John L. Wisdom, a progressive and civic minded citizen of
Jackson for fifty years. Born in Purdy, Tennessee in 1850, Wisdom moved to Jackson in 1874. He was first a partner in the Duke and Wisdom grocery business. In later life he was a
founderordirectoroftheCitizens’GasLightCompany,the Suburban Street Railway Company, the Budde-Weis Furniture ManufacturingCompany,theCitizens’CompressCompany,the HollywoodCemeteryCompany,theFirstNationalBank,andthe Second National Bank. Wisdom was married in 1879, and began his new home shortly thereafter. The Jackson Tribune and Sun for April 15, 1880 notes that “Mr. John L, Wisdom will commence the erection soon of a fine brick mansion on Main Street.lot next to the M&O Railroad.” By the following January it was nearing completion; the same paper reported on January 20, 1881 that a thief had been apprehended “in the new brick house of Mr. John L. wisdom, on Main Street Monday night, stealing lumber.” Wisdom died intestate on March 21, 1926. His widow remained in the home, dying intestate on October 19, 1949. The children divided the property by consent, Ray L. Wisdom purchasing the home from his brother and two sisters.
John L. Wisdom came to Jackson from Purdy soon after the Civil War. He was president of the First National Bank, now First American from 1881 to 1890 and 1903 to 1909, vice-president of the Second
National Bank, now Jackson National from J.H. Duke and J.H. Hirsch organized the Jackson Suburban Railway Company. In 1897 they electrified the mule cars, when they built an electric plant and furnished two hundred subscribers with power from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the cost of fifteen cents per kilowatt hour. J.G. Cisco, the editor of the Forked Deer Blade in the January 31, 1887 edition considered “Wisdom to be one of the clearest headed and most enterprising men in Jackson.”
WISDOM HOUSE EAST MAIN JACKSON TN
HistoryandstoriesoftheHatchieRiver 