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Though lots of people started working from home during the COVID-19 shutdowns and many continue to do so, working from home is no new development. Enterprising companies and individuals have had the arrangement for decades. Witness this Tullahoma area scene from 1938. These two ladies are sewing baseball covers at home for Lannom Manufacturing, makers of Worth baseballs and softballs.

A recent thread on the “If you grew up in Tullahoma you remember……” Facebook page revealed that there are people still in Tullahoma who remember supervisors from Lannom Manufacturing (Worth) dropping off baseball and softball cores and leather covers at their homes for their mothers to sew. When the balls were completed, they would be picked up and another set of “baseball parts” would be dropped off. Those comments were in response to my question about Worth baseball bats, which we will discuss in another installment of “Flashback.”

In the photo here, the lady on the left has a large canvas drawstring bag of ball cores and covers behind her. The lady on the right is working between two cardboard boxes, both showing some partially covered baseballs and some bare cores.

Lannom Manufacturing was founded in Tullahoma in 1912 by George S. Lannom, Jr. The company originally produced leather horse collars and similar items, but the growing popularity and acceptance of automobiles, trucks, and tractors made that a dead-end business, so Lannom switched to leather sporting goods, first with footballs, and then helmets (yes, football helmets were leather back then), basketballs, baseballs, and softballs. His company was vertically integrated, meaning he produced everything in-house, from tanning the leather to finishing the sewn goods.

Have you noticed the large brick building at 309 West Lincoln Street, next to Rock Creek, that is currently for sale? That three-story building dates to 1934 and was the location of Lannom Manufacturing when this photo was taken. Would you care to guess why the name of Tullahoma’s library is Lannom Memorial Library? Yes, it was named after George S. Lannom, Jr. Lannom Manufacturing was a significant part of Tullahoma’s business community for decades. The company enjoyed a good reputation both locally and nationally, and was a sporting goods innovator.

If you enjoy these stories and photos, let me know. A recent development is that I’m just beginning work on a book about Tullahoma in the twentieth century, roughly 1920s to 1980s. Camp Forrest has been pretty well covered in other books, and AEDC gets quite a bit of coverage itself, so I’m going to mostly concentrate on Tullahoma in general, only touching slightly on Camp Forrest and AEDC as they affected Tullahoma as a whole. If you have some sharp, large photos you can share, I’d be honored to see them. I’ll scan them and then immediately return them to you. I’m looking mostly for businesses, industries, and major events. You can contact me at alanmayes@lighttube.net.

This photo is courtesy of the Tennessee State Archives’ Tennessee Department of Conservation Collection 1937-1976. It was dated October 6, 1938.