Veterans Memorial Drive served as Tellico Plains's town square and central gathering place, appearing in almost every historical photograph of the city. Tellico Plains was incorporated in 1911, and three years later a fire destroyed most of the buildings on the drive. Early businesses there included a casket store, a blacksmith shop, and a jail. After rebuilding, Tallent's generational hardware store became a fixture on the street from 1929 until its closing in 2015-16, while other businesses came and went, including a movie theater, Plains Drugs, a 5 and 10 store, a dentist, Aunt Nelle's Country Kitchen, Tammy's Restaurant, and Town Square Café. Another building housed The Tavern in the 1930s, Town Café in 1938-39, assorted bars from 1939 into the 1960s, Tellico Tavern from the 1970s to 1988, Volunteer Video Store and Tellico Mercantile in the 1990s, and Scott Street Gallery from 1999 to 2019. The square also held engraved bricks used in a town fundraiser and hosted community activities such as square dances and candlelight walks. In the 1940s it was an important transportation gathering point, where workers bound for the Alcoa Aluminum factory boarded the Cherokee Bus Line each workday, helping many residents keep their jobs and reach other places in Monroe County.