Old Factory Store

Old Factory Store. . In 1799 Franklin founder Abram Maury sold Lot 20 to Joseph McBride. By 1825 Dyer Pearl, Thomas Parkes, and Joseph L. Campbell operated a steam-powered cotton and grist mill on East Margin and owned Lot 20 upon which was built a brick store in the Greek Revival style, complete with four distinctive Doric columns supporting a Grecian pediment. Other antebellum owners included Anderson and Baldwin (1833), Plunkett and Parkes (1843), M.G.L. Claiborne (1855), Spencer and McCoy (1858). On December 12, 1862 U.S. Brig. Gen. David Stanley ordered the machinery at the cotton factory and the stones of the grist mill destroyed but he spared the factory store after taking four wagon loads of flour and a wagon full of whiskey., Like other public buildings and homes in Franklin, this local landmark served as a hospital for the wounded after the horrible conflict on November 30, 1864. In 1869 Enoch Brown purchased the building on Lot 20 from M.G.L. Claiborne for $1,300 separating its economic connection with the mill on East Margin. Jeremiah Shea purchased the Factory Store in 1884, which remained in the family until 1940. During the 20th century, the building housed Shea's Grocery, A.J. Edwards Antiques and Furniture Repair, Elva Givens Antiques, Dotson's Restaurant (1954-1978), and First Citizens' Bank. The Factory Store was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.