
HISTORIC DAUGHERTY BUILDING
ARCHITECTURE & CONSTRUCTION
The Daugherty Furniture Building was designed by the architect Clem Meyer, a WWI soldier who fought at the famous Battle of Belleau Wood in 1918. The Daugherty Building is the last remaining Meyer building on the National Register of Historic Places.
It was constructed between 1938 and 1942, featuring stone walls, metal casement windows, large interior display areas, and office spaces. About 99,000 pounds of locally quarried stone was used on the building’s exterior, most which came from areas near the New River region of Morgan County and Scruggs Farm in Bethel. All of the stone was hand-chiseled and laid by Frank Gilbreath and Sebastian Marie, another local stone cutter.
The building was constructed at a time when nearby Oak Ridge and Norris Dam were also being built. The influx of people in the region helped the store become a major commercial center. Everything from furniture and hardware to appliances and flooring was sold in the store, making Daugherty's historically important to the commercial history of the community.
J.R. DAUGHERTY
J.R. Daugherty, was the oldest of six children left destitute when their father died in July 1916. J.R. began working at 14, first as a lumberjack and later as a coal miner. He then opened a small general merchandise store in the remote New River area, but eventually made the decision to move his business to Clinton because of the population influx there. The construction of his new building was completed in 1942, in the midst of WWII, and was the largest commercial building in the history of Clinton. The application to the National Register of Historic Places was filed by Bobby Daugherty, J.R.’s grandson, who bought the building from his parents in 2006.
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. An accompanying news release by the state Historical Commission described it as a skillful example of a multi-purpose commercial building. In its coverage of the designation, The Oak Ridger likewise reported: “It is architecturally important to the town of Clinton and to Anderson County.”
The National Register of Historic Places is the nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. It is part of a nationwide program administrated by the U.S. Department of the Interior that coordinates and supports efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect historic resources.
"These listings highlight some of the diverse places that tell the story of Tennessee's unique history," said Patrick McIntyre, then-executive director of the Tennessee Historical Commission, “ensuring recognition of these time-honored places that help give Tennesseans a sense of pride in their communities.''