Hamilton County Communities

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The Collegedale Community

(In the 1930s)

     During the first 20 years that Southern Junior College was in existence (1916-1936) the Collegedale Community experienced very little growth.  The church had been given instruction not to build Adventist ghettos around its institutions and the principle had been rather carefully followed in Collegedale until that time.  There were only about 20 residences within a one mile radius of the College, excluding College housing, and about half of those were not Adventist residences.

The occasion that seems to mark the turning point in the growth of the community was the death of M. Don Byrd, Sr. on March 14, 1938.  Beginning a few months thereafter the Byrds and Kings began to sell property along Camp Road to the south of the College.  It was along Camp Road that the strongest growth in the community started during and after the fall of 1938. 

A little remembrance.

     M. Don Byrd, Sr. was buried in the Standifer Gap Seventh-day Adventist Cemetery, because there was no Adventist cemetery in the Collegedale area at that time.  In the 1930s Camp Road was a narrow gravel lane running south from the College.  JWHenson remembers as a 10 year old lad being able to lay down across the road in one very narrow spot with his toes at one edge of the road and his extended arms allowing the fingers to touch the opposite ditch.  Two cars were unable to pass on some parts of the road. 

Collegedale In 1938

Camp Road (Renamed University Drive about 1996)

     In 1938 the College property extended along Camp Road with orchards on both sides south from Apison Pike up to the small branch at the foot of the hill.  It continued up the wooded hill to join the Byrd property on both sides of the road.  It was strange, but in those days there were no houses on the east side of Camp Road from the College all the way to the High Point Community, just woods, fences and brush.

     Surrounded by the College property, on the west side of the road at the foot of the hill, there was one private house lived in by the Rogers family.  They had five children Emory, Ray, Rex, Eloise, and Robert.  They were related to Olive Rogers Batson Brailey, the daughter of O.H. Rogers of Hattisburg, Mississippi. 

     Going south from the Rogers the next house was a prefabricated dwelling sitting off the road on top of a rise.  It became known as the 'Hilltop House' after W.C. Starkey bought it about 1939.  The Artress family lived there and then a Canadian family by the name of Manual.  The Manuels had at least two children, Percy, and Ina.  The Reiber family lived

Hill Top House

     in the upstairs apartment until the Starkeys bought the place.  To the north side of the house stood a small woodworking factory that made childrens' toys such as rocking horses and also made racks for drying clothes, lawn chairs and various other wooden items.  There was no electricity in the community until 1942 except for the College, and the telephone did not arrive in the community for another ten years.

A little remembrance.

     About 1935 three men from the Apison area, Casey Kelso, Jess Hullander, and Jim 'Flipper' Lemons, came to the Artress house and picked up a Mr.  Thornberg.  Some of the community residents believe that a drunken argument led to the knifing death of Thornberg. 

At the top of the rise were two houses belonging to the H. M. and Roetta Fox-Byrd family.  M. Don Byrd, Helen, and Don Jr. lived in the first small house and his father and mother lived in the big house that was next door on the south.  Down in the valley behind these two houses was the Wren Byrd residence.  Hazel Byrd lived there with her children, Ted, Iris, Warren, Vance, and Richard.  Rennie (Wren) was seldom home because he was away in prison.  He was a brother to M. Don Byrd, Sr..

H. M. Byrd Residence

     Just before Standifer Gap Road (about 1/10th mile to the north) was the house and farm that belonged to the Camp Family from which Camp Road got its name.  The Harry Z. Ward family later bought the place, and it is still in the family today.  The Wards had the following children  Eugene, Gerald, and Joyce.

Harry Z. Ward Residence

     That was all of the houses that were directly on Camp Road down to Standifer Gap Road.  Six houses in all until 1938.  All were Adventists except for the Camps

Prospect Church Road turns east off Camp Road (now called University Drive). 

The first house was the Harry H. King residence on the north side of the road.   They had moved to Collegedale in 1926 from Madison College.  They were originally from Michigan.  Ms. King died while they were living in Madison, Tennessee.  Their children were Elton, Eleanor, Elmer Richard, Ruby and Ruth.   Elton retained the homeplace after his father moved to Florida.  He and Corrine Kittle of Mobile, Alabama were married on March 30, 1939 and raised the following children there Eleanor, Sterling, George, and Patricia. Proceeding along on the north side of the road stood an old house lived in by Ms. Wheeler and two sons, Ira, and Ben .Down at the curve in the road was the George Longley farm. Mr. Longley died on New Year's day 1940.  Their children included F.G., Earl, Gladys, Betty, and EvaLee.

A little remembrance.

