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GHOST STORIES And LEGENDS |
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GHOST STORIES And LEGENDS |
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by Tyrone Tony Reed Jr. October 27, 2007 The story goes that a woman named Ruby was one of the first telephone operators in Jackson between 1889 - 1891. She met and fell in love with a clerk named Robert. Both of their offices were located where TLM Associates is now, at 117 E. Lafayette St. Robert was transferred to Memphis, but Ruby was never informed. He later returned for her, but learned that Ruby had been run over by a carriage on Main Street and killed. He had arrived back in Jackson on the day of her burial. The legend says that Robert stayed by her grave for days, until his family and friends found him dead of a broken heart. Now Ruby and Robert walk the halls and laugh quietly together. 
The building was constructed around 1840, a two story wooden building. She has watched decades of history unfold around her. The building was looted during the civil war and extensive repairs had to be made. In the 1870's part of it was operated as a Saloon with rooms upstairs while the other part was a general merchandise store. By 1884 Jackson Telephone and Telegraph had set up shop upstairs. The telephone company had one switchboard and one operator to facilitate the telegraph and the fifty customers in the downtown area with telephones. This is the position Ruby would have held when she died. At the turn of the century, after Ruby and Robert had died it was renamed Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Co.
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TLM and Associates located at 117-119 East Lafayette was renovated around 2002. This photo was taken from the book