Knox County TN Archives History - Books .....Public Institutions - Chapter XX 1900
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Book Title: Standard History Of Knoxville

CHAPTER XX.

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.



Provisions Made for the Treatment of Insane Persons—Lyon's View .

Hospital—School for Deaf Mutes—Lawson McGhee Library—Margaret McQung Industrial

Home—St. John's Orphanage—New City Hospital—Home for the Friendless—Other

Charitable Institutions— Woman's Building.



WHILE it can not be expected that in a history of Knoxville much space will be

devoted to public institutions outside of its boundaries and which are in

addition peculiarly state institutions, yet it is deemed appropriate that a few

paragraphs at least be devoted to that noble charity, known as the East

Tennessee Hospital for the Insane.   And in order to set forth the proper place

of this institution in the charitable work of the state, it is necessary to

briefly cover the ground traveled by previous efforts of the legislature and

private individuals.



  The first legislation upon this subject appears to have been made October 19,

1832, when a law was passed establishing an asylum in Davidson county, near

Nashville. $10,000 being appropriated for the erection of a suitable building.

This asylum was not ready for occupancy until 1840, and was located one mile

away from the capital of the state. In 1847 Miss D. L. Dix visited the state and

through her efforts further legislation was secured by which nine commissioners

were appointed, who selected a farm on the Murfreesboro pike about six miles

from Nashville, on which a building was erected after the general style of

Butler asylum, Providence, R. I. The building is a model in every way, and a

vast amount of good has been accomplished through its thorough management. In

December, 1884, the whole number of patients there was 412, a few of whom were

colored.



  The superintendent had for some years urged upon the legislature the necessity

of providing more accommodations for the insane, and in 1883 there was

appropriated through the efforts of Hon. M. D. Bearden, $80,000 for the East

Tennessee Insane asylum, which was to be erected in the vicinity of Knoxville,

upon the property known as Lyon's View. Under the provisions of the act making

this appropriation the governor appointed as a board of directors the following

gentlemen: R. H. Armstrong, J. C. Flanders and Columbus Powell, all citizens of

Knoxville, and they, upon effecting an organization, elected W. H. Cusack of

Nashville as architect, and Dr. Michael Campbell, of Nashville, superintendent

of construction. After visiting the most important and famous asylums in the

country, this board of directors adopted a plan embracing the very latest

improvements, both architectural and sanitary. The asylum consists of nine

buildings, including an administration building, chapel, kitchen, laundry,

boiler house and engine house. The main building is 472 feet long, and the wards

consist of 174 rooms, capable of accommodating from 250 to 300 patients. In 1885

the legislature granted an additional appropriation of $95,000, to be used for

the completion of the buildings, and the asylum was ready for occupancy on March

1, 1886, the patients naturally belonging to East Tennessee being transferred

thither. This asylum is about four miles from Knoxville, its situation being on

high ground, commanding a full view of the Tennessee river and the adjacent

hills and mountains, with their beautiful scenery. No more desirable location

could anywhere be found for an institution of this kind, designed as it is for

the comfort and care of persons suffering from the diseases which it is

especially designed to alleviate if not to cure.



  A building for insane colored people was erected here in 1896, suggested first

by Dr. Campbell, and a bill providing for an appropriation for this purpose was

introduced by Hon. S. G. Heiskell, carrying an appropriation of $20,000. The

building is three stories high above the basement, is 63x135 feet in size, the

basement being used for heating apparatus and the mechanical department for

engineers. On the first floor are two dining rooms, one for males the other for

females, each room being 20x50 feet in size, and also on this floor is a fine

sitting room and a "strong room" for violent patients.



  The second and third stories have cast iron stairways with steel railing, and

each story has an assembly room, used for the exercising of patients and is

provided with corridors leading into the different cells. There are in this

building 250,000 square feet of floor space, all the floors being made of mill

flooring and covered with cement, in order that the building may be fireproof.

