I have mentioned my Great Great Grandfather L.W. Thompson a few times in my stories and how he owned a paint shop and hardware store in Talcott, WV. All of my life I remember Granddad Bernard Thompson talking about it, but he never said what the name of it was. I have always been on the hunt for this missing piece of family history.
My mother and I purchased this desk you see here at my Great Uncle Buck Thompson’s estate auction in the fall of 2024. It was built by L.W. in 1938 and he used it as his general contracting business. It was designed with an extra-large top to spread blueprints out on, apparently in his paint shop and hardware store.
In one of the drawers there was an old box and when I opened it, it was an unused pack of his letterhead. It reads “L.W. Thompson Building Contractor Curfee Paint and Building Materials Talcott, W. VA.” This pack was unused because” Kurfees” was misprinted as “Curfee”. My mother has the original sign that hung on the front of the store. It is porcelain and says “Kurfees Paint”. I have a Kurfees paint can opener granddad gave me that had belonged to his Grandfather L.W. when he was a child in the 1930’s. I also have a canceled Kurfees Paint check of L.W.s my cousin Frank Thompson gave me years ago.
We have had this desk for almost two years and knew the letterhead was in it but just assumed that was all it was and never went through them. Today I was cleaning out a drawer in the desk and decided to flip through the stack of papers. Much to my surprise was the smaller letterhead buried about halfway in between. It reads “L.W. Thompson Kurfees Paint and Hardware Talcott, W. VA______194__”.
After all these years we can finally start researching his business and see what else we can uncover. In the stack also were two diagrams for large band saws L.W. designed and built to use in his wood shop in Talcott. It has been told to me by several people that he ran the equipment by hit and miss engines, that when he fired them up, they could be heard all over Talcott. On top of all of the other hats he wore, he also built fantastic oak furniture in the 1930s and 40’s. We have managed to acquire 13 pieces of furniture and picture frames he built. But being the family and local history fanatic, I am always on the hunt for others to add to my collection.
If you have a piece you would like to sell L.W.s family or know of a piece, please email me at greenbrierantiques@gmail.com.