     Mr. H. H. King owned property that ran along Prospect Church Road and Camp Road.  When the county began talking about widening Camp Road, Mr. King called a meeting of all the property owners along the roads.   They were to meet in the middle of Camp Road just to the north of the Byrd residences on a Sunday.  They all showed up.  He said that since he owned more road frontage than the others that he had more property to lose when the road was widened.  Therefore he had come up with a plan.  He had arrived at an amount that each land owner should pay him based upon their road frontage.  He made the request for the funds, but no one offered to pay him, so the matter dropped there.

Moore Road runs west from Camp Road into a cove against White Oak Mountain. The Roach,             Garney Hullander, and G. P. Moore families lived up in the cove along Moore Road.

Tallant Road turns northeast across the railroad tracks from the College.

Going north out of Collegedale on Tallant Road was a farm on the west side of the road.  When the depression came the Bank of Ooltewah took over the property.  The Roy Sinor family had lived there until Mr. and Ms. J.C. Franzini bought the place.  They sold sometime around 1938 after Mr. Franzini's death.

A little remembrance.

     On Friday October 7, 1932 Mr. J.C. Franzini caught a ride to Chattanooga with Mr. Jess Tallant.  He had a burlap sack full of produce to sell.  When they arrived at Central and 11th Street Mr. Franzini got out of the car and continued on foot with his sack to the Farmer's Market on 11th Street.  Mr. Tallant continued along to the J.R. Tallant Roofing and Sheet Metal Works at 735 East Main Street, in Chattanooga.   When Franzini arrived at the Farmer's Market he swung his sack up on the scales to be weighed and fell dead. He had no identification on him and no one knew who he was.  Finally Mr. Arthur Bartlett came along and suggested that they get in touch with Mr. J. R. Tallant to learn who the dead man was.  Mr. Coulter of the Coulter Funeral Home  drove out to Mr. Tallant's business and asked for identification.  Mr. Tallant told Coulter to drive out to Collegedale and inform Ms. Franzini of her husband's death.

     On the south side of Tallant Road just beyond the Franzini's and before the Iron Bridge stood the 'Boat House'.  It must have been built around 1940, and was called the boat house because each time the Wolftever Creek flooded the lower portion of the house was under water and could only be reached by boat.  The Gackenheimers lived there at one time.

Tallant Road continued further east along the creek than it does today, and crossed the Wolftever Creek by an 'Old Iron Bridge' as it was locally called.  When the new bridge was built the County sold the Old Iron Bridge to Ralph Lovell of Ooltewah.  It sits across Lee Highway from the Honors Course, spanning the stream there by a man made lake.

On the west side past the creek was the house occupied by Ora Morse from Illinois.  Later the Morses returned to Illinois and the Lee Frederick family moved in.  When they moved, George N. and Myrtle M. Fuller bought the house and moved there with their family.  They were the parents of George Virly, Forrest LaVerne, Fred, Georgene, and Glenn.

George Fuller Residence

     Henry and Emma Miller lived in the next house out Tallant Road on the west side.  They moved to Collegedale in 1930 from Bordon Springs, Alabama.  Their children were Lora, Maude, Ronny, Jack, Lucille, Estella, Jess, and Bert.

A two story house stood on the hill behind the Miller's.  It was lived in at one time by Ms. Franzini, and later by a family of Stewarts.

Eli Chestnut and family lived on the east side of the road at the top of the hill.  They were the parents of Cecil, and Bill.  The Chestnut families were some of the earliest residents in the Collegedale and Grindstone Mountain areas.  Well back of their house in the woods is the old Chestnut Cemetery with some of the oldest graves in the area.

     Back behind the Chestnuts lived Casey Kelso and his mother.  After his mother's death the Ambrose Winkler family moved there.  The Winklers had come to Collegedale from Bradley County, Tennessee.  Their children were Wayne, Lee, Martin, Ernest, Mona, and Bill.

Further along and on the west was the Lee and Dovie Ruth-Lansford Edgmon residence.  It was built in 1927 as a single story house.   As their family grew Lee added another story

to the house in the 1940s.  He was the son of Huse and Carrie Edgemon.  Their children were Marilyn Faye, Kathryn, Raymond Clay, Marchie, Virginia, Fred, and Joe.  Lee dropped the 'e' from the center of the family name.  Being a builder he was very prominent in the growth of the Collegedale Community in the 1940s.  He developed Central Drive east off Camp Road during those post war years.  In the meadow behind the barn on the old Lee Edgmon property is an old Tallant Cemetery.

The next house was the Ed and Ethel Tallant-Miller residence on the east side of the road.  Ed was a farmer and drove the school bus, and Ethel taught first grade at the Ooltewah

Ed Miller House

    Elementary School.  They were the parents of Dan, Maurice, and Ralph.  Their old house burned one night in 1936, and they immediately rebuilt.

