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About 8:45 on the night of Sunday, April 12, 1964, a passerby noticed a fire at the Stockton Motor Company at 311 S. Anderson Street. The dealership was owned by Willie Stockton and was the local dealer for Pontiac cars and GMC trucks and had been so for decades. The facility stood next to Walton’s TV and Appliances, at the south end of the Duckworth Building.

When firemen arrived on the scene, Fire Chief Frank Norman and Police Chief Paul Stockton feared that the fire would spread north to other businesses within the Duckworth block as there was a wind blowing out of the south. All three Tullahoma pumpers answered the call as did mutual aid units from Arnold AFB, Fayetteville, and Manchester.

In addition to battling the spreading blaze on the Stockton building, firefighters poured water on the roof of the adjacent Duckworth Building hoping to prevent the fire spreading to other businesses. Some of those businesses’ owners began to move merchandise and equipment out of their stores and across Anderson Street. Meanwhile, well-meaning bystanders broke into a couple of businesses and moved some merchandise out to prevent its loss if the fire spread. In a sidebar to the Tullahoma News stories about the fire, the Tullahoma News photographer on scene, Larry Nee, Sr., said that with all of the equipment and merchandise, the west side of Anderson Street looked like a lineup for an auction sale. The sight of an estimated 1500 bystanders likely added to that vision.

Shortly after firemen were warned by Willie Stockton that the masonry front wall of the building would collapse as the timbers supporting it burned, the wall did just that. Thanks to Stockton’s warning, no one was injured by the falling wall. Inside the dealership’s showroom, body shop, parts department, and service shop, explosions could be heard as car gasoline tanks exploded, along with aerosol cans, paint, and cleaners. One customer’s car inside belonged to the local FBI agent, and he had left some .38 caliber ammunition in the glove box, which gave off the sound of a string of firecrackers as the intense heat fired the bullets.

Firemen were successful in preventing the fire’s spread to the adjacent businesses and had it contained within about 90 minutes of their arrival. Only Walton’s TV and Appliances store sustained damage as it shared its south wall with Stockton’s. However, the Stockton property was a total loss, estimated at the time to be about $250,000 in damage, including the building, equipment, and vehicles. That’s over $2.5 million in 2025 dollars. In total, 18 vehicles were either destroyed or severely damaged.

Stockton already had an additional business, Stockton Outboard Marine Sales, operating at 1000 S. Anderson Street. Operations for the car dealership were moved to that location and the building that burned was not rebuilt. Owner Wilie Stockton asked for an arson investigation through the state fire marshal’s office, though I could not find the result of that probe.

Resources: Tullahoma News, April 15, 1964, via Coffee County Lannom Library Tullahoma News archive (https://Tullahoma.historyarchives.online); all photos by Larry Nee, Sr., courtesy of Sharon Nee Goodman.

If you have interesting Tullahoma area stories and photos from the past, please contact me: alanmayes@lighttube.net