Gilman Paint Store and Offices at Eighth and Pine Streets. Click to enlarge.
photo by Courtesy of the Chattanooga Hamilton County Bicentennial Library
It’s almost spring, and time for some fix-up. I see that the dog house needs painting. Wonder if I could save some money by making my own paint? Sure, I can. I’ll just consult my trusty encyclopedia on how paint is made.
It says that first I need a “vehicle” such as linseed oil. Well, we try to eat healthy, so I guess that canola oil will have to do. The encyclopedia says that I also can use a thinner to make the paint more liquid. Hmmm… this can of diet soda is supposed to make one thinner, so I’ll use it. Last, I need some pigment such as iron oxide. The fence rails around the back yard are rusty. I remember from chemistry that rust is “iron oxide.” So, I’ll scrape off some rust, and use it to make the color be an attractive brownish red.
Now that I have all of my ingredients, I need to mix them. So, into the blender they go. I’ll just turn it on, and … whoa! What a mess! I suppose that if I had remembered to put the lid on, my ceiling wouldn’t be brownish red right now. I’ll bet that William D. Gilman Jr.’s first batch of paint turned out to be better than mine.
Unlike me, William Douglas Gilman, Jr. knew something about chemistry. He had learned much from his father, W. D. Gilman, Sr., who has a detailed biography in “Tennessee – A History.” Mr. Gilman, Sr. was widely known for “experiments in chemistry and in the manufacture of barium, having been the first man in the world to manufacture this product on a commercial basis. He was involved with the Durex Chemical Corporation at Sweetwater, Tennessee.
William Gilman, Jr. worked with his father until 1910, when he moved to Chattanooga and opened the Gilman Paint and Varnish Company. Reminiscing in a June 26, 1937 Chattanooga News interview, Mr. Gilman said that he moved to the city because “Chattanooga appealed to me tremendously as an industrial city with a great future.”
With capital of $4,500, Mr. Gilman teamed with Robert Cleveland Tennyson, a cooper (barrel-maker), to make the first barrel of Gilman Paint. That first order was also recalled by Mr. Gilman in the Chattanooga News interview: “The first order was from the Chattanooga Plow Company for one barrel of red oxide paint. To me this was quite an order. I caught the Alton Park streetcar, got off at Central Avenue, and ran as hard as I could most of the half-mile to the factory. Discarding my sales department uniform, I put on my overalls and Mr. Tennyson and I ground out the barrel of paint. This initial order kindled my enthusiasm, and started me out for more orders that day. Mr. Tennyson then went out to hire a public dray (cart) to deliver the one barrel to the Chattanooga Plow Company.”
Gilman Paint thus joined a long list of Chattanooga-based manufacturers. The 1912 city directory advertised approximately 600 categories of products made locally. Gilman felt that their products could compete with those made anywhere. An advertisement in the May 3, 1911 Chattanooga Times proclaimed, “There are no better paints made anywhere. Good paint. Made in Chattanooga.”
Tragedy struck just a few years later, however, as Gilman’s factory was destroyed by fire in December, 1915. The start of Prohibition allowed William Gilman to secure new quarters in a vacant saloon at 517 Market Street. In the rear of the building, which fronted Broad Street, Gilman set up his manufacturing operation. A few years later, he established a varnish factory on River Street (present-day Riverfront Parkway).
The staff of Gilman Paint grew in response to its customer base. Henry Bouton Gilman joined the firm and worked alongside his brother. Gilman Paint continued to expand, even during the Great Depression. Thinking that the depression would be over soon, Gilman expanded its riverfront factory in 1932 and also added wallpaper to its product line-up.
On June 28, 1937, Gilman Paint moved to a location which many Chattanoogans remember at Eighth and Pine Streets. An old building that had housed a furniture store was remodeled to serve Gilman customers. A neon sign that read “Gilman Paint” hung outside the second and third floor. Another sign, painted onto the side of the building, read: “This is Gilman’s New Store. Gilman Paint – quality price, comfort, air-conditioned, and free parking while shopping at our store. “ The Chattanooga News had a special Gilman insert, which included the interview with William Gilman. Numerous businesses expressed well-wishes, including the Spencer Kellogg Company which had supplied Gilman linseed and vegetable oil for twenty-five years.
The new Gilman offices were novel in that customers could drive down a ramp into the basement, and park their cars inside the same building as the store. I remember this from the days when I would go to the store with my father. In the early years, valet parking was provided.
William D. Gilman was always mindful of the needs of customers. The company took out a large advertisement to thank them: “This week marks the 27th anniversary of our company. It has been a period of steady, useful growth, due to the loyalty of thousands of friends who have continued to give us their helpful support.” Mr. Gilman noted that “I have personally always felt that there could and should be genuine friendliness in business.”
New generations of employees of Gilman Paint and Varnish helped the company to retain and gain customers in the years following William D. Gilman, Jr.’s death in 1944. The company expanded its laboratory facilities, and developed new varieties of paint. Underwater primers were used by TVA and on the St. Lawrence Seaway. A fire-retardant paint called “Flame-Chek” was introduced during Fire Prevention Week in 1969. In 1982, Gilman Paint was saluted at the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee.
In 1984, the Jones-Blair Paint Company purchased the Tennessee-Dallas Corporation, which had acquired Gilman’s stock in 1976. The local Gilman operation was renamed Jones-Blair in 1995.
If you have memories of Gilman Paint and Varnish Company, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@signaldata.net. In the mean time, I’ll be cleaning up the mess that I made trying to make paint.