The Story

Thomas Franklin Ray's Hardware Store was established in Poplar Bluff in the 1890s. Thomas Franklin Ray was born September 15, 1853, in Henry County, Tennessee. Before coming to Missouri, he lived in Corning, Arkansas, where he started the 'Advocate' newspaper in 1879 and served as Mayor in 1884. By 1894, Thomas Ray had entered the hardware and furniture business.

By 1900, Ray had relocated to Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where he continued his hardware business. Census records show him living in Poplar Bluff from 1900 through 1930. In 1922, he lived at 427 N Main Street in Poplar Bluff. The 1930 census lists him as a collector for city light and power, suggesting he may have transitioned away from the hardware business by that time.

Thomas Franklin Ray died on April 5, 1940, in Poplar Bluff and was buried in the City Cemetery (also referenced as McGuire Cemetery). He was married twice - first to Louisa Stokley Akers who died in 1883, and then to Addie Boswell Jackson on July 14, 1880, who died January 2, 1922. Ray had no children but left behind a handwritten family history that provides valuable insight into early Poplar Bluff.