"Wide Awake" Franklin in 1912

On this date in 1912, the African American newspaper in Nashville - the Nashville Globe - published a complimentary article about Franklin and its thriving black community. The piece gives a wonderful snapshot of the leading businessmen in the community at that time.

Titled, "Historic Franklin Taking on New Life," the article discussed how the total population of Franklin was about 3,000 people of which 1,000 were African American, or in the language of the time "Negroes". The article continued: 

The Nashville Globe Fri Feb 16, 1912

"No more wide-awake seat, of its size can be found in the old Volunteer State. . . These thrifty, industrious, wide-awake one thousand Negroes stand on par with those of any other city. Indeed the homes of some of the most noted men and women of the United States can be traced to this quiet, unassuming spot on Tennessee's map. . . . The Negroes are conducting the following businesses: grocery stores, butcher shops, shoe shops, tailoring establishments, undertaking establishments, hotels and other enterprises that, not only furnish their children employment, but that gives them a rating in the business world. All of this has not induced them to overlook their religious duties. There are eight organized, well-attended churches whose towers point skyward at Franklin. The peaceful relation which exists between the races has always been a matter of much favorable comment. . . . At present there are some successful businessmen and farmers in the county: 

Mr. ANC Wiliams, proprietor of a grocery store; Mr. G. W. Patton & Company, grocery merchants;   

Mr. T. A. Williams, proprietor of a grocery store; 

Mr. J. T. Patton, undertaker; 

Alice Otey Patton with her husband J. T. Patton, Undertaker - photo courtesy of Rick Warwick

Henry Ewing, undertaker and businessman

The_Nashville_Globe_Fri__Jan_12__1912

Mr. H. G. Ewing, undertaker; 

Mr. John Lawrence, merchant tailor; Mr, Andrew Merritt, blacksmith; 

Mr. Will Redmond, proprietor of a hotel; 

Mr. John Carter, president of the Thrashing Machine Company; Mr. Andrew Ewing, Mr. Henry Ferguson and Mr. Harry Ewing are contractors, and there is a contracting firm in the city known as Ewing and Wilson. 

The proprietors of barbershops are Mssrs. Fount Brown, Jackson McEwen, and John Hughes. While the butcher shop there is owned by Mr. Charley Conn, who has been in business over a quarter of a century, Mr. Jack Shelburn is one of the leading upholsterers in the city, while Mr. Gus Foster occupies an enviable position as a machine man. 

The Wiley and Jane Scruggs family from Carter's Creek Pike in Franklin - photo courtesy of Rick Warwick

Prominent among the farmers in close proximity to Franklin, who own splendid farms of their own, are Mssrs. Jack Daws, Tom Mason, Wiley Scruggs, John Gentry, and M. Hatcher. The homes of Franklin compare on the whole favorably with those of any other city in the state."