side of this building is the only thing that survived. Inside were three basic rooms: the main store, the rear storage area, and a small coffee shop in the far corner. Built in 1948, the coffee shop reflects the racial segregation laws then in effect in the southern states: Black workers entered by a side door, ordered food, and went outside to eat, while white workers ordered and ate inside at the lunch counter or at tables along the wall.