Above is a picture of the old roundhouse that is still located in Bruceton, Tennessee
A more recent picture of the same roundhouse.
On September 18, 2024, Mr. Buddy Smothers provided a presentation on the history of Bruceton, Hollow Rock, and the railroad that still runs through both towns. Buddy Smothers is a retired high school history teacher and he taught for 34 years. He was also a local radio sports personality for 34 years.
Buddy Smothers began his talk speaking about Alexis Tocqueville’s visit to the Bruceton and Hollow Rock area in 1831. Tocqueville and his traveling mate, Gustave de Beaumont, spent 4 days in an inn at Sandy Bridge, which later became Hollow Rock. Tocqueville was recovering from an illness at the time.
It was stated that McLemoresville and Buena Vista, two local areas, are the two oldest areas in Tennessee. Hollow Rock was incorporated in 1869.
The town of Hollow Rock was named for this rock formation in 1867, when a telegraph office and train station were established.
In the late 1800’s, the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad System operated in Hollow Rock. Hollow Rock was the only place where four lines of the railroad intersected with one another. In the 1890’s, the railroad moved their location and created the town of Junction City. Junction City later became Bruceton.
The Hollow Rock-Bruceton Special School District was formed in 1927. Prior to 1927, the only other high school in the area was in Hollow Rock. The Hollow Rock High School was in operation from 1914 to 1927.
Above is an older picture of the high school.
The railroad was integral to the development of the Bruceton and Hollow Rock area. Other businesses that have been important in the development of the local economy was H.I.S., which left the area in 2000. The railroad depot still remains in Bruceton today.
For a more in depth look at this presentation, see the Carroll County News-Leader, Wednesday September 25, 2024 by Jesse Joseph.
On April 16,2025, Mrs. Linda Allen was the Storyteller for the Huntingdon TN Historical Society. Mrs. Allen spoke about the H.I.S. Company, which was located in Bruceton, Tennessee and also Sam Siegel, who was the Senior Vice President of H.I.S. Mrs. Linda Allen grew up in the town of Bruceton and many of her relatives worked for the H.I.S. company.
Mrs. Allen’s father is pictured with other workers in the picture above. This picture was taken approximately 1960 during a Christmas party.
Henry Siegel came to America from Lublin, Poland in the early 1900s. He began the company as Honesdale Manufacturing in 1923. The company headquarters were located in New York City. Honesdale Manufacturing specialized in men and boys clothing. There was one factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania and also a plant located in Germany.
In 1935 due to the persecution experienced in Europe, Sam Siegel, Henry’s brother, came to America. (The Siegel family did lose family members during WWII.) In 1936, Sam Siegel was sent to Dickson, Tennessee to the H.I.S. factory that was located there. The Dickson plant had been started in 1932. Sam then was sent to Bruceton, Tennessee where a new factory was being built. In 1939, trainees from Bruceton were being sent weekly to Dickson, Tennessee to be trained. The trainees boarded a train on Sunday evening to go to Dickson. They would spend the week in Dickson, and then on Friday afternoon at 4:00 p.m., the trainees would return to Bruceton via train. Bruceton was a railroad town and therefore had daily access to a train.
Prior to the factory being completed in 1940 in Bruceton, sewing machine workers worked in an old church building located in Bruceton on Highway 70. That old church building still stands today and can be seen as you pass through the town of Bruceton. Fifty people worked in that old church building.
In 1940, wages were 40 cents an hour. During WWII, as many as 1,000 employees worked at the factory. H.I.S. made military clothing, as well as other clothing. In 1949, Henry Siegel died unexpectedly and his son, Jesse, took over the company.
In 1961, the fifty millionth shirt was completed in Dickson, Tennessee. That shirt is pictured above
H.I.S. began making women’s clothing in 1964. By the mid 1980’s, H.I.S. was the third largest maker of women’s clothing. In the 1970’s, imported clothing into the United States began to hurt the H.I.S. business. Then NAFTA was implemented in 1994 and many companies began to move to Mexico. This greatly hurt manufacturing in the United States. It is estimated that between 4.5 million jobs and 8.9 million jobs were lost in the United States due to NAFTA. The Bruceton H.I.S. plant closed in 2000. Where once the H.I.S. Outlet stood, now there is a Dollar Tree/Family Dollar store.
Pictured above is an article regarding Sam Siegel. Besides many other ventures, Sam Siegel also helped out the Volunteer Fire Department in Bruceton.
Sam Siegel was born in 1909 in Poland. He came to America in 1935, was sent to the Scranton, Pennsylvania plan, and then in 1936 was sent to the plant in Dickson, Tennessee. Following plans to build a plant in Bruceton, TN, Sam and his family moved to Bruceton. The plant was completed in Bruceton in 1940. Prior to that, sewing machine workers worked in an old church building located on Highway 70.
Sam Siegel became mayor of Bruceton in 1958 and was mayor of Bruceton until 1974. He died in May of 1975.
By people who lived and worked with him, Sam Siegel was known as a charitable person. He gave jobs to teenagers and others who needed jobs. Linda Allen stated that Sam Siegel and H.I.S. had been very good to her family. There are many others who felt the same way.
The Huntingdon TN Historical Society would like to thank Mrs. Linda Allen for her presentation. There is a video of Mrs. Allen’s presentation on the Huntingdon TN Historical Society facebook page. The URL is at the top of this article.
The Huntingdon TN Historical Society meets every third Wednesday of the month at 9:00 a.m. in the conference room of City Hall in Huntingdon, Tennessee.
The History of Carroll County, Tennessee 