Huse Edgemon's House.  JWHenson Born Here in 1930

     At the corner of Tallant and Edgemon Roads was the Huse and Carrie Edgemon residence.  In August 1923 Huse bought a quarter section from Sam Erwin, and in March 1924 he bought another quarter section from the J.D. (John) Chestnuts.  They built the house in March of 1927, and moved from Catoosa County, Georgia.  Their children were Dessie, Laura, Minnie, Jess, John (Nabe), Lucy, Ollie, and Lee.  All of the children were gone from home by the time they moved to Collegedale except Lucy.  Huse Edgemon gave the County the right-of-way across his property to build Edgemon Road from Tallant Road to Tucker Road on the west. 

A little remembrance.

     J. W. Henson was born in the Huse Edgemon House (his grandfather).   His father, grandmother and grandfather died there as did Oliver Ballard, the teen aged son of Dewey Ballard.

Before 1927 an ancient log house sat on the Huse Edgemon property.  He had it jacked up in an attempt to change its location, and facing.  The logs came apart and fell into rubble.  It is said that at one time the Union Civil War soldier Andros Guille had lived there.  He lost his nose in the battle of Missionary Ridge and after the war moved his family from Ohio to the southland.  He later moved to the top of Grindstone Mountain, and died March 20, 1910.   He and Ms. Guille are buried on the mountain with markers.  The old house on the mountain was later lived in by the Dewey Ballard family, and finally burned in 1956.

The next house out Tallant Road was Huse Edgemon's Farm Tenant house.  Earl and Alma Brown lived there at one time.  Earl was a great nephew to Huse Edgemon.   Later Joe and Julie McGhee moved into the house.  The McGhee's had the following children Robert, Louise, Elizabeth, Mary Ella, and Bill.  Still later, the Fugates bought the house.

The Tenant House

     At the foot of Grindstone Mountain on the west side of Tallant as the road turns east stood the house of Ed and Leila Chadwick.  Ed was a Baptist preacher.  Leila was a Haddock before marriage.  She was related to Ms. John 'Nabe' (Ella) Edgmon of Cohutta, Georgia.  The Chadwicks had a son Willard.  Eventually they all moved to Florida and left the house unoccupied.  It stood on part of the property belonging to the Grindstone Estates today.

Apison Pike in those days ran through the campus of Southern Junior College, past Camp Road, to the mountain, crossing the tracks at the old Ed Chestnut farm, where the McKee Plant No. 2 is located today.

A little remembrance.

     Down by the old 'Yellow House' along the railroad tracks there was an old College shack that had been uninhabited for some time.  About 1933 in a Faculty Meeting at the College someone brought up the old house and its  possible removal.  There was a lot of discussion about what it would cost to tear it down, and the best way to do it.  The following Friday the old house caught fire and burned to the ground.

     In the next weekly Faculty Meeting the subject of the house came up again.  One of the faculty members said, "I saw Brother (W.C.) Starkey come out of the old house just before the fire was discovered."  Mr. Starkey told this story to JWHenson in one of his rare moments of story telling but did not implicate himself, except by a hearty laugh.

Traveling west out of Collegedale toward Ooltewah along Apison Pike at the curve of the road as it started around the mountain stood the James and Evangeline Hickman residence.  Mr. Hickman was a salesman for the College Broom Factory.  They were the parents of Paul, James, Valda, Melvin, and Marvin.

The James Hickman, Sr. House

     About half way up the mountain on the right side of the road, clinging precariously to the shoulder of Apison Pike was the house built by the Burdicks.  Mr. Burdick was killed in an accident at the College while building a chiminey on the new Hosiery Mill building in 1936.   His wife, Ms. Mary Burdick, became a Bible Worker for the Conference.  They had a son Gordon.  Charlie E. (C.E.) Boynton and family then bought the house and lived there until they built on Camp Road in 1940.  The Tom and Mabel Gerber family then bought the house and moved in on April 4, 1941.  They lived there until the mid-1950s.  Their children were Mildred, Mae, and Allen an adopted son who was nicknamed 'Stump'.

There were no other houses from there to the Ooltewah-Ringgold Road (known as Rabbit Valley Road, or Dry Valley Road in those days).

Going toward Apison on the old Apison Pike there was a two story farm house by the railroad tracks, where the McKee Plant No. 2 now stands.  It belonged to the Ed Chestnut family.

Brotherton Hollow

     Directly across Apison Pike from the James Hickman residence was a country lane crossing a vacant field and going under the railroad tracks to what is now Spalding Drive.  There were two houses that sat near the railroad.

The first house was the G.P. Moore residence.  When he left the community the place was bought by the Bob and Amy Richey family.  The Richeys were related to the Lewin A. and Bertha Lee-Jacobs family.  (These Jacobs were not related to the Jacobs who later lived there.)  Bertha Jacobs, Amy Richey, Aura East and Ruby Lee were sisters.

