Although it changed names and owners several times, Davidson Marble Works, a long-standing business in our town, has only recently closed its Union doors. Located at 421 S. Decatur Street near the town cemetery, this business conveniently serviced the people of Union with grave markers for eight decades. The original owners Cullen Davidson, Coyt Davidson, and Arie Davidson opened their operation in 1937 in a small brick building that is still standing.
Then when Arie married Fate Gomillion, he immediately joined in the business. In September 1943, Fate Gomillion, Coyt Davidson, and J.C. Davidson established Davidson Marble and Granite Works plant and moved in machinery for the manufacture of monuments behind their office.
In 1947, the name changed from Davidson to Davidson-Gomillion Marble Works. Next, Fate and Arie bought the shares from the other owners and changed the business’ name to Gomillion Marble Works. Then, Hester Davidson bought Gomillion out in 1980, changing the name back to Davidson Union Marble Works.
The business left the family when Hester sold to Harold and Dorothy Sides. Next, in 2012, their son Johnny Sides sold it to Darrell Duty and Russ Nowell, but the none of the new owners ever changed the business’ name. The business was closed in 2017. Then in 2018, Johnny Davidson, Hester Davidson’s grandson, became the new owner of the Davidson monument companies in Kosciusko, Forest, and Union taking the business back into the original Davidson family. He did not reopen the office in Union. However, Rusty Walton, who can be contacted at Milling Funeral Home, became the local sales representative.
Next, a different type of business that became well-known nationally opened in Union in 1949. J.S. Luke, Jr., W.G. “Scrap” Luke, and W.A. “Dub” McMahen formed a new corporation they called L & M Sales. They secured the franchise for the distribution of “Charm Pederma,” a foot powder for hot, tired feet.
“This foot powder was invented by a sailor about 1918,” stated Mrs. J.S. Luke, Jr., in an article in the Union Appeal. However, it had been sold in Union since the mid-1930s. Mrs. Luke explained that Miss Jennie Kidd of Nashville, a salesperson for the foot powder in Mississippi and Tennessee, had been coming to Union about three times a year selling the product door-to-door. Union people were extremely excited with the results it brought.
Then in 1949, L & M Sales became the national distributor of the product. The powder was mixed in Indiana, shipped to Union, and packed in individual primarily five-ounce cans. The label stated that the foot bath powder was good for tired, aching, and burning feet; for softening and removing corns and callouses; and for helping athlete’s foot.
A room above the Sunflower Food Store at 201 Main Street and a warehouse on Front Street were used by the owners to prepare the cans of powder for shipment to drug stores. They reportedly received orders from every state in the Union, as well as several foreign countries. Eventually, they sold the franchise to a northern business in the 1970s.
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