The white horse standing at the corner of Trade and Pacolet Streets isn’t just a statue — he’s the soul of Tryon. Morris has been watching over downtown since 1928, when a seventeen-year-old named Meredith Lankford built the first version for the inaugural Tryon Horse Show.
The original design came from Eleanor Vance, inspired by the small toy horses that Tryon Toymakers had been crafting since 1915. Lankford and his crew secretly named him “Eleanor” after Miss Vance — never daring to say it out loud in her presence.
He’s been rebuilt five times over the years — lost to fires, weather, and the occasional act of mischief. The name “Morris” came in the early 1980s, from a neighbor named Mary Flynn Moore who simply thought it sounded right. It stuck.
Today, Morris mailboxes appear all over Tryon, the motif lives on the town’s official seal, and every Christmas, locals still sneak out in the small hours to drape a wreath around his neck.