Background
The story of the TCC dates back to 1919 in Ohio with Onnie Bruce "O.B." Baskette. He drove first for the Cleveland-Akron Bus Company, then for the Cleveland-Elyria-Toledo Bus Company (which, despite its name, ran only between Cleveland and Norwalk, Ohio, beyond Elyria but short of Toledo). He then returned to the former firm in a management job.
Baskette moved to North Carolina during the winter of 1924-25 and started working (albeit for a short time) for the Carolina Motor Coaches (running between Raleigh and Greensboro, which in November 1925 became a major part of the newly founded Carolina Coach Company.
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While Baskette was in North Carolina, he met two brothers, Al and M.H. Kraemer, who became connected (although not as principals) with the Carolina Coach Company in its beginning.
Baskette, seeking an opportunity to start a firm of his own, moved to East Tennessee. In March 1925 he began running between Knoxville and Johnson City along US highway 11E (US-11E) via Jefferson City, Morristown, and Greeneville. In the next year, 1926, he incorporated his operation as the Safety Coach Company. He started with two Fageol Safety Coaches and added seven more by the end of 1926. In naming his firm he took a cue from the brand name of the Fageol Safety Coaches, as did a number of the founders of other early coach concerns.
The two Kraemer brothers left the Carolina Coach Company in 1927, then they joined Baskette in his firm in Tennessee.
Read more about this topic: Tennessee Coach Company
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