Lucy Anne Cogbill
Native of La Grange, Tennessee, Lucy grew up in La Grange and attended schools in Fayette County. In 1989, she received a B.F.A. degree from the Memphis College of Art. She opened "Cogbill's Store & Museum" in 1991 which was a general store operated by her grandfather, Charles Lipscomb Cogbill. The general merchandise store had been in the family for generations, beginning with great-great grandfather William Peter Lipscomb. Lipscomb's general merchandise business was listed in early Fayette County records as being in operation in the 1870s. The cyclone of November, 1900, destroyed Lipscomb's original store, which he later rebuilt in 1901. In December of 1998, an accidental fire destroyed the store building. Rebuilding has begun on the new "Cogbill's Store" at the same corner lot location of Highway 57 and La Grange Road in La Grange.
Elected to the 2-year term of aldermen on the Town Board in 1993, Lucy served two terms as an aldermen and is in the second term as mayor, being elected mayor for the first time in 1996.
"I am still very excited about my position and privilege of serving as mayor for our small West Tennessee town. I have been very lucky indeed to have served with the various Board members during my terms, and I feel as if we are making progress in bringing about positive changes in La Grange, with benefits for our citizens, while at the same time striving to preserve our past and its illustrious history."
---Mayor Cogbill
The following in-depth interview with Mayor Lucy Cogbill and featured magazine article appeared in the February 1997 issue of Memphis, Volume XXI, Number 11, a publication of Contemporary Media, Inc., 460 Tennessee Street, P.O. Box 256, Memphis, TN 38101, telephone: 901-521-9000, and is reprinted here with permission. All rights reserved by Contemporary Media, Inc.
La Grange Legacy A new mayor, whose roots go deep in Fayette County,
wants to gently breathe new life into this quaint, historic town.
Sitting at a small wooden table in Cogbill's store in the heart of La
Grange, Tennessee, Lucy Cogbill sips coffee and occasionally swallows a
morsel of homemade pina colada cake. In between bites, she talks
of her native town, with its old houses and history, its personalities
and problems. It's a town her family has called home for six generations
and where her ancestor founded a general store more than 100 years ago.
As Lucy talks, and taped harp music casts its mystical spell, and sunrays
through the store's high windows glance off such treasures as carved roosters
and metal-crafted windchimes, fishing lures and Clabber Girl soap, a visitor
can almost imagine the days when this tiny village, 50 miles east of Memphis,
was the cultural center of West Tennessee.
"Memphis was considered a rough and rowdy place when La Grange was in
its heyday," says Lucy, occasionally tugging at her thick silver ponytail.
"This town had three colleges, hotels, a variety of commerce. The
citizens even started the first railroad in the region." Over time,
however -- thanks to the Civil War, a cyclone, and the lure of larger cities
-- this once-bustling burg of 3,000 people shrank to a shadow if itself.
Today it claims 167 souls, a handful of shops, and, some might say, a penchant
for dwelling on the past at the expense of the future.
But Lucy Cogbill wants to change that, if only in some small but significant
ways. And as the recently inaugurated mayor of her native town, she's in
a fine position to try.
"It never dawned on me back in school to get involved in politics,"
says Lucy, 40, who lived in Memphis for several years while attending the
Memphis College of Art and waiting tables at such restaurants as
Zinnie's. But when she decided to move back to La Grange in 1991
and re-open the family store that had been closed since her grandfather
died in the 1960s, Lucy felt the urge to "get involved." She was
elected to two terms as alderman, then "because there are several things
I feel strongly about," she ran for mayor and was elected last November.
On her agenda you'll find problems that plague every town. Like
infrastructure: "Our sidewalks are crumbling and yet every year we invite
people to our walking tour," says Lucy, referring to the annual tour of
Fayette County's historic homes held each October. And growth: "I'd
love to see more people open shops and a restaurant here. There's
a demand. We've got people coming from Japan and Australia, wending
their way maybe to Beale Street or Graceland and they're looking for something
to do." And she wants to complete the conversion of an old two-room
schoolhouse to a civic center. "That building has been in limbo for
too long and we want to get it functional," says the mayor.
But beyond these matters of brick-and-mortar are issues that go further
in shaping the town's image. One such issue reared its head a few
years back and split this peaceable kingdom into two angry camps.
It all started when a homeowner chose to paint his house off-white and
add a charcoal roof. This enraged members of the town's historic
zoning commission, who claimed such an action flew in the face of tradition.
"They wanted to see a theme of green-and-white maintained in all our historic
homes," says Lucy. And although there was nothing in writing to back
them up, the commission sued the homeowner and wound up settling out of
court. "It cost a lot in litigation that could have been better spent,
it alienated people, and it hurt our reputation," says Lucy. Although
she was in art school when the tempest erupted, she recalls it as "a very
emotional issue for La Grange." Today the commission has guidelines
which "strongly advise" the green-and-white theme, but Lucy says, "My feeling
is that we should be more flexible. I want to get people educated
on the value of allowing a little diversity."
And what became of the homeowner who dared flout custom? According
to Lucy, he packed up home and business and moved just outside the home.
"He's an entrepreneur and we had a lot to gain from him," she says.
"I hope we've learned something from that."
