W. O. Peeples

        W. O. Peeples & Bros., wholesale grocers, is individually composed of William O., S. C. and R. B. Peoples. This firm was established in 1868 by W. O. Peeples and W. W. Jackson, succeeded by W. O. Peeples, later by W. O. Peoples and J. C. Edmondson, and still later by W. O. Peeples.   About 1880 the present firm was established. In the spring of 1887 the firm erected the large brick hotel and business block at the intersection of Ninth, Chestnut and Carter Streets. It is a triangular shaped building, l40 x 275 feet at one end, four stories high and a basement. The hotel has 140 rooms, exclusive of office, diningrooms, parlors, etc., and is estimated to have cost $85,000. There are eight business rooms on the ground floor, besides the hotel office. Two rooms, 50 x 140 feet, and basement are occupied by W. O. Peeples & Bros., who have two traveling men on the road in the general grocery trade. This trade extends over Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. They employ four men in the house, besides three of the firm. Their business averages $250,000 per annum, and is one of the most successful wholesale establishments in Chattanooga.

Goodspeed's "History of East Tennessee" 1887