Like Lyerly, Menlo replaced another once-thriving town when the railroad bypassed previously bustling Alpine. In 1891, the Chattanooga Southern Railway was built and passed through the area near the property of Captain Andrew J. Lawrence. Captain Lawrence, a Confederate Veteran, is considered the father of Menlo. He and his estate donated the land for most of the town’s schools and churches—with particular attention to those for African American citizens. Near the center of the town, Lawrence Park was given to Menlo in 1915. Captain Lawrence held inventor Thomas A. Edison in very high esteem, thus the town was named for Edison’s home and laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey .
Menlo Photo Archive
Menlo First Baptist Church 1905, one of the very first pictures in the Summerville News
Ad in Summerville News promoting buying war bonds in World War One
Out for a drive in front of the Baker home in Menlo
Group of Menlo students. This was before the new school was built in 1948
Buy War Bonds, Ad from Summerville News one year after Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1942
Early 1900’s duties of county road overseers. People had to work on the road or pay money once a year.
