Gail and David Garner have taken on the arduous task of renovating three buildings gutted by fire in downtown Etowah. The buildings, which burned in November 2002, were in danger of being razed before the Garners bought them and they are now on their way to an extreme building makeover.

 

“It has taken almost four years of red tape to get through all the FEMA regulations,” said David. “I finally started work about six months ago. I want to get the buildings dried in and then we’ll decide what to do with them from there.”

 All that’s left of the uppermost building is a precariously hanging second floor.

 “There used to be a doctor’s office up there,” said Gail. “We’re thinking of building it back into an apartment.”

 “I’ll have to get up there and tear it all down by hand,” said David. “I could just bring some equipment in here and do it, but I don’t want to risk damaging the Gem Theater building beside it.”

 Long before television sets were a common fixture in everyday households, Dr. L.C. Ogle would broadcast the World Series baseball games each October through a megaphone from that second story office. About 2,000 people would gather to listen as Dr. Ogle received updates via telegraph through the L & N wires at the Etowah Depot. Later, Dr. J. F. Duncan had his medical offices there.

 Kinser Drug store originally occupied the lower space in that building. The Kinsers have the distinction of not only being the first druggists in Etowah, but also owning the first gas pump, which stood on the street out in front of the building. The building was constructed by P.A. Kinser. At his death in the late 20s, the building passed into the hands of his son, John Malcolm Kinser, a veteran of WWI. He and partner Bill Murphy ran the store for many years.

 J. N. Lewis opened a furniture store in the building after that, which eventually was sold to O.A. Rule in 1931. The Rule family continued to sell furniture in that location for many decades as it was passed from one generation to the next.

 The lower building housed Copenhaver’s Jewelers. The sign is still visible on the face but the building has roots from the very beginning of Etowah dating back to the early 1900s and the town’s birth.

 

“The blocks in the Copenhaver building were handmade out back in the canal,” said David.  “I framed part of the wall out so you can still see them.”

 The blocks give a clue as to the age of the building, although little if nothing is known about its original builder. Sometime pre-World War I, Charles Carroll, father of L & N Conductor Carl Carroll, located his clothing store in the building under the firm name of Carroll and Son.

 The clothing store went out of business around 1932 after Charles’s death. The Palace Café occupied the space for many years after that. Shortly after WWII, B. M. Tallent purchased the building and later sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Copenhaver of Englewood. They opened the jewelry store whose name is still visible.

 The Garners are doing a beautiful job of restoring the buildings and things are moving right along. The fronts of two of the buildings are framed with as much original brickwork left as possible.

 “David Garner is not just a carpenter, he is a craftsman,” said Durant Tullock, Executive Director of the Etowah Chamber of Commerce. “He has built many houses in this area and is doing a fine job on these historic buildings.”