Back in the day, my Gandaddy Wells owned a Dry Cleaners. I've heard my Dad tell stories about being slightly embarrassed going to school every day in nice starched shirts and perfectly pressed pants, but I guess being the son of a Dry Cleaner had it's perks. Over the weekend at Dad & Connie's, we found a newspaper dated 1929 (11 years before Dad was born), that featued a full page add taken out by the Watkins French Dry Cleaners in Johnson City, Tennessee, to celebrate being in business 6 years and hitting major milestone of an annual payroll of $30,000, and leading the way in new dry cleaning and dyeing technologies.
My grandfather's picture, along with a number of other employees' was featured on this full page add in recognition of their contributions to the success of the company.
This is likely where my grandfather got his start in dry cleaning, and it's also likely that's about the time he met my Grandmother, who was originally from Johnson City. I thought it was extrememly progressive of the owner to include photos of the black men who worked there, too. Obviously he was a good man and a proud business owner.
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