The next house was to the east and was inhabited by the Rob A. and Aura East family.  They moved to Collegedale from North Carolina about 1936. The East children were Mabel, Kathaleen, and Robert (Bob).  Bob is a retired Seventh-day Adventist minister.

Tucker Road was across the railroad tracks to the north of the College.  A wooden bridge crossed the Wolftever at that point.

On the west side of the road and up on the side of the mountain sat the stone house of Mr. Jess Tallant and family.  Mr. Tallant farmed and had a roofing and blow pipe company at 735 East Main Street in Chattanooga, just next door to the Starkey Printing Company.  Their children were Clyde, Hazel, Pauline, Dorothy, Georgia, and J.R..

Continuing to the north on the west side of the road was a small three room shack.   It had been built for a sawmill crew to live in while they were cutting the timber from the Tallant farm.  Mr. Ham Howard was cutting the timber for the Tallants.  Someone set the woods afire and burned an estimated one million board feet of sawed timber at  that time.  The three room shack on the Tallant farm was lived in at another time by a Black family, Willie and Ida Ware, and in the mid-1930s by Ed Haynes of Tunnel Hill, Georgia.

     On the east side of Tucker Road opposite the Owl's Nest Road stood an old house.  It was lived in by the Roy Sinor family and later by Willard and Mary Watkins.

Around the curve going on north was the tenant farm house belonging to Landrum and Dessie Edgemon.  Their adopted son Roy and his wife Eunice lived there for some years, before moving to Cohutta, Georgia.

The next house was at the corner of Tucker and Edgemon Road.  Landrum and Dessie Edgemon lived there.  They were first cousins.  She was a daughter of Huse and Carrie

The Landrum Edgemon House

     Edgemon.  They had the following children   Roy, Roby L., Carrie E., Cecil D., and Ila Mae.  All of the children died very young except Cecil.  He lived into his forties.  This was the first house in the community to have running water.  It was siphoned by pipe from a spring a quarter of a mile up in the hills to the west.

Owl's Nest road ran into the cove off Tucker Road.

     Mr. and Ms. Joe Tucker had a log cabin at the end of Owl's Nest Road.  They used it for their summer residence.  Ms. Tucker's sister, a Ms. Tinsley lived with them.  The two women were from Birmingham, Alabama and had at one time been on the stage.  Mr. Tucker ran a paint manufacturing company in Chattanooga.  He mined iron ore from a mine located near his house on Owl's Nest Road.  The ore was ground and used as a pigment in red barn paint.

Back of the College

     Back of Lynn Wood Hall along what is now a part of the Biology Trail there was an old house that was occupied by the family of Ingrams.  I am not sure, but surmise that this dwelling belonged to the College and should not be in this review.

*******

This ends the state of the Community around Southern Junior College as it was in 1938.  Now lets take a look at the beginning of the expansion.

The Expansion Begins

1938 -1940

     In July 1938 following Mr. M.D. Byrd's death, Lucy Edgemon-Henson bought about twenty acres of land from his widow, Helen Byrd; fifteen on the east side and five acres on the west side of Camp Road adjoining the College property.  In later years as the growth continued and as the land was better surveyed it was found that Ms. Henson  had seven acres on the west side of the road where she had built her house.

Lucy Henson's House on Camp Road

     She immediately began to build on the west side.  Mr. Elmer E. Williams and two of his sons, Russell and Mark, were the builders, with Lee and Landrum Edgemon overseeing the work.  There was the house plus a freestanding two car garage, a chicken house, a barn in the valley and an outdoor privy built by the WPA.  A well was drilled to the depth of 65 feet by Mr. Lum Smith of Ringgold, Georgia.  The house had a basement apartment.  A family of Canadians, the Raffertys, were the first to live there.

The house was completed and she and her seven year old son, J.W., moved in on Saturday night September 17, 1938.  The moving was done in Dewey Ballard's large, dirty coal truck with the assistance of Lee Edgmon.  Ms. Henson married J. Will Henson on January 5, 1930.  He died on June 7, 1931 just 18 months later.

A little remembrance.

     Ms. Henson soon sold off the lots on the east side of the road, and new houses began to spring up all along.   These lots furnished wood to heat and cook with in the early years that Ms. Henson lived in this wilderness.  The expansion between 1938 and 1942 was on the east side of Camp Road, with one exception, and that was Helen Byrd who built a house in 1939 on the west side and south of the other two Byrd homes.  Oldtimers liked their houses facing east with large porches on the front and south sides.  There was no air conditioning in those days and this provided maximum cooling during the torrid days of summer.

