It’s back to school time in Tennessee and kids across the state are stocking their backpacks with brand new notebooks, folders, paper and, of course, pencils.
While the pencil has gone through several transformations since its creation more than 400 years ago, the age-old wooden pencil has been a trusted and reliable staple in schools, offices, homes and golf courses around the globe.
Just over an hour south of Nashville is Shelbyville, Tennessee, or as the locals more fondly know it: “Pencil City.” Shelbyville was given its moniker by then-Governor Buford Ellington in the 1950s because of the handful of companies manufacturing pencils in the city at the time.
“You could smell the aroma of the cedar wood several blocks away,” recalls Henry Hulan, referring to the Tennessee red cedar used by Musgrave Pencil Company.
Hulan is the grandson of James Raford Musgrave, who founded Musgrave Pencil Company in 1916. He has worked for the family business for over 50 years and now serves as the company’s chairman.
[perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”Henry Hulan, Chairman, Musgrave Pencil Company” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“You could smell the aroma of the cedar wood several blocks away” [/perfectpullquote]
Hulan says that his grandfather saw early on an abundance of Tennessee red cedar in the area. Farmers in Middle Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia often used the cedar for fencing, so Musgrave would trade the cedar for wire fencing.
With a bit of knowledge about the pencil business, he began making slats from the cedar and shipping the slats to pencil companies overseas.
“Grandfather Musgrave often went to Europe to sell cedar slats. He soon realized that we could make pencils right here in Shelbyville, so he would barter pencil machines for cedar slats, brought the machines back here and slowly set up shop.”
Soon after, Musgrave was manufacturing pencils in Shelbyville.