On approach to this nostalgic setting, one could almost envision arriving in yesteryear to this establishment. Folks coming in for sugar and flour. I can imagine that some bartering for eggs and such must have taken place.
The clapboard siding gives this establishment the quaintness of a time gone by. This gem of an establishment is tucked away on the back roads of Tennessee in McMinn County and west of Delano, TN
Check out the secondary website for more information.
TREW'S STORE
Transcribed by: Mary
Sue Mason
Revisions by: Bill Bigham
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Trew 's Store was established in 1890 by John Wesley Trew
near Calhoun, TN, the site of the first county seat of McMinn County Tennessee.
It is properly located as being half way between Highway
11 and 411 on Highway 163 where County Road 783 enters. Dentville was a
one time postoffice in the store and the community still retains its name.
(To the ole timers, anyway.)
John Wesley Trew's grandparents, Dr. Thomas Trew and wife
Nancy James purchased 463 acres in the Calhoun area in 1836. They came
here from Jamestown, Kentucky. They
stayed in the area, known as Dentville, and raised their family of ten
children.
William, John Wesley's father, inherited 1/2 of the farm
in 1862. He developed the farm into a huge enterprise that produced corn,
wheat and oats. He also made sorghum and raised livestock.
John Wesley Trew and wife Margaret Ella Porter were parents
of nine children and continued to be very successful with the family enterprise
and the store was opened to serve the family's needs in 1890.
One of the sons of John Wesley Trew, Mortimer began as
a clerk in the store in 1925.
In 1935, J.W. Trew turned the store over to his children.
It operated as Trew Brothers from 1962-1975.
In 1975 Mortimer Trew and his wife Oneta Crittenden became
sole owners of the store and changed the name to M.E. Trew General Merchandise.
The store was placed on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1976.
As an interested citizen living in the area, I made a
visit to the store in 1996 and took some photos of the store and Mortimer
Trew and his wife Oneta Trew.
Mortimer spent his whole life in the store. He died in
April of 1996.
The store is "not" open for business or touring.
Transcribed by: Mary
Sue Mason
Revisions by: Bill Bigham