     The lot directly across the road from Ms. Henson's house was sold to Ms. Mary Dietel.  She did not build right away on this lot except for a small one room log cabin a couple hundred yards back into the woods.  It was a weekend retreat and furnished in a very homey manner.  Ms. Dietel taught at the College for many years, and had a daughter Margarita who married Houston Marriman.  Mr. Gerald Boynton later built the house out by the road.  There was a small rental apartment in the dwelling.  Early telephone lines were run from the College to Ms. Dietel's house because she was on the faculty.  The neighbors would occasionally drop in to use the telephone.  Its as easy to call London today as it was to call Chattanooga in those days, and long distance service was even more frustrating to say the least.

Mary Dietel Residence

     Miss. Ruby Lee built next door to Lucy Henson to the north.  The house was built by Gerald Boynton.  Miss Lee was raised near McDonald, Tennessee and attended the Southern Training School in Graysville, Tennessee.  She was a sister to Ms. Rob (Aura) East, Ms. Bob (Amy) Richey, and Ms. Lewin (Bertha) Jacobs.  She was the first Registrar at Southern Jonior College in 1916.  After retirement she married a Mr. Carr and they moved to Florida.  Miss Lee had access to the College telephone switchboard several years before telephones became available to the community.

Miss. Ruby Lee House

     The next house to the south from Ms. Dietel was that of Walter Williams.  He was the nurse at the College in those days.  They built a lovely two story brick house on their property.  They had two children Barbara Elaine and Wally.

Walter Williams Residence

     Next to the Williams was built a new house by Elder J.S. James.  He was the Editor of the Southern Tidings and had his office in the College Press that stood on campus where Hackman Hall now stands.  The James had been missionaries to Burma and were making Collegedale their retirement home.  She said that she had traced her lineage back to Mary Queen of Scots.  She was very close with their money.  The house had a basement apartment, and the first occupants were the Roy L. Sykes family.  They moved to

J. S. James House

     Collegedale from Paris, Tennessee.  The Sykes had the following children Lourine, and Garland.  They later moved to Cleveland, Tennessee.

V. O. Lehman House

     V.O. (Pop) Lehman built the house south of the James.  Mr. Lehman was an electrician.  They had the following children Wendolyn (Wendy), Vivian (Viv), Roberts (Blub), Charles (Mook), and Wayne (Stinky).

Ralph Hendershot bought the lot south of the Lehmans and built a small summer cottage on it before later building their home there.  The Hendershots were from Hattisburg, Mississippi.  They had a son Ralph.  Mr. Hendershot was associated for many years with O. D. McKee, the baker.

Ralph Hendershot Home

     Drue and Lilly Bowen, from Talowah, Mississippi, where the Bass Memorial Academy is now located, moved to Collegedale in May of 1939.  At first they lived in the small M.D. Byrd residence.  They bought the property next to the Hendershots and built there.  Their children were Thyra, Dewitt, and John Harvey.

Drue Bowen Residence

     A few lots further to the south and still on the east side of the road Mr.Charlie E. (C.E.) Boynton and wife Cornelia built late in 1940.  They were the parents of Gerald, Paul and Kenneth.  They had been missionaries for eight years in Central and South America, but returned to the States because C.E. had contracted a severe case of malaria.  Mr. Boynton died on November 17, 1947.  Their Camp Road house no longer stands.

This ends the state of things as of 1940.  The growth slowed during World War II but in the optimistic post war days construction became rampant.  Many families stayed only during the years their children were getting an education and then moved on, but others came and stayed to become the backbone of this vibrant community.

*******

MY THANKS and appreciation to all of the following for their help in sharing memories, furnishing details, reading and correcting this manuscript.

Dewitt Bowen, DDS; Lat Bartlett; Thyra Bowen-Keplinger; J.R. Tallant; Paul Boynton; Lora Miller-Winkler; Corrine King; Fred Fuller; Clyde Lewis; Bob East; Ernest Winkler; A.K. Poe; Mildred Gerber-Ward; Russell Hudgins; City of Collegedale (Bill Magoon); Dr. Edythe Cothren; H.R. Bookout; and June Blue.

________

Note

Listing the children of the above families does not mean that they all lived at home, or in Collegedale during the decade of the thirties.  Some of those listed were married and gone from home, and others were dead when the family moved into the area.

The City Foundation

Collegedale, Tennessee

By JWHenson

©  Copyright 1999 by JWHenson
 

Submitted and used by permission of John W. Henson
henson3@chattanooga.net

The End.

