The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1920-12-10
County History.

County History.
Our fellow-townsmGn, Attorney o
Spradlin, very pertinently suggest,
that Obion County should have a so
ciety for historical research and pres
ervation. In other words, the county
should have historical organiza
ton. A number of the older citizens
would no doubt be willing to furnish
some very valuable material for this
work. After a few more decades il
may be hard to get this material
The county is comparatively rich in
agricultural, commercial, financial
and political achievements, and there
are also some contributions to the
arts and sciences, record of which
should be compiled and suitably
printed in well bound volumes. We
could recall here If space and time
were not limited numbers of men
and women who have gone forth in
to larger fields of usefulness. Only
few weeks ago we met some of
these people, and tho they have
marched with the empire of progress
and achievement, they have not for
gotten the golden days of youth and
environment.
These memories linger distinctly
and clingingly, and interesting
would be history of some such il
Illustrations, for instance. as the base
ball nine, a photo of which is now in
the possession of S. d. Woosley, if
you will pardon the sporting blood,
when manager Frank Watts, of st.
Louis, the central figure, now one of
the leading bankers and financiers of
the United States, directed in the
early nineties the fortunes of the
Union City Athletic Association.
Another very interesting example
of what the future may unfold in the
course of lifetime concerns our old
time friend, Malcolm Gibbs, now OPP
Grating chain of eight drug stores,
with the ninth budding. and ware
houses in Washington City, whose
business has grown from a single
stand and solely capital of expert
enc to volume of business aggre-
eating nearly two millions a year.
DR.. Gibbs, as he is now known, con-
quered all the arts of the business,
including pharmacy, commercial law,
and none the less important knowl-
edge of publicity, which no doubt be- |
gan when, as a student of the Union |
City Training School, he edited the |
Buzz-Saw. He is genius in adver-
Using, and If any of our local bust
ness men doubt the efficacy of print
er's ink, an easy guide is the per-
Torrance of DR.. GIBBS. whose last inn
oortant venture was fourteen-page
section in the Washingtoa Times de-
Toted exclusively to the Peoples Drug
stores in Washington City. The
Times Is one Of Frank
Iunsey's newspaper enterprises. and
Nunsey owns the New Yerk Herald.
Jan you beat it?
We have no extensive record of
he political lights and the bar of
ocal lawyers, of the days when I'm
on City lowered with the tall smoke
tacks of the furniture manufactur-
ng plants.
We have the material but no COM
record of the Civil War
'eterans. We have no Biographies of
he philanthropists, the churchmen
nd the ministers, such as the name
f Uncle Tommy Osborne.
These things all would be i'm
lensely valuable and important.
Another important feature would
e of Troy, the old county seat, the
ldest town in the county, and her
lany fine characters, now partially d
ecorded but not complete by any {
leans. All of the towns and COM [
lunities in a properly authorized {
ook would be important. 4
The organization of the county
nd some of its history is now being l
'eated by the Union City Schools, l
hich stimulated an interest in the
ork. \
May we have society to perpet- '
ate the history of the county?
/ A