Shown is West Tennessee’s first cheese factory, located on the left hand side of the Palmersville School driveway loop. The factory was built close to 1923, the Nashville Tennessean newspaper wrote that the factory would be on display at the Palmersville Fair during that same year. During 1933 the Tennessean again published a story telling that Bates Pentecost, who was Pres of the milk organization, had announced of an upcoming expansion plan for the factory, we assume he was referring to the addition seen on the left of the building in this rare 1939 photograph found in Atlanta Ga at the National Archives. It is unknown when the factory stopped producing cheese but it had been a great benefit for local farmers who sold milk to the factory for years to produce grade A cheese. The cheese factory’s dilapidated building remained on the school loop until the 1970s, efforts to save it for historical purpose failed because of its poor condition. (photo courtesy of the US National Archives) Story By (and special thanks to): Robert G Reynolds, Palmersville, TN News
Palmersville’s Minida Normal College (at left) served the community from 1891 to 1912. Recently, a reader, David Stephenson, contacted us saying he is “proud to own” his grandfather’s Certificate of Graduation. What a rare find.
The Stephenson family lived on Boydsville Road, just down from Fairview Cemetery, where many members of the family have been laid to rest, including David’s grandfather Charlie P Stephenson, grandmother Mary Mitchell Stephenson, and uncle Thomas Mitchell Stephenson.
Charlie Patterson Stephenson graduated from Minida in 1894. Though the ink has faded considerably and it’s quite difficult to make out the hand-written text, we are very pleased to present this part of Palmersville’s history.
The only fatality to occur at the Palmersville Community Fair happened in October of 1931.
In the 1930s, the Palmersville Fair was held on the first Saturday in October. Events at the fair included the beginning season (high school) basketball game. In 1931, the school did not have a gymnasium; basketball games took place on a dirt court beside the school building. Basketball games at the fair drew large crowds and were an exciting time for the entire community.
During the fair, spectators would line the court cheering for each team as the game was being played, among the hundreds of people watching the game in 1931, was Mrs. Ella Smethwick, (64), and her family. During the game, Smethwick, like many others, was sitting in a chair enjoying the afternoon with family when she was struck by a vehicle from behind. Smethwick and her daughter-in-law Naomi both suffered injuries. As the crowd rushed to their side it was determined Naomi was only slightly injured but Mrs. Smethwick had suffered life-threatening injuries, she was then rushed to the Martin hospital where she would succumb to her injuries.
The person operating the vehicle during the accident was Mr. Seymour Buckley, who reported to authorities that his vehicle had malfunctioned as he was planning to back away from the parking area, but the vehicle had lunged forward instead striking Smethwick and her daughter-in-law. Buckley was overcome with grief and had to be treated for an existing heart condition. No charges were filed.
Ironically, in 1901, this same Ella Smethwick had suffered yet another tragic accident in Palmersville at the age of 31. Smethwick and her family had been attending a graduation ceremony at Minida Normal Collage in Palmersville in which a crowd of over 500 people were in attendance. Shortly after arrival a feud between two unrelated families broke out in the crowd. Several shots were fired between brothers of the Vaughn and Stephenson families striking Ella Smethwick in the leg and injuring several other innocent bystanders. As a result, Dave Vaughn, who was one of the brothers of the feuding families, was killed during the shootout. Mrs. Smethwick fortunately recovered from the injury she had sustained during the unexpected gun battle.
Ella (Stewart) Smethwick was the wife of Joe Alexander Smethwick and was the mother to seven children, she was laid to rest in the Blooming Grove Cemetery just outside of Palmersville. At the time, her family resided on today’s Barber Road.
June Kay (Smethwick) Kemp, great granddaughter of Ella Smethwick, was instrumental in providing the photo and information related to the story. June Kay (Smethwick) Kemp is an officer of the Palmersville Historical Society.
Palmersville c.1900. The people of the community came together to build a neighbor’s barn, a practice that was common throughout the south at the turn of the century.
The Palmersville branch of the Weakley County Bank opened its doors for business on September 23rd, 1976. First branch manager was Junior Harris along with Carol Ann Smith as the assistant, Harris retained the position until 1977. Smith was promoted to the manager position upon Harris’ retirement. Brenda Donoho was hired as the assistant during 1977.
The bank operated under the name of Weakley County Bank for the next twenty years until First State Bank acquired the holdings of WCB during 1997. Carol Ann Smith retired as manager during 1999 and the position was filled by Stephanie (Donoho) Kemp. Throughout the years many people held positions at the bank, such as Marilene (Finley) Mayse, Karen Reynolds, and Kelli Moubray to name a few.
The banks closing date is unknown, the Palmersville bank was a valuable asset to the community, as Palmersville had been without a bank since the 1930s when the branch opened in 1976. The bank was a source of employment for many employees throughout the years and was a reliable trusted institution that many customers relied on.
Today the building is home to the Palmersville Historical Society who serves the community with the history of Palmersville and the surrounding area.
