Hodge Furniture was located at 3601 Brainerd Road.
A work in progress
I frequently receive e-mails from readers who respond to articles about Chattanooga area manufacturers.
Many messages have photographs attached. Some are inquiries about the age of an item.
Among the more popular products have been the Benn-Hubb candy and peanut butter, Crane plumbing fixtures, Milne chairs, and Tennessee Stove Works / Modern Maid appliances.
An article from 2006 on the Cris-Craft boat manufacturer (www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_94882.asp?imgID=16378 ) prompted a reader to share his story of restoring a Dixie Craft boat. This vessel was manufactured locally in the mid-1950’s by the Hodge Boat Manufacturing Company.
The reader has just begun a project to fix up hull number 16 56 177. He said, “It is stripped from its original stain and varnish (about 90%) and I am in the process of re-conditioning the boat. For an original 1956 boat it is in SUPER shape! I will only have to replace about three or so boards on the upper deck.” The boat has a Fiftieth Anniversary Evinrude 35HP outboard.
I helped him to research the history of the manufacturer. I learned that this may be a craft that was crafted for only a few years.
Hodge Boat Manufacturing was first listed in the Chattanooga city directory in 1955, then again in 1956. Those were the only years recorded.
Hodge Boat made the Dixie Craft at its facility at the rear of 6001 Lee Highway, behind the East Brainerd Lumber Company.
This, of course, begged the question: “Who was Hodge?”
The city directory listed Harry K. Hodge as being the admiral of the boat-making business. I then referenced a biographical file on him at the downtown Public Library.
Harry K. Hodge was born April 30, 1899, and grew up in a farm family that lived first at King’s Point and then moved to a dairy farm at Brainerd. Later, his father opened a grocery in East Chattanooga, and Mr. Hodge helped in the operation. After leaving for a stint as a railroad clerk in St. Louis, he returned to help his mother with the grocery store after his father passed.
His brother, J. Clyde Hodge, went into the furniture business. In 1944, Harry sold the grocery store, and became a partner in his brother’s store. The furniture dealership was first located at 3508 McCallie Avenue, followed by a new store opened in 1948 at 3601 Brainerd Road at Germantown.
In 1952, Harry bought his brother’s share of the firm, then sold the store building two years later to Miller Brothers. The biography noted that at that time, he decided to retire and travel with his wife.
His biography picks back up with his becoming a real estate agent, then starting his own firm. That aligns with the city directory, which listed him as having the H.K. Hodge Realty business starting in 1958.
However, the biography does not have any information about his Hodge Boat Manufacturing career. The library also does not have a newspaper clipping file on the nautical enterprise.
The city directory had listings for Hodge Boat in 1955 and 1956. The directory was published annually, so the business may have started slightly before 1955 or after 1956; at most, three years.
Thus, the reader’s Dixie Craft boat may be one of few ever made. He said, “I located a man who bought a Dixie Craft when he returned from the Korean War and plan to go speak with him this week. He said that he bought his Dixie Craft from “Bill Penney Tire and Marine – located at 1401 or 1404 Dodson Avenue – Chattanooga, TN” who was also the sole seller of Chris Craft for Chattanooga.”
To share his restoration story, as well as to correspond with other owners, he started the Web site www.DixieCraftBoats.com.
If you have information on Hodge Boat Manufacturing, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net. Please also send a copy of your message to jt@DixieCraftBoats.com.