Who is number 1?

This is the first of a series of posts I am going to call 'lists'. In society one of the main lists that we deal with is the list of those with phones. In 1930 the phone directory of Rutherford County was all in one and here it is for those that might be interested in a glimpse into the past for Smyrna.

One thing that stands out are the numbers...or lack of in a way. To call these numbers you had just a short number for most. On the cover to contact Kerr's Drug Store in Murfreesboro you had to only call 179. 

Now you might not of heard of Kerr's Drug (Picture), but they have a nice history in Murfreesboro. The Albert Gore center in Murfreesboro has this to say about that store and its history.

Martha and Jesse Messick owned Messick Family Drugstore on the Murfreesboro Square. Prior to the Messicks’ ownership, the drug store was operated as Kerr Drugstore, named for Colonel B.B. Kerr, the owner who filed for bankruptcy in 1930. In 1962, Jesse Messick returned to work at Kerr Drugstore as a pharmacist after having previously worked there as a soda jerk in his teenage years. When the owner died, Messick bought the business and named it Messick Family Drugstore. In 1984, the Messicks opened Messick Home Care, a medical equipment supply company, in the back of the store. Jesse Messick died in 1988 on the same day ground was broke for the Messick Home Care building. In 1997, Martha Messick and her family were forced to sell Messick Family Drugstore and Messick Home Care due to rising costs and hardships associated with managed healthcare and insurance companies. The drugstore was sold to the Revco Drugs chain and the home care business was sold to Housecall Medical Resource.

I will admit that I am one of those sad history loving people that could spend hours every day looking into the past of our community.  Here is the inside cover of the 1930 phone book for our county.

Instead of putting the whole thing here I just will show the Smyrna section. It should be noted that if you look at the smaller communities listed on the cover that LaVergne is not there. In the Smyrna listings a couple are annotated as being LaVergne. I guess to small to have their own listings.

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Now on page two of the Smyrna section you might note that Davis Garage on Dixie Highway, telephone number 47-J, is bold. I guess they spent a hint more to get looked at for business sake. Now finding pictures of some of these old stores is a might difficult, but the work of one writer has helped me here. Leslie N. Sharp wrote this nice book titled "Tennessee's Dixie Highway" and it covers the section from Springfield to Chattanooga. On the cover is the Davis Garage in all of its glory in 1922.

Tennessee's Dixie Highway

Davis Garage was located where Dixie Highway, now called locally "Old Nashville Highway" and Hazelwood intersected. I'm not sure what corner, maybe one of our readers knows which one.

Her book is for purchase at Amazon.com so if you want to learn a little about this important road please go and purchase it.

Now the big question as I asked "Who is number 1"? It seems it is Peyton Clothing Company with the telephone number of 1. A number not hard to remember. I'm not sure if that means they bought the first phone in Smyrna, or they were where the local exchange was, but the honor of being number one in the 1930 phone book goes to Peyton Clothing Co.

The sad part for me is that I cannot find out anything on Peyton Clothing co. in the regular places I look. Do you or someone you know have anything you'd like to share about it? Comment away.

I will be using this phone book for one or two more posts in the next week or so...then I will pull out another list to play with.