Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1919-10-09
An Historic Mercantile Establishment.

ViiS Iotllc! uutlH Udtcu h.nIcantl lit
establishment of Curtis & Far
thing, at Butler, Tenn. and We
publish it in full for the benefit OF
the many friends of the gentle.
men in Watauga. We are sorry
that we havn't the picture of the
building used by the Blade atthe
head of the interesting story that
follows:
Butler, Tenn. Sept. 1s. Two
tlashy tourists sped past h e
quaint old structure in an up.to.
the minute yellow racer. They
paused to view it, then squinted
their eyes to take another look.
Curiosity got the best of them.
They stopped, hoppedout, went
back and entered the open door.
"Oh!' they calculated in chagrin
to the proprietor. We've
thought it wasan old tavern" But
it was none ofthese. ThGsurpris-
ed tourists were within the old
est, most widely known rural re-
tail stores in East Tennessee.
Things are not always what they
seem. Despite its uncouth and
delapidated appearance, it's al
m ost ridiculous behind-the,t tim
ers, and it's peculiar type of ar.
cbitecture, the queer r-lookingstr,
ucture is yet one of the leading
mercantile houses in Johnson
county, Tenn. Such is the power
of q wellestablished firm name.
A little while after the close
of the Civil War two ex- -Conledel-
ate soldiers, Finley Patterson
Curtis and David Jesse Farthing,
North Carolinians, came to this
part of the county, built the store
and established the firm of Cur
tis e. Farthing. During those
long years the town of Butler
has grown up around it. Even un-
til only fifteen years ago it was
the business center of the entire
surrounding country.
Upon the death of Mr.. Earth
ing, over a year ago, the firm
name was changed to thatofF. p.
Curtis & Sons. Fifty different
young men have clerked in this
store, departed for other fields,
prospered and grown old. One is
q bank president, one a jeweler,
two or three are lawyers, some
are merchants, others are prom
iaent Merchandise from
the wholesale houses of all the
bi i,gest cities has rested on the
shelves of this early pioneerstore
and hundreds of thousands Of
dollars worth of business has
been transacted within it's ven
cradle walls.
Mr.. Curtis, it's present chief
proprietor, is taking life easy,
and why not? His son attends to
most of the business. No, he is
not rich: in fact he is not a sue
cess as a merchant. But he owns
a fine farm and he is probably at
this moment dreaming of the big
corn crop which flaps it's ripen-
ing blades in the helatcautumnsun.' :
He is nearly 70 years old, and
smokes remarkably long stem
med pipe three times q day, is
still active enough to attend to
attend to his business and tho he
has dealt with all kinds andciass.
es Of people, hundreds of whom {
have wrongcd and defrauded him,
BE- is good enough to believe, af-
ter all, in the. inherent honesty of
humanity.
One can frequently hear the {
vain wish of old citizens that. oh
if l only had penny for every {
dollar tn at has gone in and ont
the doors of Curtis & Farthing's
old store I'd surely hang up my {
shovel and my hoe!" Nothing 5
pleases many gray headed citi-
zens more, when the name of {
Curtis & Farthing is mentioned
than to boast: "Why, l have been {