How does your Christmas list differ from this one published in 1909?!

The now vacant Rena’s Outlet building on the East side of the square has a long history of pharmacies occupying the location, beginning with W.A. Daniel’s Drug Store. 

Dr. W.A. Daniel moved to Thomaston mid-1905 around the same time he purchased the former hardware building at 107 S. Center Street. Over the next 10 years he operated a successful pharmacy which also fell under the Rexall umbrella, a popular chain of drug stores in the early-late 20th century. 

In June of 1915, Mr. Jabe Stamps purchased the drug store, renaming it after himself. After Stamps’s death in early 1925, Mr. Harry Williams bought the business, and once again the store was renamed, this time to Williams Pharmacy. Williams had previously been affiliated with City Drug (located only thee stores down). Thirteen years later, the business was bought out again. The newly named Jacobs Pharmacy opened in March, 1938, and with that the Rexall brand was changed to Walgreens. 

The next sale transformed the pharmacy into one that many should recognize. In June, 1940, Marion Matthews “Red” McClellan purchased Jacobs and renamed it McClellan’s Pharmacy. Mr. McClellan already owned Red’s Pharmacy located in the Ritz building, which opened in 1927. 

Over the next thirty years McClellan’s Pharmacy stood the test of time, until it finally closed sometime in 1970. Mr. McClellan passed away just four years later. His building went through several changes over the following years, including another drug store called Big-C (later moved to a location on N. Center). Today it sits empty as the former Rena’s Outlet. Hopefully another business can fill this space soon!

Thomaston Times, December, 1909.

Thomaston Times, June 11, 1915.

Thomaston Times, February 6, 1925.

Thomaston Times, February 25, 1938.

Thomaston Times, June 27, 1940.

Mule stables once filled Thomaston’s downtown. Places like the Ritz Theater, Hometown Printers, Wtga, Baby Lane's Children's Consignment Store, Jin’s Beauty, and Pasley Funeral Home’s former location across from the Post Office were all sites for the mule sheds. Just across the street from our building, in what is now the Thomaston Health Spa at the corner of E. Lee and Center Streets, stood another. 

Pictured is E.T. Black’s mule Trading Post, built in 1916. 

Mr. Ernest Thomas Black, originally from The Rock, was a two-time Mayor of Thomaston (1918-1921) + (1924-1925), peach grower, and successful livestock dealer. In December of 1934, he and Will Trice brokered a deal with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for the sale of two mules, which the President named “Tug” and “Hop” after two of his aides, Harry Hopkins, Secretary of Commerce, and Dr. Rexford Guy Tugwell, Undersecretary of the Dept. of Agriculture. President FDR was said to be delighted to have appropriately named them as one can hop while the other tugs. 

The trade added to Thomaston’s already lucrative livestock industry. At one point, this area was known as Mule Capital of the South with the largest distribution center south of Atlanta. The square was apparently so crowded with mules that wagons and buggies had a tough time crossing the streets. 

The trade eventually died out as the boll weevil invaded cotton crops across the South and the introduction of farm tractors eliminated much of the need for the animals. Mr. E.T. Black passed away suddenly in May of 1937. A few years later, his stable was destroyed by fire, eliminating one of the last traces of the thriving industry.

To view mule stable locations, click on the link for Thomaston's Sanborn Maps, 1885-1921. Thomaston Sanborn Maps

Thomaston Times, November 6, 1925.

Thomaston Times, December 7, 1934.

Thomaston Times, April 12, 1945.

E.T. Black's Mule Stables, ca. 1910's-1920's. Contributed by Charles McDaniel for the Upson County Pictorial History.