Tellico Tales: Sweet Shop

Tellico Tales: Sweet Shop. . This building is a long-standing resident of Tellico Plains, given it is one of the few remaining after the fire of 1914. Its story began in 1908 when a bank served in the entire building until 1915. From there building functioned in three divided parts: upstairs, bottom left, and bottom right. After the bank left in 1915 an attorney’s office moved in upstairs, a movie theater in the bottom right, and the Tellico Bank in the bottom left. An original vault still remains standing inside. Many elders of the town can tell stories of getting their hair done in the upstairs area. A Barber shop and pool room occupied the space starting in 1922, then from 1938 to 1946 a beauty shop stood in its place. A civic group of the town, The Cherokee Study Club, started a library in 1946 which would remain operating upstairs until 1972 when it would be moved to the upstairs of City Hall. While all of this was going on, the bank was still going strong on the left. Though in 1927 the post office moved into the bottom right and remained there until 1975. During the civil war time, the post office functioned in the Tellico Mansion (owned by the then postmaster). At the time Tennessee had left the union and in turn was cut off from government supplies. This led to customer Tellico Plains stamps being made inside the town post office. In 1975 the building started functioning as a whole again., Then in 2001 it was bought by its current owners and transformed into Tellico Grains, which you might hear some of the locals calling “the bakery”. Countless people have walked where you’re standing; perhaps to mail a letter to a loved one fighting overseas or to cash their very first paycheck. Maybe they were just like you, wanting to know the story behind this brick building. Whatever the reason in whatever the time, this building has served its purpose., 1976-87: Hayes Sweet Shop , 1988: Tellequah Restaurant (Teleequah is also the name of the Tellico Plains High School yearbook started in 1921) , 1989: Pops Country Kitchen , 1990-94: Maxx Video , 1996-2001: Tellico Pawn Shop, Pictures supplied by Roberta Childeress (being sworn in on the left) and Karen Stewart, Project Leader: Hannah Morris – Project Assistants: Merritt Sherrer and Isabella Wilson – Project Advisor: Sheann Graham – Constructor: Thomas Graham – Constructor Assistant: Kolton Stakely.