506 & 508 Main Street
Cooper Building
Built in 1875 by Calhoun County’s first wholesale grocer, Charles J. Cooper, the Cooper Building has been home to several businesses and has a rich history.
The unique construction of the building saved the town from burning to the ground multiple times in the 1880s and 1890s. It went on to serve as a mercantile store, hardware store, general store, dry good store, and furniture store.
In the 1950s and early 1960s the building served as the Oxford News Stand, in the 60s it was Stinson’s Rug House, and and later it became The Tackle Box and Stinson’s Fishing Tackle.
In 2015 it underwent extensive restoration by lawyers Adam Maniscalco and Alyssa Enzor Baxley.
Research by Hunter Chase Gentry and written by Julie Skinner Mangham, November 2023
Cooper Building on Main Street, 1885
Courtesy of Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, January 1885
Oliver Winston Cooper (1856 – 1920), son of Charles J. Cooper
Courtesy of Kathy Bentley Hall
Cooper Building on Main Street, ca. 1979
Courtesy of Oxford Public Library - Oxford Room Collection
Cooper Building on Main Street, ca. 1980
The three buildings located to the left burned in 1990.
Courtesy of Lindblom Photo Collection