HISTORY · HISTORICAL MARKER
Oldham Theatre / Masonic Lodge #158
Winchester, Tennessee
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History
On May 2, 1902, Anasarcin Chemical Company was chartered and incorporated by J.W. Grisard, B. A. Grisard, A. F. Grisard, John P. Grisard, and Will E. Walker to compound, manufacture, and sell medicine for the treatment of heart trouble. Walker, an insurance solicitor in Winchester, was not actively identified in the business and owned a single share of stock with a face value of $100; he was added to comply with Tennessee law requiring five directors for any corporation. The medicine was made by the Grisards and a colored man, and in 1930 the company merged as Grisard Laboratories Incorporated. In 1905, the Anedemin Chemical Company was organized with a capital of $20,000 by Dr. T. B. Anderton, Floyd Estill, J. J. Lynch, J. M. Littleton, and I. G. Phillips, all Winchester residents and all lawyers except Anderton. The Journal of the American Medical Association reported in 1907 that a Mr. Gordon, a clerical employee, had active charge of the business, prepared medicine, and conducted correspondence. The company’s office headquarters, laboratory, and complete outfit occupied two rooms over the law office of Estill and Littleton, and no one connected with the company was a regularly licensed pharmacist or graduate chemist. Of the six physicians located in Winchester, three were engaged in the dropsical cure business. In 1968, Winchester Lodge #158 Free and Accepted Masons moved into the building formerly used as City Hall and Franklin County Library, a building constructed by Winchester Presbyterian Church USA in 1912.
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