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Wrapping up our look at the winter 1940/41 special edition of The Tullahoma Guardian, we see a couple of familiar businesses, longtime members of the Tullahoma community. At the top of the first page is Builders Supply, and 83 years later, it’s still in the same location on NE Atlantic St. On that same page, we see Clayton & Company Shoes, now known as Clayton’s Shoes, still in the family, still on W. Lincoln St.

The K.K. Kafe was on N. Atlantic St., the initials standing for “Kandy Kitchen.” Dr. C.Z. Bradley was listed as Tullahoma’s oldest optometrist. According to the 1940 telephone book, his office was in the McCoy Building, but I confess I do not know where that was. However, there was a Marbury-McCoy Hardware store on Lincoln St. Was that the same building?

There are two oil companies on the page. The Sinclair Refining Company was run by Mr. Sam W. Carney, while the Highland Rim Gas Co. was managed by L.B. “Pop” Jennings and distributed Shell Oil products.

McCollum’s is described as a dry goods store in this ad, but in the 1949 telephone book, it is listed as a men’s store, and is said to be on Lincoln St. According to the Guardian ad, it had just opened in June 1940, which explains why it was not in the 1940 telephone book, which was published in June.

The other page is devoted to Grover C. King’s establishments, namely the King Hotel and Farmers and Merchants Bank. The King Hotel was the class of Tullahoma at the time, a period when most hotels were locally owned rather than chain company locations. The King Hotel was located at the NE corner of E. Lincoln and N. Atlantic Streets. Farmers and Merchants Bank was at 111 N. Atlantic Street and other than the first floor doors and windows, the building looks exactly the same now. It’s too bad that the Art Deco doors and sign are no longer in place.

Do you have stories and photos of these or any old Tullahoma businesses that you would share? You can contact me at alanmayes@lighttube.net.