Tom Woodbery sent in an interesting history piece on one of Knoxville’s icons.
Tom says, “I just happened on the article from December 10, 1932, reporting the death of James G. Sterchi of Knoxville.”
The article recounts how Sterchi built the world’s largest furniture store chain by 1928, after the ‘farmboy’ came to Knoxville at 17 to find a job. He and his two brothers started the furniture store on Vine Avenue in 1895. The chain grew to an astounding number of 63 stores and was the first Knoxville business to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Some of us remember shopping at Sterchi’s Furniture in Knoxville. For most readers, the name is synonymous with the Sterchi Lofts in downtown Knoxville, the company’s 10-story headquarters building. The former warehouse, known as The Emporium, also still stands on Gay Street. His personal residence, (or Sterchi Mansion) in northern Knoxville, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sterchi purchased Chilhowee Park in 1921 and later sold it to the city of Knoxville in 1926, establishing Knoxville’s first major public park, which his widow donated for a school: Sterchi Elementary in North Knoxville. The surrounding area is the Sterchi Hills Subdivision.
Tom says he remembers a Sterchi building in Macon, Georgia, when he lived there.
Sterchi became chair of the board and expanded his businesses to include nine furniture plants. He took up dairy farming after he retired, before his untimely death at 65 from a blood clot.
James Sterchi is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Knoxville.
His only child, James Gilbert Sterchi Jr., who also became the head of the conglomerate, died from wounds he suffered in a house fire in 1972.
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