(Many thanks to Carol Ann Smith for providing a portion of information)
In 1978, the Palmersville Ruritan Club voted to implement and establish the first Palmersville Fire Department The club sought professional help through people who had firefighter experience who would become very instrumental in helping set up the first Volunteer Fire Department in Palmersville. Those professionals had worked with other volunteer departments in the past and knew what it took to get one established and the training it takes to keep a fire department up and running, as well as being able to serve the public.
Many people of the Palmersville community came together in the early part of 1978 to form and establish the first Palmersville Volunteer Fire Department.
Each household in the 38241 mailing area was sent a notice offering a membership on volunteer basis, the fee was set at $25.00 per year membership to be covered in the Palmersville Fire Department service area. After a successful turnout the department purchased a 1955 Ford fire engine and began training to fight fires in the Palmersville Community.
A buddy system was set in place, having no radios or pagers like the department has today, each firefighter was assigned two buddies to call on the phone when notified by the Chief or the Captain, who told the location of the house or farm in which to be dispatched to. The chain was made complete when all firefighters where notified and on the way to the location of the fire.
According to Chief Joe David Laws, Larry Moubray was the first fire chief to head the department in 1978, followed by David McAlpin, followed by Ted Cantrell, followed by David McAlpin again and later today’s Chief Joe David Laws [c. 2014].
During 1978, after many days of training by David McAlpin, the Fire Department was ready to respond to fire calls. In the past, fires in the Palmersville community had been covered by the Weakley Co. Forestry Department and or the Dresden Fire Department which was located some 15 to 20 mile from the furthest house or farm in the 38241 zip code (Palmersville Community) area.
The first fire call came in during the first part 1978 to the Reynolds Farm located 3.5 miles southeast of town who had reported having a grass fire. The Department responded and saved a field of Jap seed from being destroyed. The first successful response from the new fire department had saved property, the departments goal was in place; fight fires, save lives and prevent future property damage.
The second call came on February 16th of 1978 to the home of the late Mr. Billy Danner, Mr. Danner unfortunately perished in the fire, the home was was located close to Latham.
Some of the fire fighters in 1978 were Larry Moubray, Kenny Doster, Mark McAlpin, Robert Perry, Larry Sides, Gail Ainley, Jerry Rachels, the late Marlin Fagan, the late Jimmy Winstead ,the late Steve Donoho, Gary Olds, Dewey McClure and David McAlpin.
The fire Department responded to 12 calls during 1978, according to Chief Joe David Laws the department responds to 50 to 75 calls per year today, many more calls after the department had been established 46 years ago. The Fire Department would have not been made possible without the support of the whole Community of Palmersville.
The first Palmersville Fire Department Board Members were Kenny Doster Chairman, the late Mr. Tom Hardy, the late Mr. Willy Perry and the late Mr. Denny Watkins comprised the board members until 1980 when the board approved the late Mr. Eddie Steel, the late Mr. Bob Cantrell and Larry Moubray to reside as Chairman, the late Mr. Louis McAlpin also severed as board member. David McAlpin was named Fire Chief in 1980. Throughout the years many Palmersville residents served as board members.
During the late 1980s, the hard work of the late Mr. Hubert McKelvy, residing as board member and Chairman, was able to accrue funds for the new Palmersville Fire Department, which was donated from the late Mr. Jack Tucker Estate to establish a new fire house in Palmersville.
The first building to house the fire truck and water truck was in a grain storage building owned by the late Willy Perry, located at Perry Farm Supply. Later a building was purchased to store the Fire engine and equipment which became the first firehouse.
The first firehouse was located about 100 feet south of today’s Reckless Customs Garage. The fire Department used this building until the funds for the new fire house were donated by the Mr. Jack Tucker’s Estate.
The old firehouse was a 20 by 30 foot structure red in color with a sign over the door that read “Palmersville Fire Department”. Some of the equipment for the firehouse was donated by the Paris Fire Department. A bank loan was approved to add extra equipment needed to fight fires. Allot of training went into making the station a well oiled machine, an efficient operational Fire Department.
Due to the first Palmersville Fire Department being created 46 years ago, many lives and homes have been saved, also adjacent properties and out buildings have been saved due to the fast response time of a Fire Department that was now based only a few miles from any home in the 38241 area.
“The “History of the Palmersville Fire Department” story was first published in 2013. Joe David Laws, who is the present fire Chief, and David McAlpin spent many hours researching the Fire Department log books and provided the information to make this story possible. Most of the information was found in the first log books that were written in 1978 and are still on hand today at the Palmersville Fire Department.
By Robert G Reynolds of Gutenberg Media; please visit his page on Facebook: Palmersville TN News.
The 1996-97 Jr. high Pirates were a high-scoring crew. Pictured L-R) are:
Front Row — Michael Mitchell, Chris Leo, Michael Reynolds, J. D. McDaniel, Daniel Jarred, William Windstead, Ralph Turnbow.
Back Row: Manager Jake Ferguson, Eric King, Robert Leyhue, Bradley Leyhue, Ryan Bowlin, Head Coach Robert Richards, Lonnie Jarred, Aaron Harper, D. J. Wilmath, and managers Adam Stoysdill and Brad Barber.
Palmersville’s 
Palmersville Historical Society 