The White Building

Standing proudly at the corner of Main Street and Fifth Avenue, where Franklin’s famous Five Points intersection comes together, is a handsome white building that has been part of the town’s story for more than a century. Known simply as the White Building, many assume it earned its name from its bright white exterior. But the name actually comes from Dr. John White, who built it in 1923 to house his medical office and drugstore. Over the years, the building became a familiar gathering place for generations of Franklin residents, its corner location giving it a front-row seat to the changing life of this little Tennessee town.

By the 1930s, the building was home to the Corner Drug Store, operated by pharmacist Wilbur Jenkins. Like so many neighborhood drugstores of the day, it was more than a place to fill prescriptions. Its soda fountain offered ice cream, cold drinks, and a welcome place to visit with friends. During the 1940s, part of the building also housed Moody’s Tire Shop, where brothers Tom and Ed Moody kept Franklin’s automobiles rolling through the difficult years of World War II. With new tires rationed during the war, much of their business involved recapping old ones. But come Christmastime, the shop had a sweeter side. Bicycles were a popular holiday item, and it’s easy to picture a lucky Franklin youngster finding a shiny new bicycle waiting beneath the Christmas tree.

Of all the stories surrounding the White Building, none is quite as charming as the tale of the enormous NOEL sign that appears above its roof each Christmas. Surprisingly, those famous letters weren’t originally Christmas decorations at all. They once stood atop Nashville’s grand Noel Hotel, which opened in 1930 and welcomed famous guests including Eleanor Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, and Roy Rogers. When the hotel closed in 1972, the sign was saved by members of the Noel family. Karen Cochran, whose former husband was a grandson of one of the hotel’s founders, eventually brought the letters to Franklin. By the late 1980s, they had found a permanent home atop the White Building, where they would become one of the town’s most beloved holiday traditions.

Every year around Thanksgiving, something wonderful happens at Five Points. The great NOEL letters, which spend the rest of the year resting out of sight against the roof, are raised into view, announcing that Christmas has returned to Franklin. Shoppers wander beneath them with bags of presents, storefronts sparkle with holiday decorations, and families pause to admire the familiar sign. There’s something especially endearing about the fact that a sign once meant to advertise a Nashville hotel has become a treasured symbol of Christmas in a small Tennessee town. What began as a family keepsake has grown into a holiday tradition shared by an entire community.

In 2001, Starbucks opened on the ground floor, bringing the building back to its old role as a neighborhood gathering place. Where customers once gathered for sodas and milkshakes, they now meet over coffee and conversation. The White Building remains much as Franklin remembers it. And when those familiar NOEL letters rise above Five Points each November, it’s as though the old building is wishing the whole town a Merry Christmas.