Andrew Patterson Thompson, known to family and friends as A.P. was born in 1842 in Rome, Georgia ( Floyd County, GA). He was 19 years old when the American Civil War began, and he enlisted as one of the 1060 soldiers in the Nineteenth Tennessee Infantry . The Nineteenth Tennessee Infantry was a Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Confederate States Army started in Knoxville and formed mostly of young men from the various counties of East Tennessee. At the end of the war in April 1865, only 78 remained.
Following the war, Thompson moved 70 miles south of Rome to Atlanta where he became involved in local political groups and city planning. Atlanta, for the most part, had been decimated by the Civil War and General Sherman’s infamous destruction of the railroads that had made Atlanta a central hub before and during the Civil War. Thompson served several terms on the Atlanta city council and Aldermanic Board. He then met Thomas M Clarke and along with Thomas’s brother R.C. Clark and John A. Fitten and became a partner in the existing Clarke Hardware Company, which was located at 27 Peachtree Street on the corner of Edgewood Ave. The store grew to become one of the largest Hardware Stores in the South.
In November 1894, A.P left Clarke Hardware to venture out on his own with John Fitten and start what would become the successful Fitten-Thompson Hardware Company located on the corner of Broad Street and Marietta Street in downtown Atlanta. The location is where Philips Arena currently sits. Here AP had the title of Secretary & Treasurer. At this period in American History, the Hardware Store played an integral role in society and the the best Hardware Store Clerks were like a “walking encyclopedia” (The Hardware Dealer Magazine Jan 1895). Outside of his work life, A.P. Thompson was a member of the Gate City Lodge F&AM, which was both a social group and Business club.
Wife and Family:
Andrew Patterson Thompson was married to Martha Harriet Bruckner.
Together they had 2 daughters and 4 sons. Among the sons was Harry B Thompson .
Death:
Died May 1st 1915 at the age of 73 at the home of his son Harry B Thompson , 631 Ponce De Leon Avenue in Atlanta. He was survived by his wife Martha.
