| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
The Mystery Old Picture was of Adair Sales Co., ca 1928 Partial lineage of a great Adair County enterprise: It was the Ford Dealership in 1928-29, and maybe for years before. The same Ford Dealership which would later be Smith-Flowers Ford, owned by Lee Smith and Alfred Flowers; then Flowers Ford, owned by Robert Flowers, late of banking fame; and then Don Franklin Ford, the flagship of the huge Franklin Group of dealerships started in Columbia, KY Click on headline for story with photo(s) Comments, corrections and additional photos are welcome. By Ed Waggener The mystery old photo, Where Is It? Mystery Picture posted yesterday came from photographs collected by the late Patricia Merkley Christianson. It was found by her husband, Chuck Christianson, as he was going through Pat Merkley's collection of photos, and was delivered to us by Hilda Willis, a lifelong friend of Patricia Merkley. The photo is of the showroom of Adair Sales Company, then the Ford dealership in Columbia. It is located at 103-105 Campbellsville Street, a building which has housed, at 103 Campbellsville Street, the popular Glamourette Beauty Salon for so long that perhaps a majority of today's residents only know it as the Glamourette Building. For several decades beyond 1930, Adair Countians could shop for Ford cars and trucks just off the Square at Adair Sales. The little brick building next door sits on a lot which was part of the display area for cars, and more would be in the back of the building. Mr. Christianson sent some notes with the photo. He guessed the date of the photo to be late 1920s. "Judging by the model Ford on the floor," he wrote, "I'm guessing this picture was taken about 1928/1929." Mr. Christianson's late father in law, Pat Merkley's father is standing on the left in the photo with his then business parter and co-owner, but Mr. Christianson couldn't remember the name of the partner. He notes, that the dealership was ahead of its time in energy conservation. "It was energy 'green'," he noted, before that idea became a part of the culture. "Note the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling with its on/off pull sring. Contrast this with today's highly illuminated and spot lighted auto showrooms." Mr. Christianson wrote, "The business was later sold to F.X Merkley's brother, Louis Merkley who continued to operate it as Adair Sales. Louis Merkley's partner was the late Morris Epperson. These partners made a bold move from the immediate Square Area all the way out to 203 Burkesville Street, where Madison Square is now located in the building which is headquarters for Stotts Construction Company. The display are was greatly expanded, with parts of the lots reaching East Fortune Street, West Reed, and the frontage extended from that of Madison Square today, stretching south to a Burkesville Street display lot on land where the little dental office stands today - though that is no longer in use. This story was posted on 2013-02-28 05:45:16
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. (AD) - Many Reunion organizing efforts are also advertised in our REUNIONS category in our CM Classifeds. These are posted at a very low cost. See RATES & TERMS
More articles from topic Local History:
History: What ever happened to Phelps Acres? What ever happened to Phelps Acres? Pigtail makes cut to be in Adair County Encyclopedia Von Price: Three demerits would have been better Pigtail answer comes from Hutchison Community native History: How Esto got its name, from Tine Snow Reynolds History: Growing up in the Hutchinson Community Church area History: Frontier Justice - How Pelham received its name History: The story & Lineage of C.R. Hutchison & Sons Great Memories of the City Swimming Pool View even more articles in topic Local History |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
  
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by D'Zine, Ltd., PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia! Magazine and D'Zine, Ltd. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
