EARLY BUSINESSES OF GUIN According to W. A. COLLINS, Mr steve CAUDLE had a water-powered sawmill in the Guin vicinity before the Railroad was built. Ed KNIGHT and Henry GUIN in 1894, also slasher-type mills located south of Guin of Purgatory Creek, near the spot now owned by the Hightower Box and Tank Company. There were two tan yards in the early years, one near the present Dennis Lumber Company, and one near the present location of GANN's TV and Radio Repair Shop. A negro, Old man Joe ENNIS had a shoe shop and served as a cobbler. Bill WRIGHT had the first Blacksmith shop in 1890, and O. C. LING also had a shop in those early years, as did Jim HARRIS. Clark WHITE, already listed, was believed to have had the first store after the railroad, but Dock WRIGHT stated that J. J. POPE also had one of the early stores. R. R. WRIGHT who came to Guin in 1905, said that the business houses there at that time, included: FRAZIER Hotel, PEARCE Hotel, R. F. BRADLEY, L. D. LITTLETON, Jim PEARCE and Company, S. J. BAIRD and company, N. W. HULSEY and Company, L. PEARCE, D. D. WRIGHT and Bros., Jim SPRINGFIELD, who owned and operated a Livery Stable, and FRAZIER and SHELTON Company. GUIN HAD FIRST BANK 1905 Guin had the first Bank in Marion County, first known as Bank of Guin, (organized by a Mr. BROWN of Ohio according to the GUINS) in 1905. R. R. WRIGHT opened the bank as Chasier(sic) and served by himself in the bank for ten years. The first directors of the bank, later known as the Marion County Banking Company, were Jim PEARCE, President; L. D. LITTLETON, vice-president; Judge Mack PEARCE and John ALLMAN, directors. It was also the first brick and stone structure in Guin, and is now housed by a handsome modern brick building erected only a few years ago. The Marion County Banking ompany(sic) now has a bank in both Guin and Hamilton. State Representative Rankin FITE currently serves as president of the banking company and J. L. HOLLOWAY is Cashier for the Guin Branch of the company. Also among the first brick buildings of Guin, were J. PEARCE and Company and the L. D. LITTLETON Company, both general merchantile(sic) businesses, and both were built the year that the bank building as erected. W. A. COLLINS believes that the PEARCE building was first erected. FIRST AUTO AGENCY R. R. WRIGHT opened the Ford Agency and Garage in 1913, and ran it and bank until his leaving the bank in 1915, the business known as Wright Motor Company, which he closed in 1933, going into his present business then. He remembers selling his Model T. in 1913 to Ivy THOMPSON, mail carrier of the Star Route from guin to Hamilton. Mr. WRIGHT also purchased one for himself at that time, but the title of the owner of the first car in Guin, accordiing(sic) to Mr. Wright, goes to a fellow named Gus HALLMARK, who had bought one in Birmingham, just one month before Mr. WRIGHT opened his business in Guin. OTHER FIRSTS IN GUIN Joel Woods GUIN was the first graduate of the Marion County High School in Guin, in 1912, the only one to graduate that first year. He died in California, where he had been a resident according to Paul GUIN, W. A. COLLINS and R. R. WRIGHT. Will STOKES was president (now called Captain) of the first football team, according to R. R. WRIGHT. Mrs. Forbus COLLINS, mother of W. A. COLLINS was the first person to be buried in the Gin Cemetery (land donated by Dr. Jerry GUIN). Mr.s COLLINS died in 1889 Mr. Bill WRIGHT, then Mayor, said he thought the town of Guin should start a cemetery and Dr. GUIN agreed to give the land, and it happened that Mrs. Forbus COLLINS was the first citizens(sic) to expire after the land was donated. Paul GUIN, who accompanied Will FORD of Hamilton on his tour of the county in the years that Mr. FORD was compiling his Marion County History, stated that in the early years, cotton didn't sell for over a nicle(sic) per pound. Guin's first water supply was a central town well, however in the years before the water system was installed in the 1930's a number of people had wells and pumps of their own. W. A. COLLINS said that he believed he was the first to install a Delco system in Guin, before the days of electricity and the present electrical power serving Guin. He installed his system i the 1920s and the plant served his home and furnished power for the Methodist Church.