John B. Bainbridge was born in Bainbridge, Williamson County, near Marion, February 19, 1837. He engaged in the general merchandise and dry goods business in Marion in 1856, and after 45 years was still as active in trade and management as when a youth of 19 when he waited on his first customer.
He was married September 7, 1859, to Josephine Goddard, daughter of James T. Goddard, one of Marion’s former merchants.
In 1860, at the age of 23, he built a substantial brick structure, 50 x 85 feet in dimensions, on the west side of the public square, the corner store room of which was occupied by him for purposes of his business.
The J.B. Bainbridge building was three stories in height, with the upper portion devoted to residence purposes. It sat on the west side of the Square and was on the north side of W. Main Street. John Bainbridge and his family made their home here till their home on S. Market was later built. The Bainbridge building was demolished around 1913 to make way for the Marion State and Savings Bank, which later became the Hotel State.
The census of 1860 finds John at 23 and his wife Josephine 17 with one child named only “infant” who is one month old. This infant should be their son James A. Bainbridge. John is listed as a merchant with $5,500 in real estate and $2,000 in personal estate. They had a live in domestic servant by the name of Anna Skeggs.
John’s son James changed the general merchandise aspect of the store. He went to Watchmaking School, and set up a jewelry department in the store. By 1882, the jewelry department overtook the other merchandising and has continued to be the family business throughout the years going under the name Bainbridge Jewelry and Opticians first, then just Bainbridge Jewelry.
Bainbridge was known to always take part in movements calculated in furtherance of community interests, and was among the most substantial of Marion’s citizens. He assisted at organization of the Marion Building and Loan Association, and was its vice-president for 15 years. He helped organize the First National Bank in 1891, and has been vice-president and a director, as well as its largest shareholder. The First National Bank failed with all other banks in 1930 during the depression.
Of their children, there was James A. Bainbridge, who was engaged in the jewelry and watchmaking business; Charles W. Bainbridge, who was a banker at Norris City, Illinois; Luella Bainbridge, who was the wife of L. A. Browning, of the Ely-Walker Dry Goods Co., St. Louis, and Maude W. Bainbridge, wife of J. L. Parham, was a traveling salesman for the Desnoyers-Courtney Shoe Co.
Around 1905 or 1906, the Bainbridge family built a home at 515 S. Market St. and occupied it. The 1907 Marion business directory indicated that John was active with a Dry Goods business in his building at 505 Public Square. His son James A. Bainbridge also had his jewelry and optics business at 508 Public Square. James and his wife Irene were then living at 208 W. Boulevard St.
By the 1910 census, John had reached 73 years of age but was still actively working as a businessman and merchant. His wife Josephine was 67. Their daughter, Maude Bainbridge Parham, was widowed by then and had a daughter by the name of Lillian B. Parham who was 17 at the time of the census. They were all living at 515 S. Market St.
On July 10, 1910, not long after the census was taken in his home, John passed away. He was followed by his wife Josephine on February 29, 11912. Both were interred at Rose Hill Cemetery.
In 1913, their son, James A. Bainbridge, tried retiring and sold his business to his son Lawrence Bainbridge. Retirement didn’t work for James so he reopened another store at 806 Public Square, creating two Bainbridge Jewelry stores on the square.
After the demolition of the J.B. Bainbridge building around 1913, the family business consisting now primarily of two jewelry and optics businesses were left with one store on the southwest corner of the square at 806, then finally 800 Public Square.
The family business of jewelry was picked up by Lawrence Bainbridge’s son Bill Bainbridge and then by Bill’s daughter Charlotte Bainbridge Cash in turn.
The family jewelry business remained open until around 1996 when there was a need to demolish that block of the square to make way for the new Marion City Civic Center. Bill Bainbridge retired to Florida and passed away on March 26th, 1997.
James Allen Bainbridge passed away in 1929, his wife Irene Elizabeth Bainbridge died in 1941. Both are buried at Rose Hill Cemetery.
(Data extracted from 1905 Souvenir History, WCHS; 1989 Sesquicentennial History, WCHS; Marion City Directories; Ancestry.com; Marion City Cemetery Records; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 02/21/2013)