The H. L. Judd (Curtain Pole) Factory and Community

          The H. L. Judd Company started operations in Chattanooga on a small scale about 1880 on 11.1 acres they bought close to where the Chickamauga Creek empties into the Tennessee River . They were engaged in the production of drapery poles, hence the name “Curtain Pole Factory”. They eventually manufactured other turned wood products such as, flagpoles, towel bars, and lamp bases. By the turn of the century the company had grown substantially and employed about a hundred workers. On October 5, 1910 the plant was destroyed by fire. The loss was estimated at $200,000. At that time it was reported that more than 200 were employed. It was rebuilt bigger and with more production.

           Starting about 1911, to meet the needs of its many employees, small four room “shotgun” style tenant houses were built. A school was conducted in one end of a long building that also housed a family in the other end. A church was started in 1915 and a church building was constructed across the street from the plant property and called Sherman Hill Baptist Church , so named because it was the landing and encampment place of General Sherman after crossing the Tennessee River , setting the stage for the Battle of Chattanooga. My maternal grandfather William M. Delzell and his brother Joe started the church and pastored it for many years. There was also a store within a few hundred feet of the church and on the same side of the street known as Ford’s Grocery.

           In 1922 the Company started building new houses, the first of which was occupied by William M. Delzell and his family. Eventually all the old houses were replaced by new ones.

           I would like to see the history of this community preserved for future generations, especially for those who are descendants of those families who lived in the company houses and worked there. I have a partial list of those family names. There were many others who worked at the factory but did not live in factory houses. If you have a connection to or knowledge any of these families, please contact me at my e-mail address bgdenham@hotmail.com

           I researched the Chattanooga City Directories to see when my grandparents went to work at the H. L. Judd Company and when they moved into the Company houses, as well as when the school, church and store were started.

           My maternal grandparents, William M. and Louie Delzell first appeared in the City Directory in 1908. It lists Joseph Delzell (48) working for the H. L. Judd Co. and his two sons Bethel Allen Delzell (13) working for the H. L. Judd Co. and Walter Delzell (23) working for the Chattanooga Implement Co, and living at 308 Glass Street in East Chattanooga . Also Joseph’s younger brother William M. Delzell (32) working for the H. L. Judd Co. and also living at 308 Glass Street .

H. L. Judd (Curtain Pole) Factory Family Names and Occupations

MACON CROWE                                                      OLLIE FAIN  (Machinist)

JIM BRUMLOW  (Machine Operator)                        JOE PARKS SR.  (Sander)

WILLIAM O. BANKSTON  (Yard Foreman)             WALT DRIGGINS (Machine Operator)

C.C. GUFFEY                                                             GEORGE QUARLES  (Shipping Clerk)

WILLIAM M. DELZELL (Machinist)                          ARTHUR T. DENHAM  (Fireman on Boilers)

GRADY W. DODD  (Machine Operator)                    ELECK MELTON  (Wood Worker)

TOM DAVIS                                                               MACK EVANS  (Sawer)

WILLIAM H. DAVIS  (Laborer)                                 LUTHER BELVIN  (Finisher)

LUM LEWIS                                                               WOLFORD L. THOMAS  (Lathe Operator)

EATHER L. BELVIN  (Painter)                                   WILLIAM E. COLSTON  (Laborer)

MILTON H. DODD  (Lathe, Plane Operator)              LUTHER BENTON  (Sawer)

BILL BRANNON                                                       GEORGE W. DENHAM  (Yardhand)

JOE DELZELL  (Machine Operator)                            WILLIAM BRUMLOW  (Laborer)

HENRY BANKSTON (Yard Foreman)                      LUTHER PADGETT  (Sweeper)

JAMES C. SKINNER  (Finisher)                                 JOSEPH D. MANIS  (Sawer)

JIM R. COFER  (Box Maker)                                      HOBERT L. HINDMAN  (Machine Operator)

HERBERT BEAVERS  (Laborer)                                MILO ANDERSON  (Sander)

LAWRENCE R. COLSTON  (Ringer)                        ROBERT L. COLSTON  (Lathe Operator)

ELLIS L. STEPHENS  (Laborer)                                 WILLIAM EARL BELVIN  (Lathe Operator)

CLINT G. BANKSTON  (Shaper)                              JESSE L. BANKSTON  (Yardhand)

DAVID S. DAVIS   (Laborer)                                     PAUL E. DELZELL  (Woodworker)

OLLIE M. DELZELL  (Box Packer)                            GEORGE W. WILHOITE  (Laborer)

CYRUS ALLISON  (Box Maker) 

  by Billy Denham bgdenham@hotmail.com  

Dallas

     Dallas Bay is now part of the area that was once the site of the first permanent county seat of Hamilton County. Old Dallas occupied a reservation made by Fox Taylor, a Cherokee, under the treaty of 1819. The town of Dallas was laid out and a post office established there in 1822. It was named for Alexander J. Dallas, and remained the seat of Hamilton County until 1840 when it was moved to Harrison. Old Dallas is located about fifteen miles north of Chattanooga on Hixson Pike.

