John’s Place Awarded $40,000 by the Backing Historic Small Restaurants Grant Program

Along with the Four Way Restaurant in Memphis, John’s Place, the restaurant and bar that has been operated in Cookeville by the McClellan family since 1949, has received a grant designed to support historic small restaurants that have served their communities for decades.  This program is funded by American Express and administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2011 for its contribution to race relations, the African American-owned restaurant was featured in Everybody’s Welcome at John’s Place, a WCTE-PBS documentary.  Upper Cumberland Development District Historic Preservation Planner, Mark Dudney, authored the application for John’s Place.  THC supports Dudney’s position at UCDD through a Historic Preservation Fund matching grant, as well as that of preservation planners in 8 of the state’s 9 development districts.