An interesting part of our local history are the people and business places that once made up the town of Marion.
One of the more colorful people and unique stores that is still remembered today by a lot of people is Mrs. Lottie Terry and her store that used to be on West Bellville Street.
It was two buildings, but used as one. The two front lower rooms were used to sell clothes, hats, materials, all kind of notions and many other items. The two top floors facing the street were used to sell furniture. The back portions of both floors were living quarters for the Terry family.
Mrs. Terry died in 1955, but even today there are some folks that remember her and some of the things that made her ' a character.'
She must have been well known for she was featured in the November 19, 1939 edition of the Evansville Sunday Courier and Press. It tells that Mrs. Lottie Terry didn't mind being called a "Town Character" and admitted that she was somewhat different for the run of the mill merchants.
Mrs. Terry contended she was a born merchant. She was born in her father's general store at Kuttawa, Kentucky, and that her father, Henry Williams, was Kuttawa's railroad agent, postmaster, general store manager and proprietor of the Williams Hotel all at one time. Mrs. Terry, besides being a born merchant, says she was the first child born in the Kuttawa settlement.
Lottie Terry married when she was unusually young. Her husband a well-to-do mining man, suffered a stroke and was an invalid for nine years. Due to Mr. Tinsley's illness she opened a hat shop in her home.
As Mrs. Terry recalls the story, she had two things she could actually call her own property, a diamond ring and a piano, after her husband died, she sold them and started up in business, the same business she is in today, clothing, furniture and a little bit of everything. She became the first woman to go into business on her own in Marion. This was the year 1904.
And how did the business fare? Mrs. Terry declared she had never touched a dime of her first husband's estate and she further stated that she would buy most anything, if the price was right.
When Mrs. Terry went to the large cities on buying trips, she referred to them as her "biting off trips." Sometimes these trips ended up somewhat differently from the way she had planned it.
To business firms both far and near, Lottie Terry's store in Marion, Kentucky was known as a clearinghouse. If the price was right they could be sure Lottie would take a carload of stock.
On October 27, 1910, Mrs. Lottie Tinsley was married to James Markham Terry. She made her own wedding dress, a lovely black velvet gown. They had one son, James Markham, Jr. When James married and had a family they lived in the upstairs of the store and he and his wife, Anna Laura, worked in the business with his mother.
When Mrs. Lottie died July 24, 1955, her son James, and daughter-in-law Anna Laura, continued on with the family store. After a while, they stopped selling the clothing and only kept several of the clothing items that were the fashion during the flapper and Depression eras. They sold antiques and beautiful cut glass and crystal. Mrs. Anna Terry died in 1968, and James continued with the store.
In 1976 when the 1920's style came back into style, James sold his vintage clothing, that he has saved, to an outlet in Nashville. A Mrs. Stoup that operated Betty Boop's Nostalgic Fashions in Nashville came to Marion and purchased many of the Terry's items. These old clothes were still structurally sound. Made from natural fibers of cotton, wool or silk, they had not deteriorated over the years.
James Markham Terry died Dec. 4, 1980 and his daughter, Anna and son, James III, inherited the store. They sold the Terry Store in 1981 to Harold Martin. In 1983, the wonderful old store had gotten in such bad condition, Mr. Martin had the Terry building torn down for the public's safety.
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