   Dallas, old Dallas, as it is now called, because it is not any longer a town, was started about 1830. Asahel Rawlings had a store there about this time and was the first postmaster, having been appointed in 1822, when the place was named Hamilton Court House. In 1840 the town was in its prime, having then two or three stores, about half a dozen houses and a few cabins, a blacksmith shop, a good hotel and a population of about sixty. When the county seat was moved to Harrison in 1840 Dallas soon declined. Asahal Rawlings was appointed postmaster at Hamilton Court House, May 11, 1822. The name was changed to Dallas, February 20, 1833; the post office was discontinued March 23, 1846; was re-established June 29, 1848; was again discontinued October 2, 1849; was again re-established September 4, 1866, and finally discontinued September 13, 1872. Since Mr. Rawlings, the postmasters have been Aaron M. Rawlings, appointed July 24,1833; Samuel S. M. Doak, July 21, 1836; James S. Yarnall, March 21, 1837; Samuel T. Izen, May 27, 1837; Thomas Stiff, October 26, 1838; Albert W. Boddo, May 1, 1844; George R. Cannon, December 3, 1845; Clinton A. Jones, June 29, 1848; John H. Bradfield, September 4, 1866; Daniel B. Brayfield, November 4, 1869.
Goodspeed's "History of Tennessee" 1887

NORMAN'S STORE
c. 1880

A crossroad postoffice, 12 miles north of Ooltewah, the county seat.  Ship to Blue Spring.  population 25. Mail tri-weekly.   (Was located on Birchwood Pike).

Cooley, W. W. constable

Eldridge, J. C.  physician

Ford, W. F. blacksmith

Jordan, R. H.  Preacher

McDade, H.  carpenter

McKenzie, R. N. live stock dealer

Moon, John P. blacksmith and real estate agent

Moon, J. T. blacksmith

Norman, F.E. postmaster

Norman, W. C.  Justice of the Peace

Scott, S. M. carpenter

Simms, Jerry  live stock dealer

Submitted by Phebe Morgan
phebem@comcast.net

The City of Red Bank
Hamilton County Tennessee

    Before the Civil War, the area we now know as Red Bank was called Dry Valley or Hamilton. After the war a union church was established where all denominations came together to worship and the area eventually became known as Pleasant Hills. In 1885, George S. Hartman, the area's first Postmaster, received a letter from the Post Office Department requesting that the name Pleasant Hills be changed because the name was already being used in several other areas. After receiving the request, Mr. and Mrs. Hartman were sitting in their home trying to think of another name for their rapidly growing community when Mrs. Hartman looked out the window and saw the red bank of a hill, freshly washed by rain. So, in 1887 "Red Bank" became the community's official name. 

     Red Bank began as an early rural suburb of Chattanooga running along the Dayton Pike from Stringer's Ridge to Daisy, TN. It's growth began by a housing boom following World War I. Early settlements sprang up along the stops of the Chattanooga Traction Company trolley line. The first of these stops being Valdeau; then came White Oak, Flora, Morrison, Ford and Red Bank. Other divisions of the area were called Midvale Park, Oak Wood, Druid Hills and Rustic Dale. Numerous large and beautiful homes were built in Red Bank along Dayton Pike in the late 1800s and early 1900s. So many in fact, that in 1924, a movement began by many of the residents along the Pike, to have the area renamed "Daytonia." An effort was also made to have the name of the Red Bank School changed to Daytonia and the Chattanooga Traction Company was even asked to change the name on the Red Bank Trolley car. Many older settlers of the Dayton Pike opposed the name change and the efforts eventually faded.

     The first school in Red Bank was a five classroom building erected on the corner of Dayton Boulevard and Morrison Springs Road. It was built in 1913 as an elementary school. An auditorium was added in 1937 and a second addition was completed in 1951 making Red Bank Elementary the largest elementary school in the county. Red Bank's first junior high school was built on Dayton Boulevard in 1924 and destroyed by fire in 1935. The school was rebuilt in 1936 and later expanded into a high school. The first graduates of Red Bank High School received their diplomas in 1940.

     By 1945, the population in the area of Red Bank had grown to over 4, 000 and thoughts of becoming a new city began to arise as an option that was seriously being considered by many of its residents. Rumors were running high that the city of Chattanooga might annex Red Bank within its own boundaries. An incorporation meeting held in January 1945 led to a long and heated debate among local residents. Many felt that incorporation should be postponed until after the war so that men who were in the service would have the opportunity to vote. D. F. Hamilton, a long time resident of Red Bank, led the opposition by urging, "Leave this incorporation alone until after the war. Let's put everything we have behind our boys on the fighting front and spend nothing that might help bring the war to a speedy and victorious close." It was suggested that a charter be completed for the new city and published in the local papers so that all residents of the community could understand what incorporation would mean. The meeting adjourned with no solution and no date set for another meeting.

