One of the oldest buildings still standing in Jasper in the 1950s stood on the west end of the north side of the courthouse square, and was a wooden building with clapboard siding. It had been built in the 1860 by Robert Washington Harrison, a Tennessean who had come to Newton County around 1845.
He had built the structure to be a general store. The building went through several hands before Frank Keef acquired it and ran a grocery and market. Joe Frank Keef was born in Boone County around 1890, but moved to Newton County, where he worked in a sawmill in 1930. By 1950, he had acquired the old building and made it into a grocery store and market.
He ran the business until his death in 1967. After his death, the old building was torn down and made into a parking lot.
Barbara LeRoy is the author of “Which Side Were They On?,” a 302 page book listing biographical sketches of the Newton Countians who were involved in the Civil War, available for sale either in the Bradley House Museum or by purchasing online at www.newtoncountyar.com. The book sells for $33.
