At the first term of the Williamson County Commissioners’ Court, held in October, 1839, John “Bone” Davis was granted a license to retail spirituous liquors at his house in the town of Marion.
County authorities charged him $25.00, license for one year, and the Court also established the price at which liquor should be sold, as follows: Whiskey, 12 1/2 cents per one-half pint; brandy, rum, wine and gin each 18 3/4 cents per one half pint; cider per quart 12 ½ cents. Obviously, we had what was called fractional currency back in those days allowing for fractions of cents.
The house referred to was a log cabin which Davis had quickly erected before the town was surveyed, and which was the first business house in the town. He was in such a hurry to sell whisky that he bought a set of stable logs from A.T. Benson, and put up on the square, a few feet north of the well. When the survey was made this house was found to stand on the public square, and consequently had to be moved. He used to fasten his door by filling it with poles.
In early days, the term “grocery” was used to denote a place where liquors were sold; they were later called saloons, then taverns, and were always plentiful in the early days of the history of Marion. A license to sell liquor varied from $25.00 per annum in 1839 to $500.00 in 1864. The County Commissioners’ Court also regulated the charges for the hotels.
(Data from Goodspeed’s History of Williamson County, 1905 Souvenir History, WCHS; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 03/31/2013)