Picturing the Past 138: Little building to the left

Posted Tuesday, December 6, 2011, at 4:18 PM

The Red Ace station on Lane Parkway in 1969, but look to your left and check out the round building. (T-G file photo)

Among photos shot for the 1969 Sesquicentennial book the Times-Gazette published (no, we don't have copies for sale) was this one of the old Red Ace gas station on Lane Parkway.

A convenience store is in this building today and looks much the same. But look very closely at the extreme left side of the photo and you'll see the edge of a round building.

Go here for a larger view.

Was that building one of the short-lived fried chicken franchises (Minnie Pearl, Pat Boone) that built here around that time?

You can see the brick wall behind the convenience store at the Lane Parkway-North Cannon intersection. I'd been thinking the chicken place was on the other side of the wall. Was it actually in the flat area across from the fire hall?

Picturing the Past is featured each Tuesday in this blog. Reader contributions are welcome.

Comments
Showing comments in chronological order
[Show most recent comments first]

If I remember correctly the Minnie Pearl franchise was down the street from the old Central HS. Don't have a clue as to the little round building here

-- Posted by Tim Baker on Tue, Dec 6, 2011, at 7:16 PM

The building you're talking about was located where the convience store is now. It was a Pat Boone franchise, and I believe it was a hamburger joint. It was moved from Shelbyville to another town and not torn down. It wasn't a Minnie Pearl. As Tim says the Minnie Pearl franchised building was at the corner of Morton and Elm, I think Bright Temple bought it. It remains there today and it was chicken. Dr. Grace Molder had purchased the franchise for Shelbyville and she is the one who had the building built.

-- Posted by walrite on Tue, Dec 6, 2011, at 9:55 PM

Glad you included the larger view. I would not have noticed it was there. Sharp eyes.

-- Posted by stevemills on Wed, Dec 7, 2011, at 12:10 PM

Age has set in, but I thought Pat Boone's Place was at the corner of Lane and Cannon, in the Big Springs Center. If I am wrong I am sure Leeiii will let me know.

-- Posted by Wolf Clan on Wed, Dec 7, 2011, at 2:33 PM

See page 16, 1969 T-G mag, NE corner of Big Springs Shopping Center.

-- Posted by ilikeoldsongs on Wed, Dec 7, 2011, at 10:15 PM

Make that NE corner of the Lane Parkway-North Cannon intersection.

-- Posted by ilikeoldsongs on Wed, Dec 7, 2011, at 10:26 PM

Thanks David for yet another great picture. Yes, I agree with the others that the location was the NE corner of the Lane Parkway-North Cannon Blvd intersection, and that was on the same parcel as Big Springs Shopping Center. There are a couple of things that I noticed in the photo. The Pat Boone Chicken?/Hamburger? concern appears to be under construction as evidenced by the number of pick-up trucks backed up close to the building, and the yet to be paved area for parking at the business.

Another thing that caught my eye is that appears to be William Allen in the window of the Red Ace station. He and his brother-in-law William Holden worked that station for quite some time after it was built in the 60s.

-- Posted by leeiii on Thu, Dec 8, 2011, at 6:46 AM

David Melson

- Recent posts
- Archives
- Blog RSS feed

- Comments RSS feed

- Login

David Melson is a copy editor and staff writer for the Times-Gazette.

Hot topics

Picturing the Past 92: Stopping by Parks-Belk
(20 ~ 6:57 PM, May 14)

"Ag-gag" bill full of problems
(1 ~ 9:26 PM, May 13)

Picturing the Past 184: Hootenanny lineup
(5 ~ 8:45 AM, May 12)

Picturing the Past 183: Square in 1965
(10 ~ 11:09 AM, May 7)

Speeding drivers on the loose
(8 ~ 10:06 PM, Apr 27)

Home