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It may be hard for some of us to recall such, but there was a time that most business was done by local entrepreneurs rather than state-wide or national corporate entities. Business in Tullahoma was no different. If a local Tullahoma business needed to ship something quickly to Nashville with door-to-door service, they would call on someone like Mr. Chockley, pictured here with his truck, probably in the late 1920s or early 1930s. There’s not enough truck showing to tell what brand it is, but it does have dual rear wheels, so was likely a 1-1/2 or 2-ton version, possibly an International or Dodge Brothers. It was meant for some heavy-duty hauling.

It’s difficult to read the sign on the door, but it states that he does daily service between Nashville, Shelbyville, Tullahoma, Winchester, Cowan, and Sewanee. If that was all done in one day, that’s a long trip given the roads of that time, going up and down Monteagle Mountain, and the distance between the end points of the route. The gentleman was a trooper! The thought of coming down the mountain from Sewanee to Cowan with a truck of that vintage is a scary one, but that was all they had to work with. Those were tougher times and tougher people.

It took some studying, some early Saturday morning exploring downtown, and a few rabbit hole side trips to figure out where this photo was taken. Remember what I said in my first article about second-story windows being the key to identifying old buildings in vintage photos? That was the case here once again. I looked at this one along with some earlier and later vintage photos. The truck is angle-parked on the south side of West Lincoln Street and the photographer is standing about where Memories Antiques is now located. The building in view behind the truck was seemingly the most photographed old building in downtown Tullahoma, the former Taylor’s Drug Store, which is now the Veranda apartment building.

I’m reasonably certain that this photo was taken by Bob Couch Sr. It was in a small group of photos I purchased at the Couch’s Photo Store auction in October of 2021.

I’m just beginning work on a book about Tullahoma in the twentieth century, roughly 1920s to 1980s. It will be mostly a photo book, with descriptive text. The book will 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.