The slate roof covers 100,000 square feet, the building contains 160 windows and

100 doors. The architects of this building were Baumann Bros, of Knoxville, and

the contractors, the Galyon & Selden company.



  Still another building at this institution was provided for in April, 1898,

which was designed to be one of the finest buildings connected with the asylum.

The bids for its construction ranged all the way from $23,399 to $19,300, the

latter bid being made by J. D. Hunt of Chattanooga. It is to be a fireproof

structure, two stories high, and fitted up in the interior with the most modern

arrangements necessary for the accommodation and comfort of its inmates. The

appropriation made for its construction was $25,000.



  Reports on the condition of the asylum are made biennially because the

sessions of the legislature are biennial. The last report, for the period from

December 19, 1896, to December 19, 1898, inclusive, is as follows:



                                          Males.    Females.    Total.

Number in hospital Dec, 19. 1896           142        139        281

Number admitted during the term            129         86        215

Total number treated                       271        225        496

Discharged during the term                  71         52        123

Died during the term                        27         14         41

Discharged and died                         98         66        164

Number remaining Dec. 20, 1898             173        159        332



  Of the seventy colored patients admitted during the term, forty were males and

thirty were females.



  The expense of maintaining this asylum for the year ending December 19, 1897,

was $48,881.84, and for the year ending December 19, 1898, $53,966.46. For the

seventh year ending December 19, 1897, the receipts from the farm, garden and

dairy were $5,853.44 and the expenditures $3,892.34, and for the year ending

December 19, 1898, the receipts were $6,474.45 and expenditures $3,366.16.



  The trustees of this asylum are S. G. Heiskell, S. R. Miller, C. D. Clark and

George W. Winstead, and the superintendent, Michael Campbell, M. D. The

assistant physician is T. F. Fitzgerald, M. D., and interne. Henry M. Childress,

M. D. The steward is Edward S. Shepard; receiver, S. M. Drake; and chaplain, W.

H. Bates.



  The Tennessee Deaf and Dumb School, situated at 629 Asylum street, Knoxville.

had its origin in the benevolence of General John Cocke of Grainger county, who

was a member of the state senate at the time. It was on December 20, 1843, when

a bill providing for the establishment of an institution for the blind in

Nashville was on its third reading, that General Cocke moved to amend the bill

by adding a section providing for the appropriation of $2,000 for the

establishment at Knoxville of a school for the deaf and dumb of the state. After

the substitution of $1,000 for $2,000, the amendment was adopted, and then the

bill as so amended was rejected by a vote of 11 in its favor to 13 against it.

Next day the vote by which the entire bill had been rejected was reconsidered,

the vote on General Cocke's amendment being reconsidered by a majority of three,

and then adopted by a majority of one. The bill was passed in the senate

December 21, 1843, an^ then went to the house, where it was finally passed as it

left the senate, January 29, 1844. The first board of trustees appointed by the

governor was composed of the following gentlemen: R. B. McMullen, Joseph

Estabrook, and D. R. McAnally, which board met at Knoxville July 27 following,

and organized by the election of Mr. McMullen as president, and Mr. McAnally,

secretary.



  After having held correspondence with officers of similar institutions in

other states, and ascertaining the number of deaf mutes in Tennessee, this board

selected a suitable building in which to open the school and secured the

services of competent instructors. The first principal of the school was Rev.

Thomas McIntire, who had been a teacher in the Ohio Deaf and Dumb School, under

whom the school was opened in the Churchwell house, in East Knoxville, in June,

1845. On January 31, 1846, the legislature passed an act incorporating the new

institution, and added to the first board of trustees Rev. T. Sullins, J. H.

Cowan and Campbell Wallace.



  The next important step taken was to secure the erection of more suitable

buildings for the purpose of the school, and the board issued circulars to the

benevolent throughout the state, and made application to congress for a donation

of public lands. They also established several local agencies, and placed in the

position of manager of a general soliciting and collecting agency, Col. John M.

