The dated car dealership sign hangs high on the east wall of the building at the corner of College Street and Clinton-Aultman Parkway. Built in 1927, the building first offered customers the opportunity to buy cars from Ratliff Motor Company and over the years has been home to different shops and stores, including a service station, real estate office, wedding boutique, an antique shop, a decorating service and a gift shop.
Edward (Ed) Ratliff III has many memories associated with the building and the neighborhood where he lived with his parents, Nell and Edward Ratliff, Jr.
He and his wife, the late Barbara Miller Ratliff, reared their sons Cavett and Greg in Clinton, long after a bicycle and buggy shop operated on Jefferson Street by brothers Edward and Fred Ratliff, his father and uncle, had become a car company on College Street…