West Main Street Has Not Always Been Flat; Residents of 610 West Main Had Great View, Became Funeral Parlor

West Main Street has not always been flat as it is now.

The work of Urban Renewal not only took away the top of Cameron Hill, but some smaller rises to the south as well.

On one of those hills, at 620 W. Main, the residents had a great view - especially south toward a looming Lookout Mountain.

A tidy, two-story frame house was built on that hill during the World War I period.

It was occupied over the years by a variety of men working at nearby foundries, and was apparently one of the job perks. The attractive home was finally converted to a funeral parlor.

Henry H. Garrison, a watchman for Union Tanning Company,  was among the first residents there in 1914.

Nelson E. Holmes, an engineer for Chattanooga Iron & Coal, was next along with fellow employee Raymond McCormick.

Eugene Harbin, a molder at the Ross-Meehan Foundry, also lived in the house that had an interesting double door that was paired with three side by side windows looking out on the front porch. 

William R. Goodlett, foreman at Ross-Meehan, came next, then Ernest H. Purvine, who was a baker for American Bakeries.

James E. Doyle, a later Ross-Meehan foreman, lived there with his wife, Katherine.

William Pollard, a Ross-Meehan molder, was enjoying the view in 1930. C.C. Jenkins later lived there.

Otis F. Cox and his wife, Hattie W. Cox, bought 610 W. Main and set it up as a funeral parlor around 1940. It was operated as Cox Funeral Home.

At one time Cox was in partnership with Samuel S. Trammell on West Main as Cox Trammell Funeral Home. That was until bulldozers knocked down the house with the view on the hill on Main Street. The hill went as well as a new freeway came through.