The Leaf-Chronicle from Clarksville, Tennessee • 25

1 1 mm i I i 1" a Jl( its destruction in the near future. The warehouse as it stands today before a rnn mt iii ho I 1 0 ii 5 5 I f- 1 it vi nn i (Staff Photos by Harold Lynch) While looking over the old warehouse on Riverside Drive for this story, staffer Cindy Olson looked down an elevator shaft through which large quantities of materials could be raised by use of the two-inch ropes and winch device. 5 -It A -huge wooden elephant suspended to the side of the warehouse by an iron support displayed itself to one and all declaring it the "Elephant Warehouse." Forbes and Pritchett, the original owners of the building, after renting it to many tobacconists during a 14-year span, sold the building in 1869. The buyers were W. Turnley, W.

Ely and T. Puryear. Under the name of Turnley Ely they conducted a very -successful business for two years when Puryear sold his interest to W. D. Merriweather, with the firm name remaining the same.

The fall of 1876 Merriweather sold his interest tf to James T. Kennedy creating Turnley, Ely Kennedy. Turnley withdrew in the fall of 1881 to Ely and Kennedy. After 15 years of partnership, Ely and Turnley sold their business to Michjah and Lewis R. Clark in 1884.

They used the famous old warehouse as a tobacco storage warehouse. The Clark brothers were direct descendants of the founder of Clarksville, George Rodgers Clark, and the two well-known explorers Lewis and Clark who conquered the Northwest territory. By the turn of the century, because of fradulent packing of the hogsheads, the loose floor Continued on Page 8-C vy vJ By CINDY OLSON i Staff Writer While' standing in the old abandoned warehouse, one could almost, hear the commotion of a busy, working day. At one of the building's entrances, a tobacco grower could be imagined bringing his tobacco by mules to the warehouse, while men on the first floor were busy stemming the tobacco that was to dry to be packed. At certain intervals, one could hear the clanging of the scales as the hogsheads were being weighed for storage and aging.

In another area of the building, tobacco buyers from all over the world were bickering and bargaining for the "dark-fired" tobacco. This description could very easily describe the activities of a place called the Elephant Warehouse in the mid-1800's. Today, the immense building stands vacant with only it's me'mories of yesteryear. After this month, the warehouse will only be an empty lot. 1 Records state the four-story building was erected in 1855 by Forbes and Pritchett to be -f I The only scale remaining in the Elephant Warehouse is located on the third floor.

Materials were attached to the scales on the second floor and a reading was taken on this lever-type scale which would weigh materials up to 500 pounds in weight. Staff writer Cindy Olson inspects the relic. utilized as a stemmerys-" By this time a permanent tobacco market was established and the "dark-fired" tobacco was being shipped to Germany, Austria, Italy, Great Britain, France, Africa and South America. A salesroom in the warehouse exhibited the tobaccQ samples for the buyers examine and buy. IT the walls could they would reveal transactions worth millions of dollars exchanging hands between the growers to the tobacco buyers.

Located on the corner of Front (now Riverside Drive) and Commerce Streets, the warehouse was built off the bank of the Cumberland River. Mules brought the hogsheads to the river where it was loaded on crude steamboats to be shipped to New Orleans. From New Orleans, the barrels would be exported abroad. In 1859 Howell, Blackman and Co. rented it and conducted a tobacco commission business for some years.

For some months during the War Between the States, the Elephant Warehouse was occupied by federal troops after the fall of Ft. Donelson. II I ft infti tiiiii'i i tii nmiiimiiiiini III.JI.J..IIMil..UI Lllll UJLJBIIII.Ilum After the war, part of the explanation for the immediate recovery of the tobacco market in Clarksvillc was the European need for the "dark-fired" tobacco. 1 Harrison and Shelby opened the Elephant Tobacco Warehouse in full operation in 1866. After a year of successful operation as tobacco commission merchants, they soldlhe warehouse to Turnley and Weathers, In, 1868 Robert Wooldridge bought 'Weathers' interest and gave the enormous building its existing name.

It was given the name "Elephant Warehouse" because it was the largest warehouse in the state and possibly in the South. nnXnWi I Site- a is III.IH.II.JJ Elevator floor in wheels on hogsheads i 4 i i i i 1 This picture of the Elephant Warehouse was taken about 1 00 years ago. mechanisms used in lifting materials from floor to the Elephant Warehouse are still in tact. These large the hird floor were powered from below to winch from the lower levels. a.