Davis of Knoxville. Through these various agencies and efforts about $4,000 was

secured from individuals, which sum, supplemented by an appropriation from the

legislature, enabled the trustees to erect a large building, which cost in the

neighborhood of $20,000. The main building consisted of a portion three stories

high and 25x79 feet, together with two wings, each of the same size, so that the

main front of the building, to the south, was 100 feet in length, and the east

and west front was 129 feet in length. The original site on which this building

was erected consisted of two acres, donated by Calvin Morgan of Knoxville, and

the remaining six acres now owned by the trustees of the school were purchased

at a cost of about $6,000.



  During the first session of this school the attendance was nine. In 1857 the

attendance had increased to seventy, and in 1861 the school was among the

largest of the kind in the United States. But when the war came on the school

was disbanded and the buildings taken possession of by the military authorities,

being used in turn as a military hospital by the two contending armies, until at

length, in 1866, the buildings were turned over to the trustees in a badly

damaged condition; but nevertheless the school was again opened on December 3 of

that year. For about seven years the institution had to be managed in the most

economical manner, owing to the financial depression felt throughout the state;

but in 1873 an appropriation was made by the legislature of $10,000, which again

placed the school on a solid foundation, and since then it has prospered in a

most satisfactory manner.



  In 1882 a new chapel was erected and other needed improvements made, and. at

the present time the school is capable of accommodating about 200 pupils.



  In 1881 a school was opened for colored mutes in a rented building in East

Knoxville, about one mile from the main school. At first there were ten pupils,

and in 1883 twenty-seven acres of land, upon which there was a brick building,

was rented for the uses of the school. In 1884 there were seventeen pupils in

the school, at which time there were about 100 in the white school.



  The following-named gentlemen have been principals of this school: Thomas

MacIntire, 1845-50; C. W. Morris, 1850-53; H. S. Gillet, 1853-56; A. G. Scott,

1856-59; James Park, 1859-61; Joseph H. Ijams, 1866-83, and Thomas L. Moses,

1883 to the present time.



  Presidents of the board of trustees: R. B. McMullen, W. D. Carnes, John H.

Crozier, James C. Moses, John L. Moses and John M. Boyd, the latter since 1887.



  Treasurers: D. R. McAnally, James H. Cowan, Joseph H. Walker, Henry Ault,

Abner G. Jackson, Samuel B. Boyd and John S. Van Gilder.



  The present officers aside from those named are Miss Sallie L. Jackson,

matron: Calvin A. Gurley, steward, and Mrs. Lizzie Gurley, housekeeper.



  In 1897 there were 196 pupils in this school and in 1898, 197. The last

legislature made an appropriation for the support of the school of $165 per

capita of attendance. For the last ten or fifteen years the expense of

conducting the school has amounted to from $165 to $180 per capita. For the year

1897-98 the colored department contained thirty pupils, and for the year

1898-99, twenty-seven.



  The Public Library of Knoxville was established April 1, 1870, by changing the

old Knoxville Library and Reading Room into a public library, the library and

reading room having been in existence for several years. All the property of the

library and reading room was transferred to the Public Library under certain

conditions. Of the meeting at which this change was effected Perez Dickinson was

chairman, and the motion to make the transfer was made by Hon. O. P. Temple.

Under the charter then recently obtained each share of stock was worth $3. Judge

Temple said that one object of the public library was to collect every book and

pamphlet ever published in Tennessee.



  On April 20 this library received from Rev. Dr. T. W. Humes a present of 156

volumes, valued at $250, the largest donation received up to that time. Other

gifts had been received from Hon. H. R. Gibson, Hon. L. C. Houk, Prof. W. G.

McAdoo and wife, Hon. J. M. Thornburgh, Mrs. M. E. Carey, Mrs. Paxton, Moses

White, T. W. Paulette, and T. A. R. Nelson, Jr., and then the association had

added $250 worth of books during the year.