     In February of 1945, a bill was introduced to the State Legislature that would allow Red Bank to become a municipality. The bill was to have set up the machinery for the government of the new city providing a majority of the qualified voters approved such an action in a referendum to be held within 45 days of the bill's enactment.

     The charter for the new city presented to the Legislature proposed to divide the new municipality into two districts. One district would be the area north of Leawood Street and the second south of Leawood Street. The measure also proposed terms for the mayor and city commissioners be set for four years, except for those elected the first time. Members of the city commission were not to be compensated for their services and the mayor would have no vote in commission maters except in the case of a tie. A stringent provision outlawing nepotism was included in the charter bill - no relative of a member of the commission could be employed by the city if they were related within the fourth degree of the law.

     The charter proposed the establishment of a jail and workhouse to handle prisoners. It would also outlaw the sale of intoxicating beverages of any nature and give the town commission authority to regulate places of amusement. The apparent purpose of this provision being to regulate the showing of "moving pictures" on Sunday.

     The State Legislature promised to enact the new bill and give the people of Red Bank an opportunity to vote on incorporation. However, area business leaders raised a large opposition to the bill and went so far as to send telegrams to the Legislature voicing their opposition. Despite the opposition, Gov. Jim McCord signed the new bill into law on March 1, 1945 and a referendum date was set for April 14 for the citizens to vote on incorporation.

     On April 14, 1945 a mere 478 registered voters cast their ballots to strongly defeat the measure for Red Bank's bid in becoming a new municipality. The vote was 95 for incorporation and 383 against. The major opinion voiced against incorporation was the proposed boundaries for the new city. Many felt that the southern boundary should have been set at Newberry Street and should have included White Oak and other areas. Sam Carter, who resided in Red Bank for many years, complained, "You could turn a snake lose to crawl the line they had in that incorporation act and he would break his back trying to get over it." The question of Red Bank becoming Hamilton County's newest city would not be raised again for another ten years.

     In 1955, with a population of over 10,000, fears of being absorbed by the city of Chattanooga caused the residents of Red Bank to consider incorporating their community once again. On April 19, 1955 about 200 citizens of Red Bank and White Oak, fearful of being annexed, voted in favor of incorporating, even though Chattanooga Mayor Olgiati had assured them that the annexation of Red Bank had not been discussed by the Chattanooga city council. The State Legislature in 1955 had passed a bill that would have enabled Chattanooga to annex Red Bank without voter approval. There was now a sense of urgency for residents of Red Bank to form their own city. Boundaries for the new city, to be called Red Bank-White Oak, were now to include the voting precincts of Red Bank 1 and 2 and White Oak. Hixson, Falling Water, Valdeau, Lupton City and Stuart Heights were not included in the limits of the proposed township.

     In June of 1955, of the 4,712 registered voters in the Red Bank-White Oak area, only 940 cast their votes to make Red Bank-White Oak the sixth municipality in Hamilton County. The vote ran 631 in favor of incorporation and 309 against. On July 19, 1955 Red Bank-White Oak elected five new city commissioners: Paul T. Grammer, James F. Guess, Jr., R. Hayden Landers, Burk S. "Tom" Millard and Red Bank Elementary School Principal, J. E. Brown. By a vote of the five city commissioners, Tom Millard was elected Red Bank's first Mayor.

The new office for the Red Bank-White Oak township was opened in the Masonic Building on Unaka Street. By 1967, new and larger facilities were needed. On October 21, 1967 a new $100, 000 city hall was dedicated on Dayton Boulevard about a block from the old city hall.

In March of 1966, the City Commissioners of Red Bank-White Oak, took the first steps in attempting to shorten the cumbersome name of their city. The state highway department had requested that the long name be shortened because it would not fit on standard freeway signs that were being erected in the area. The state was already using the name "Red Bank" to designate the community. The name "White Oak" could not be used since there was a small community of White Oak, TN in Campbell County. It was suggested that "Bank" might be taken out of Red Bank, the "White" out of White Oak and the community named "Red Oak."

     By August of 1966 the city commissioners of Red Bank-White Oak had passed an ordinance calling for a referendum at the state election in November declaring that the name be known as the City of Red Bank. The residents overwhelmingly approved the name change in the November referendum and on January 7, 1967 the city of Red Bank-White Oak officially became Red Bank.

© 2001  by Dennis C. Wilson.  All rights reserved.

Special thanks to the employees of Red Bank City Hall for their assistance with the photographs and newspaper articles.