She also hopes the town's leadership has learned from another situation
that flared more recently. In 1994, when the town board came close
to changing an ordinance which sets frontage requirements on properties,
regular citizens got wind of it and demanded a public hearing. Folks
came out in force against the change and the measure was defeated by one
vote. What Lucy learned from the brouhaha is that "a little public
relations, talking one on one, getting issues out in the open" would have
kept things from getting ugly. "As mayor, I want to be accessible
to the people so something like this won't happen again. I want us
to be unified and move forward. I don't want things to reach a point
where we're not really friends anymore."
During a break in the interview, some of Lucy's friends amble in to
visit. There's Bobbie Sigler, a retiree who "helps out" at Cogbill's.
There's Lady, a freckled spaniel, who comes in for a pat and a nibble of
cheese. And there are Chris and Faye Christensen from Memphis, whose
woodcarvings and quilts are on consignment at Cogbill's.
Lucy and Bobbie serve up hefty ham-and-cheese sandwiches all around
and the talk turns to Lucy's wedding a week earlier to Spencer Register,
an "onset dresser," who arranges furniture on movie sets. The wedding,
clearly, was a major event in La Grange. Says Lucy with a laugh:
"At one point my mother told me I just could not invite anybody
else."
Then Mikal Kelly marches in and when Lucy introduces her as postmistress,
she retorts with a grin: "Postmaster, please. I'm nobody's
mistress!" With her are two visitors from the U. S. Postal Service
in Nashville who are filming, of all things, a video about the La Grange
post office. As folks munch on sandwiches, and the visitors from
Nashville comment on what a "happening place" this is, and more customers
breeze in with a slam of the screen door, laughter and friendly chitchat
abound.
But eventually the crowd clears out, and Lucy, eager to share La Grange
with a visitor, leaves the shop in Bobbie's hands and begins a driving
tour. Just across the street is the first item of curiosity -- a
house whose cupola was blown off during the 1900 cyclone and landed in
Hickory Valley, about 15 miles away. Happily, though, the cupola
was recovered intact and now soars proudly above the antebellum house.
A few blocks away is the site of the old train depot, "a very busy square
at one time," says Lucy. Today the site is abandoned except for old
cotton trailers, while the depot building, in an ironic twist of fate,
is used as the Chamber of Commerce in the burgeoning town of Collierville.
Next on tour is Immanuel Episcopal Church, where Lucy's famous wedding
was held. Struggling with an ancient key to unlock the heavy door,
she says, "Getting this open is just a case of holding your mouth right."
Inside the pristine sanctuary Lucy tells of Mary Hayes Gloster, who rode
on horseback to Nashville to petition her godson the bishop to start a
church in La Grange. Her slaves helped erect the building, and during
the Civil War the pews were made into coffins for fallen Union soldiers.
Gesturing toward an old water jug displayed in the back of the church,
Lucy gives the lowdown on lady Gloster: "She was famous for taking a pitcher
of brandy to fortify her on trips out of town -- for medicinal purposes,
you understand."
Back on the road, Lucy points out charming homes with enchanting names
-- Chantilly, Woodlawn, Reverie -- most painted the preferred white with
green roofs and trim. At Twin Gables, where Lucy's grandparents once
lived, we stop to meet Ann Haas, a striking redhead who entreats us to
overlook "the mess." There is no mess, of course, only elegance,
charm, and a touch of wicked whimsy. In the master bedroom, Ann pauses
to open an armoire. "Meet grandmother," she says, nodding toward
a woman stuffed inside, among the vintage clothes and peacock feathers.
But wait -- it's only a mannikin with a painted face and an old-fashioned
gown. "I have a mean streak in me," explains Ann, her blue eyes twinkling.
"The door won't lock on this thing and when we'd give tours you'd see people
trying to look inside it. So...I decided to give them something to
see."
In the hallway, we laugh again as Ann, pointing to a soldier's photograph
on the wall, says, "He was in the Union army. I've always told people
that we've allowed him to hang there."
Ann and her husband Bill bought Twin Gables in 1969 and finished renovating
it in the early 1970s after Bill, then a pilot with Southern Airways, survived
a hijacking experience. "We said, 'Let's get our priorities in order,
finish this house, enjoy it while we're here," says Ann.
Lucy has memories of the house when her grandparents owned it.
"See that long row of boxwoods along the walkway?" she asks. "I remember
how my grandmother had us water them religiously." And in the kitchen,
she says, "I used to sit with my grandfather by that window while he had
his oatmeal in the mornings."
Outside, as we part with Ann, Lucy talks of the importance of cherishing
and preserving the past. So it's appropriate that she ends the tour
at the cemetery, which dates back to the 1830s, and contains the graves
of the town's earliest settlers. But back at Cogbill's her focus
turns again to the future. "I want to see more shops on Main Street,"
she says. "I'd like to see more houses open for touring on a regular
basis, not just for special events." Because for tourists, the interest
in La Grange is growing. "We had an [Associated Press] reporter here
a few months ago," says Lucy, "and after his article went to newspapers
nationwide, we've had people coming in literally grasping that article."
What tourists seek, surely, is the quiet constancy of a place like La
Grange, where old homes still stand under century-old trees, and the general
store still hums with life, and the postmaster and mayor call you by name.
So while Lucy tries to spark new growth while preserving the past, her
roots in La Grange will anchor her course as she draws on the wisdom of
her late grandparents. "My grandfather wore several hats -- storekeeper,
insurance agent, church leader. My grandmother was one of the matriarchs
who got things done. I learned so much from them about history, community,
about the importance of giving back. There's still a lot to learn,
but I've got a good start."
End
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