NW: Do you remember anything interesting about Gideon that might be of use to us?
LS: I remember before there was a Baptist church established, everyone met in Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Fletcher's home. The attendance began to grow and they decided that they needed another building to worship in, so they built a Baptist church. The first one built burned down.
JH: Do you know anything about the Sherman House Hotel?
LS: It was a big two-story building. Business men stayed in it. It looked like a big two-story house. It was where the bank is now. It had beautiful antique furniture and beautiful hardwood floors. They would fix a big Sunday dinner after church and lots of people came there to eat. Later they tore down the hotel and built the bank.
NW: Did you know anything about the theater? Was there ever a day that Gideon was very busy?
LS: Well, Saturdays were the busiest nights of all. People came to town to go to the movies. That was the main source of entertainment.
NW: I'm trying to get different people's opinion on why they think that the population decreased. I have quite a few, what's yours?
LS: I think that it is because the farmers didn't have half as much land as they do now. The land they did have was farmed by people not by machines. That was the reason for more population, the fact that farm labor was done by people, so they needed more places for the people to live in Gideon, so they could work here. When the machines came into the picture, a lot of people moved away because they lost their jobs. There were no other jobs for that many people to work around here.
NW: Do you think that the decrease in population is the reason for the buildings to be torn down?
LS: Yes I do, I believe that when the machines came around and people had to move, that most of the businesses lost a lot of business and had to close their doors. The buildings ran down and they tore them down.
JH: What kind of businesses did they have before they closed most of them down?
LS: There was quite a few businesses in the old IGA building. IGA was in the front, facing the parking lot and behind it was a bank on one corner and a drugstore on the other. The drugstore and IGA were connected with a door. There was a place to sit down and drink sodas or eat ice cream and just sit around and socialize.
NW: Was there any other interesting things that might have happened to Gideon?
LS: There was a guy named Jerry Foster who went to school and lived in Gideon. He was a songwriter. He went to Nashville and sold a few songs, but, didn't stay famous for long.
JH: Do you remember any wive's tales that people here in Gideon went by?
LS: Yes, there was one that I do recall. They used to say that after you ate fish, you couldn't drink milk because it would make you sick and give you stomach cramps.
NW: Do you remember anything that was unique with Gideon?
LS: Well, the Gideon-Anderson company blew a whistle at 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., people said if you lost your watch or didn't have a clock you estimate by that whistle. Also, there was stoplight in Gideon, and there was enough traffic for one.
JH: Do you remember anything about the newspaper that Gideon had?
LS: The only thing I remember was that Mr. Derby owned it and if there was any sort of interesting things that happened in Gideon, it was in there.
Return to the Folklore and Oral History of Gideon-Homepage Last Updated: 4-16-97