ford building

What most of us know as the J. L. McGarity Ford Dealership building was built before 1920. Ben Thompson, of Madison, who owned several Ford dealerships in Georgia, hired W. D. Cavin to construct what would be, and still is, Monroe’s only poured concrete building. In 1921, John Lescar McGarity, known as J.L., purchased the Monroe Ford Dealership from Ben Thompson. Thompson retained ownership of the building for a time after that. J.L. McGarity was already operating a garage on N. Lumpkin Street and a car dealership offering several different makes, including the Maxwell, Chalmers, Moon, National, and Oakland. In addition to Ford automobiles, McGarity demonstrated and sold home appliances such as refrigerators at the Ford dealership.

Mr. McGarity was a crackerjack salesman. He always had a plan in the works to sell cars. He hosted Ford Days, showed motion pictures free to the public, and took promotional pictures with high school classes, among other activities.

Mr. McGarity worked as hard for his community as he did for his business. He was instrumental in securing the funding to build Monroe’s Health Center and served as the first President of our Chamber of Commerce.

J.L. McGarity passed control of the Ford Dealership to his son, Caldwell, in the 1940s, and the business moved to East Spring Street in the 1960s. Several other businesses occupied this building, including Monroe Office Supply and Sanders Consign and Design, but there were no really long-term tenants. Below are some other images of this, one of Monroe’s anchor structures.