16 - 17
Saturday Afternoon, February
13, 1932
Thomasville Times Enterprise
Page 7
Above is a photo of Thomasville’s best known transfer operator - Mr.
Luther Cleveland Chastain, known to his friends as “L.C.” He is a
native of Thomas County, and a member of one of the oldest and best
known families in this section. He was born within five miles of
Thomasville on Oct. 21, 1884, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Jim Chastain,
and remained on the farm with his parents until he was about 18 or
19 years of age when he decided to leave the old homestead and go
out into the world on his own account.
For a number of years he was engaged in various kinds of work in
Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, and in 1911 moved back to Thomas
County, locating at Boston where he opened a bicycle sales and
repair business which he operated for several years. In 1918 he
moved to Thomasville and in a short time afterward in the following
year he opened a bicycle sales and repair business in this city, and
continues to operate this business today, even though he gives most
of his time to the conduct of the affairs of the Chastain Transfer
Line which he organized in 1921, just eleven years ago.
The Chastain Transfer Line has grown from year to year since its
organization having started off with just one small truck, and
having had others added from time to time each succeeding year until
today this concern operates an entire fleet of trucks, which range
in sizes all the way from small ½ ton capacity to 3 ½ and upward,
with accessory equipment such as giant ten ton wenches on a big
White truck, and monster extension trailers such as the United
States Government used during the war days of 1918.
It is the slogan of his company that “We haul anything, anywhere,
anytime” and when one has knowledge of the equipment operated by
this company, it is easily understood how this is so practical. In
fact trucks operated by this company go into practically all the
southern states, including Texas to the west and northward into the
Carolinas, and Tennessee and of course into Alabama, Mississippi and
Florida. An illustration of some of the heavy hauling that is done
by the Chastain Transfer Line is found in the removal of a big
boiler weighing 44,000 pounds which was transported at a single load
from Whigham to Pelham, Ga., and the big Thomasville water tank
which was erected two years ago, with a total weight of
approximately 75 tons, many pieces which weighed 10 and 12,000
pounds, was handled without a moment’s delay by this concern, under
Mr. Chastain’s personal supervision.
Mr. Chastain just recently has opened another transfer line in
Tallahassee, Fla., and is giving the Florida Capital City the same
high class service as he has in the City of Roses for so many years.
A special feature of his equipment is enclosed moving vans in which
entire households of furniture are moved from one place to another
at times across several states, and because of his special
facilities for packing furniture, not even a scratch can be found
when the shipment is unpacked.
Mr. Chastain is ably assisted in the conduct of his business by his
wife who has charge of the book-keeping department and the general
supervision of the bicycle and transfer business during his absence.
Before her marriage to Mr. Chastain on July 4, 1915, she was Miss
Effie Harrell of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Chastain have six
children, four boys and two girls, and when not in school the oldest
boys are “on the job” at the shop, where they are learning the
bicycle and transfer business from the ground up.
Mr. Chastain is a conscientious worker and in his dealings with his
customers and the public at large has been found to be fair and
considerate, and because of the close study he has made of his
business and the large outlay of the capital invested in equipment,
he can always be depended upon to carry out his contract when moving
or hauling work of any kind is entrusted to his company. He has
numbers of friends in all walks of life, and because of his own
genial disposition his success in the business world has been rapid.
|