Home

Search

  • Photo Galleries

Article Categories

  • Bob & Alf
  • Businesses
  • Churches
  • City, Services
  • Conveyences
  • Eateries
  • Entertainment
  • Holidays
  • Local Sites
  • Lodging
  • Medical
  • Military
  • Music
  • Other
  • Pioneers
  • Politics
  • Recreation
  • Schools
  • Sports
  • Weather

Recent comments

  • Reply to comment | Bob Cox's Yesteryear
    6 years 31 weeks ago
  • Definitely she is an amazing lady
    7 years 42 weeks ago
  • Hacker Martin Mill
    7 years 42 weeks ago
  • Hacker Martin - Cedar Creek Mill
    7 years 42 weeks ago
  • Homer Harris
    7 years 44 weeks ago
  • Boone marker
    7 years 45 weeks ago
  • Thanks
    7 years 46 weeks ago
  • Austin Springs
    7 years 46 weeks ago
  • Blue Horse
    7 years 47 weeks ago
  • Johnson City Power Board
    7 years 48 weeks ago

Businesses

  • warning: Creating default object from empty value in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc on line 33.
  • warning: Illegal string offset 'files' in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/upload/upload.module on line 281.
  • warning: Illegal string offset 'files' in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/upload/upload.module on line 281.
  • warning: Illegal string offset 'files' in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/upload/upload.module on line 281.
  • warning: Illegal string offset 'files' in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/upload/upload.module on line 281.
  • warning: Illegal string offset 'files' in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/upload/upload.module on line 281.
  • warning: Illegal string offset 'files' in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/upload/upload.module on line 281.
  • warning: Illegal string offset 'files' in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/upload/upload.module on line 281.
  • warning: Illegal string offset 'files' in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/upload/upload.module on line 281.
  • warning: Illegal string offset 'files' in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/upload/upload.module on line 281.
  • warning: Illegal string offset 'files' in /home/bcyester/public_html/modules/upload/upload.module on line 281.
  • warning: Declaration of views_plugin_style_default::options(&$options) should be compatible with views_object::options() in /home/bcyester/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_style_default.inc on line 17.

Drug Stores Eagerly Wanted Patrons to “Try the Drug Store First”

A Monday, July 27, 1925 Johnson City Press-Chronicle contained a unique full-page advertisement that caught my attention. The main title said, “Try The Drug Store First.” The premise of the ad was to get patrons to subscribe to the idea that a drug store sold much more than drugs, a concept that carries well over to today. 

  • Businesses
  • Read more

Beckner’s Jewelers, Founded in 1886, Fell Short of 100th Birthday

Over the years, my parents patronized Beckners’ Jewelers in downtown Johnson City, so I suppose it was only natural for me to buy my wife’s engagement and wedding rings from Buddy Beckner in 1970.

  • Businesses
  • Read more

Grit Newspaper - “Hey Lady, Hey Mister, Wanna Buy a Grit?”

During the late 1940s, I recall seeing young men in downtown Johnson City selling a weekly national newspaper with the curious title “Grit.” These salesmen stood at busy locations, typically the corner of Spring and E. Main streets and along the front of the old City Bus Terminal at Buffalo.

  • Businesses
  • Read more

McElyea Shoe and Harness Shop’s Closing Signaled the End of an Era

Between 1956 and 1964, I routinely patronized McElyea Shoe Repair and Harness Shop at 127 Spring and Jobe (now State of Franklin Road). The owner, Robert McElyea, repaired my damaged or worn-out shoes while I patiently waited in a chair in my sock feet.

  • Businesses
  • Read more

Independent Trucker John Hughes Became Dependent on Hicks Produce

There was a time in Johnson City history when produce stores and stands were bountiful with such names as Burbage, Lowry, Sell, Deck & Noe, Gilmer & Garland, Street & Dougherty, Tittle, B&B, Lacy, Willis, C.W. Lane, McKinney, Tri-City, Garland, Kelly, Bond, Crouch, Miller, E&T, Ben Garrison (bananas) and Hicks (tomatoes).

  • Businesses
  • 1 comment
  • Read more

Two Old Tin Signs Shed New Light on Early Johnson City Businesses

A lady recently showed me two pre-1915 long narrow tin advertising signs that she found attached to the back of a cabinet that her father built years ago. One contains the words: “Peirce’s Quality Shop, Ready to Wear Garments for Men and Women, Men’s Furnishings, 109 Buffalo Street, Johnson City.” The other one is for “Pedigo Co., Waists That Fit, Shoes, 259 Main Street, Johnson City.”

  • Businesses
  • Read more

Williams Grocery Offered Grain-Fed Aged Beef and Quality Produce

Williams Grocery, once located at the northeast corner of Unaka and Oakland opposite Stratton School, served neighborhood customers for 28 years. Bob and Myrtle Williams started the business in 1938, taking over the former site of (Elbert) Lowe’s Grocery and running it for 13 years.

  • Businesses
  • Read more

Charles Atlas’ Bodybuilding Course Turned Weaklings Into Musclemen

In 1948, I was weak and frail after recovering from rheumatic fever that had confined me to bed or a chair for almost a year. Now I was finally permitted to engage in limited outside activities. I soon had a chance encounter behind our apartment with the neighborhood bully whom I will call Billy. This little obnoxious terror quickly branded me as easy prey for his shoving and tough talk. 

  • Businesses
  • Read more

Johnson City Inventor, Sam Guinn, Contrived the First Flint Lighter

East Tennessee has produced a few area residents with a special knack for originality that resulted in clever laborsaving inventions. Some aspiring inventors fostered their unique creations past storms of adversity until they eventually rained profits for them. Others met with overwhelming difficulties causing them and their innovation to drift into obscurity.

  • Businesses
  • Read more

Dana Love Recalled Day When President Roosevelt Closed The Banks

In 1986, area resident Dana Love shared with Dorothy Hamill his memories of working in the banking industry in downtown Johnson City. The 88-year-old Erwin native earned his degree from Draughton Business College in Knoxville. After serving in the Army Signal Corp. during World War I, he became interested in the banking business.

  • Businesses
  • Read more
  • « first
  • ‹ previous
  • …
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • next ›
  • last »
Syndicate content

Bob Cox's Yesteryear

Click on photo to view story