Scobee Name Has Been an ‘Undertaking’ for Over a Century

This is the last of three fea­tures chron­i­cling some of the old­est busi­ness­es in Clark County. If you missed the ear­li­er ones, see the links at the end of this story. 

Scobee Funeral Home, 1921

In 1921, three men—J. E. Grubbs, David B. Scobee, and Ben S. Bartlett—merged their tal­ents and cap­i­tal to form the com­pa­ny of Grubbs, Scobee & Bartlett.  The new busi­ness was locat­ed in Grubbs’ for­mer hard­ware store at 70 South Main Street (now Mason on Main).  They spe­cial­ized in hard­ware, stoves, and undertaking. 

Scobee had pre­vi­ous­ly been an embalmer for Henry H. Hall and would soon be elect­ed may­or of Winchester.  In addi­tion to notices for Grubbs, Scobee & Bartlett, there were also ads for David Scobee, “Funeral Director and Embalmer, Undertaking, Ambulance Service.”

After Grubbs’ death (1924), the firm moved to 29 North Main Street (now Arts on Main).  In 1931, his wid­ow sold her share to the new firm of Scobee & Bartlett.  Their adver­tise­ments sim­ply stat­ed, “Scobee & Bartlett Funeral Directors.”  They were first list­ed at 29 North Main, then at 25, and lat­er at 21.  It’s uncer­tain if these were actu­al busi­ness moves, changes in street num­ber­ing, or typos.

In 1941, the com­pa­ny sold off its hard­ware stock, Bartlett retired, and Scobee announced plans to move Scobee Funeral Home to 219 West Lexington Avenue, where he opened the fol­low­ing January.

Scobee died in 1958.  His will spec­i­fied that the funer­al home be offered for sale to Leon P. Pace.  Pace, who had worked for Scobee for eleven years, pur­chased the firm that June.  Pace and his wife, Lou, oper­at­ed the busi­ness until his death in 1991.  Lou con­tin­ued with the help of her son Fred, who took over as pres­i­dent of the funer­al home the next year.  Fred Pace car­ries on today with his son, Clint.

Leggett and Platt, 1944

Leggett and Platt came to Winchester in 1944.  Started by J. P. Leggett and C. B. Platt and head­quar­tered in Carthage, Missouri, they were the major man­u­fac­tur­er of bed­springs.  The cor­po­ra­tion erect­ed a two-sto­ry build­ing at 301 West Broadway, near the inter­sec­tion with Wainscott Avenue, and hired 30 employees. 

After expand­ing sev­er­al times at that loca­tion, the com­pa­ny pur­chased a tract of land at Franklin and New Streets beside the C&O right-of-way for a new fac­to­ry.  It opened in 1963 with 59,000 square feet of floor space. 

To keep up with increas­ing sales, in 1965 Leggett and Platt announced plans to add 60,000 square feet to the fac­to­ry on New Street.  The work­force grew to 260.

In 1988, the com­pa­ny pur­chased the Farmers Tobacco Warehouse on Ecton Road, which added anoth­er 365,000 square feet of floor space.  In 1996, they bought the for­mer Bundy Tubing facil­i­ty on North Maple Street.  Employment peaked at around 660 workers.

Difficult busi­ness con­di­tions and declin­ing sales led to a cor­po­rate reor­ga­ni­za­tion and the sell­ing off of most of their Winchester prop­er­ties: West Broadway was sold in 1995, North Maple in 2013, and Ecton Road in 2025.  The com­pa­ny still owns the facil­i­ty on New Street.

Humble Plumbing, 1946

One could say that Humble Plumbing dates to 1933, when Walker Humble and his part­ner, Arthur Bush, began Bush & Humble Plumbing on Court Street.  Walker left there in 1938 to open a plumb­ing busi­ness with the Newkirk broth­ers on North Main Street.  His ser­vice in World War II inter­rupt­ed the con­ti­nu­ity of Humble Plumbing, so I used the 1946 date. 

After spend­ing thir­ty-nine months in the Army Air Forces, Walker returned to Winchester.  In January 1946, he opened Walker Humble Plumbing at 120 Wall Street.  And there the busi­ness stands today in a shop that start­ed life as a repair garage for Model T Fords.

The shop sold parts and did plumb­ing, heat­ing repair, and tin­work.  Walker stayed involved into his 90s.  After he retired, his sons, Steve and Phil, took over the com­pa­ny, which now goes sim­ply by Humble Plumbing.  They had ten employ­ees at one time, but today it’s just Steve and Phil.

Steve works in the office and han­dles sales.  For those who’ve nev­er had the plea­sure, a vis­it to the shop is a sur­re­al expe­ri­ence.  There are seem­ing­ly thou­sands of bins filled with thou­sands of parts, and Steve knows where to find each one.

Phil han­dles plumb­ing repairs from his truck.  The big box truck marked “Humble Plumbing” is a famil­iar sight around town.

Other sto­ries in this series include: 

• Which Are the Oldest Businesses in Winchester?
• Ale-8-One, Taylor Funeral Home Among Oldest Businesses Here

Also see Chuck Witt’s 2022 inter­view with Steve Humble.