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Returning to our “Then & Now” series, let’s look at a couple of familiar Tullahoma landmarks, the First Christian Church and Tennessee Overall Company. One was easy to do a then and now comparison, while the other took some extra exploration.

First Christian Church at the northeast corner of N. Jackson and W. Grundy Streets looks very much like it did decades ago. The Cline Photo postcard shown here is likely from one of Cline’s trips to Tullahoma in the 1940s, based on the numbering system and the style of the handwritten caption. Compare that to the recent photo of the church building. Note the vintage picture was taken from the Grundy Street side and that is where the main entrance appears to have been. In the modern picture, the gable above that old entrance is still visible, but the Grundy Street side of the building has had an addition, bringing the building closer to the sidewalk and covering that old entrance. Also, the original brick visible in the old photo has since been painted white. The beautiful original windows in the corner tower remain.

The age of the old hand-colored postcard of the Tennessee Overall Company at N. Atlantic and Grizzard Streets is not known, but is probably from around 1920, give or take a few years. Knowing the age of the company, I’ve driven and walked around this building several times over the past year or so trying to figure out if any of that original building still existed. Joe Orr did an auction in that location last weekend, and that gave me an opportunity to explore a little deeper. Lo and behold, I spotted some of the original brick window and door arches inside! The building has been added onto multiple times, divided inside with block walls, and there’s decades-worth of paint on everything, but those distinctive arches jumped out. I counted bricks in the pictures to make sure, but there they are, now part of an interior wall!

The Tennessee Overall postcard had not been mailed, but the descriptive terms on the back side for “postcard” and “postal service” were in several different European languages, including German, French, Hungarian, and Slovenian, before English!

I am searching for pictures of Davidson Academy in addition the following businesses: Lannom Manufacturing, Wilson Sporting Goods, M.R. Campbell Mfg., Tennessee Overall, Tennessee Glove, Tullahoma Brick, and any Tullahoma vehicle dealers from the 1930s through 1980s. If you have photos that I can borrow, I’ll scan and return immediately. You can contact me at alanmayes@lighttube.net.