Drover Hub Opens January 23, 2020 in Shelbyville, TN
118 Public Square East, Shelbyville, TN
The Launch
We are proud to announce the opening of Drover Hub in Shelbyville, TN. Drover was founded in 2016 as a rideshare app built on a commitment to community and quality. Four years later, Drover operates in several cities surrounding Nashville, TN. Today, Drover offers two primary services to Middle Tennessee — rideshare and food delivery.
The Drover Hub in Shelbyville, TN will be a physical location that connects Drover to the communities we live and work in. At the Hub, people will be able to connect face-to-face with the people behind Drover. Restaurant owners, drivers, riders, and food orderers alike will be able to establish an in-person connection with the rideshare and food delivery app that is rapidly expanding across Middle, TN.
The History Of Our Space
Drover Hub is located in East Side Square in Shelbyville. Our building was built somewhere around 1898. In his research, Drover Founder Jeff Garland has been able to gather some history of the space.
On the 1893 map of Shelbyville, there is a huge open space where some previous buildings had apparently burned down. By the 1899 map, this building was there, marked "Boots and Shoes" for the type of store located in it. The one-story additions to the back are not there as they were built later, but a second story wooden balcony on the rear appears to be there and remains today in surprisingly stable condition.
The 120 space at 120. where Pope's Cafe is located today, was "Al's Diner" as late as 1936. Pope's was there by the late '30s and has remained there until the present day, with a two-year break in ownership around 2011.
The middle space at 118 was "Simmons Cheerful Credit" in 1936 and later became Simmons Jewelers, which it remained until the 2000s. Investigating that space, we found a hidden room that was visible when looking down from a utility chase. The 4 x 10-foot room now has a door to be used for storage, but is otherwise unchanged, with the original early 1900's wallpaper and light fixture. In the utility chase, we found interesting antiques such as a Camel Cigarette carton, multiple medicine bottles, a mint 1928 Shelbyville Coke bottle and a buggy harness.
The space at 116 may have been the original "Boots and Shoes" space, because in 1936 it was a Miller Jones Shoes and remained one until the 2000's. We even found cardboard signs from the shoe years in a closet.
Upstairs has it's own entrance and is over 3000sf. In the early 1900's it was a grand Victorian apartment with full transoms over huge doors, a large kitchen, and a shanty built behind the building on the roof which appears to be a servant's quarters. The lighting system at the time was one light bulb on a string for each room, with no plugs, as there were no appliances yet to plug in! Part of the upstairs later became the offices of a realtor/auctioneer and his painted sign is still on the huge double doors. Unfortunately, the upstairs was heavily vandalized many years ago.
At present, we are doing a "sympathetic restoration" to the building. We are restoring finishes as needed while retaining all historic aspects when possible. One example is the brick wall in the middle space that was plastered over in the 1920's (we know because we found a 1928 Shelbyville newspaper wadded up in the wall to fill in holes). We removed all the plaster and sealed the brick, which is very soft due to the lower grade of brick used at the time in interior walls.
The Hub
The Drover Hub is the Drover Rideshare and Delivery App’s first physical HQ. The Hub will serve as a centralized location where drivers and riders can come to learn more about the business. Future riders and food orderers can come to learn how to use the app. Future drivers can come to interview and learn more about a day in the life of a Drover Driver.
Come on by to learn more about Drover Rideshare or Drover Delivery.
What to expect:
southern hospitality mixed with the high energy environment of a tech startup
a chill, fun, laid-back atmosphere
a fun place to work
a strictly stress-free zone
What not to expect:
stress
corporate bureaucracy
The Open House
The Drover Hub will always be open to the public during business hours. We are hosting a special open house January 23rd from 9am to 5pm. We’re right beside Pope’s Cafe on The Square. We will have coffee and free donuts. Driver applicants are welcome to apply during this time also.
