Commerce

Commerce. . Train #3 southbound, circa 1913. The wye (turnaround) is visible on the right. Because trains traveled with only one engine in the early railroad days and the tracks further south were under construction, a wye was necessary at Elkmont for southbound trains to move the one engine to the north of the train for a return journey., Train #2 going north, circa 1945. Elkmont had three trains a day., Railroad companies built section houses along the tracks to provide housing for their workers. This particular one was moved from the tracks to school property in the late '50s to serve as "The Scout House" for Boy Scout Troop 248., Elkmont was indeed "King Cotton Country:" UP to 500 bales of cotton were sold in one week during January 1898. Elkmont had other bumper crops years: one was during the mid-1950s., Livery Stables were multi-functional, providing care for the animals, seed, feed, and excursions for buggy rides or family outings. The stable on the left was on Railroad Street, and the one below was on Smith Avenue., This old water tank was built in 1936 to serve the nearby cotton warehouses., During the 1920s, brothers John and Harry Morris built a steam-operated cotton gin near the general store owned by their father, Hassie. When electricity became available in the late '30s, they moved the gin across the road to its present location. Morris Brothers Gin operated under different owners until the mid-1980s when Kenny Carter purchased the property and began "The Ole Gin House Restaurant.", E.T. Gray and his eldest son, Fred Gray, Sr., ran a general store and a cotton gin in Elkmont as early as 1900. The gin became Fred Gray and Son (Fred Gray Jr. and George Gray). Gray Brothers was in operation until 1987 when it was sold to George Gray Jr. and Perry McNatt. Shown in the photos are Gray's Gin, circa 1918 (outside) and circa 1956 (inside).