(An occasional series of articles on sites in Polk County on the National Register of Historic Places)

The Drug Store in Benton is housed in a building nearly as old as Benton, the William Wiggins house. It was placed on the National Register in 1993 after a nomination by Karen Daniels, who was working as a historic preservationist with the Southeast Tennessee Development District.

There are two connected structures: the house itself, built around 1840, and the adjoining commercial structure, built around ten years later. The house was built by William Wiggins shortly after he purchased Lot Number 115 in the public auction of 223 lots that created the town of Benton, the county seat for Polk County, which was created in 1839.

The land that is now covered by Benton had been settled around 1838 by farmer James McKamy. Also in the area was James Linder and his wife Barbara, who provided shelter for cattle drovers herding cattle to southern Kentucky. The McKamy farm site was selected as the town site because of several springs which provided water.

Wiggins, one of the first Justices of the Peace in the county, built the two-story brick, hall-and-parlor plan house. In 1868 the property was owned by C. Fields, who sold it to J.C.C.C. Garner, a doctor who owned much real estate in Benton. Garner’s heirs sold the property to Dr. J.D. Nuchols in 1905. His heirs sold the house in 1955 to Charles S. Nuchols, who sold it two years later to Roy G. Lillard. In 1973 it was sold to Jerry Lowery, the current owner.

According to the nomination, the Wiggins house is believed to be the oldest extant building in Benton and was one of the first buildings in the community. The hall and parlor is unusual for brick buildings in the county, although it was a common plan in frame construction houses until the 1930s. Daniels noted there are numerous examples of this plan in farm buildings and in the company towns in the Basin area as well as residential buildings in Benton. However, the Wiggins house is one of only two known brick hall-and-parlor plan buildings. The other is the Clemmer House, a one-story T-shaped building also located in Benton.

The commercial building that adjoins the Wiggins house is the oldest extant commercial building in the county and the earliest surviving brick commercial building. Most commercial building in the pre-Civil War era in Benton were wood. All other commercial buildings in Benton date from after 1870 and are of simple brick construction or wood. At the time of the nomination, there were around a dozen pre-1940 commercial buildings in Benton.

The major change in appearance for the Wiggins house was removal around 1920 of the two-story porch and balcony with four round columns and a shed roof. A second-story door to the porch is all that remains.

The house has a brick foundation, interior and chimneys, the original double hung sash windows, wooden entry doors, and an asphalt shingled gabled roof. The rear extension was built at the same time as the house, as evidenced by a lack of a seam in the brick.

Little of the interior of the building has been changed since its construction, although a bathroom was added. The original board ceilings, plaster walls, interior plan, fireplace mantels and woodwork remain. The original fireplaces had been converted for coal and the hooded metal coal grates remain. The interior is a hall and parlor plan on the first story with a two-room rear ell, and a central hall plan on the second floor, with a room on each side of a central hall.

The building underwent some renovations in the early 1970s when it was first used for commercial purposes. Floors were covered with linoleum or carpet, several windows were filled with concrete blocks, and fluorescent lighting fixtures were added. A doorway was opened between the Wiggins house and the adjacent commercial building, which has a rectangular plan and a flat, parapet roof.

The building was considered significant for its architecture as an example of an early house. The architect/builder is unknown.

The house is also known as the J.D. Nuchols house. Nuchols purchased the property in 1905 and used the house and commercial building for his residence and medical office until his death.