yesterday's tennessee

United Grocery Company
Our 50th Year, 1905-1955

from the collection of Brenda Fiddler

West Tennessee along with the rest of the country was on the move, impatiently seeking better transportation, an easier way of life, and wider diffusion of the creature comforts that had previously been reserved for the few.  But along the ridges of clay hills that sharply parted the Tennessee and Mississippi valleys, life was still elemental; cotton ruled as king over this sparsely settled domain, and in a world without refrigeration and mass packing methods, home-grown gardens and livestock provided most of the family’s food.

For men of courage and foresight, opportunity was unlimited as it is today.  Along the Eastern seaboard, small businesses were founded which later became industrial giants; in the less prosperous South, enterprise and public service were combined to satisfy a growing need.

It was in these days that a dream was born in Lexington, Tennessee, among men of spirit and vision – a dream of a business venture that would provide better service to the people of the area.  A few hardy business pioneers planned and proposed a wholesale food outlet that would render staple commodities readily available to all, while stimulating the business life of Henderson and adjoining counties.

Enochs-Edenton Company was the name of this new baby of the business world.  The men who fathered the baby and nurtured it through infancy were J. C. Edenton, J. E. Edenton,

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United Grocery Company in the 20’s