  In May, 1882, an effort was made to pay oft the debt upon the library, and in

order to encourage the movement, fourteen of the prominent business men of the

city offered to give each $100 and two others, $50 each, provided the debts were

paid. The debts were paid, and a committee appointed to purchase books, five

hundred new volumes being added in the following August, bringing the total

number up to 1,200. In 1886 this library was converted into the Lawson-McGhee

Library, a new three-story brick building being erected for its accommodation at

the northeast corner of Gay and Vine streets, by Col. C. M. McGhee, and so named

in memory of a deceased daughter. The building is 50x100 feet in size, and the

library room, in the second story, is 50x80 feet in size. On the right side of

the library room are the shelves for the books, now numbering 6,000 volumes.

Rev. T. W. Humes was the first librarian, holding the position until 1892, when

Miss May L. Davis succeeded, serving until July 1, 1896, and at that time Miss

Mary M. Nelson became librarian and still retains the position with Miss Sadie

McIntosh as assistant librarian. The president of the library at the time of its

conversion was Adrian Terry, and treasurer, C. M. McClung. The president at the

present time is A. J. Albers; treasurer, Adrian Terry; secretary, William Rule.

The library contained 11,432 volumes on February 14, 1899.



  The Margaret McClung Industrial Home was founded in 1873 as the Girls'

Industrial Home, and it was the pioneer charitable institution in Knoxville. It

was supported by the cooperation of the churches and the citizens at large. .But

like most charitable institutions it sometimes had difficulty to meet its

expenses. For this reason it was thought best in 1895 that it should take on

larger work and larger responsibilities, and that in order to accomplish these

ends the private purse should be relieved of its support and that it should

become a county institution. On July 9, 1895, at a meeting held in the Second

Presbyterian Church, it was resolved that inasmuch as it was believed that this

home should become the foundation for larger work and made more certainly a

public institution, that the property, both real and personal be tendered to

Knox county or to such reformatory corporation as might be organized under and

in pursuance of the act of the general assembly passed May 10, 1895, entitled

"An act to establish and provide a system of reformatory institutions for

youthful persons," the country to assume the incumbrances of the institution and

care for the inmates in a proper manner. A committee was appointed to confer

with the county court, the committee consisting of Lewis Tillman. J. M. Meek,

Mrs. James Park, Mrs. L. C. French, Mrs. W. W. Gibson and Mrs. S. D. Mitchell,

and after several meetings had been held to consider this matter, it was

proposed at one of them that if the management could be assured of $2,000 per

annum, they would be in favor of maintaining it independently of the county

court. At a meeting held August 20, 1895, it was ascertained that $1,000 of the

amount had been subscribed, and subsequently the remainder needed was raised,

thus enabling the home to remain a private institution.



  This home is located east of the main portion of the city of Knoxville,

between the Bell avenue and Park street railways, and is a large two-story brick

building. Mrs. M. P. Garth and Miss Nannie Anderson have alternated as matrons

of the Home since September, 1893. Mrs. Garth holding the position from

September, 1893, to June, 1895; Miss Anderson from then about one year; Miss

Fleming a few months in 1897; Mrs. Garth from August, 1897, to August, 1898, and

Miss Anderson from September, 1898, to the present time. The average number of

girls in the Home has been about twenty-five, the number there at present being

eighteen.



  St. John's Orphanage was organized in the year 1875, as a chartered

institution, and is supported by St. John's Protestant Episcopal parish.

Property was first purchased on Henley street, between Church and Union. The

first president was Mrs. Frank H. McClung, who, after her death, was succeeded

by Mrs. William M. Baxter, and she, in 1893, by Mrs. Ringgold, wife of Rev.

Samuel Ringgold, rector of St. John's parish, who still serves in that position.

In 1887 two acres of land was purchased on Linden street, upon which a handsome

and commodious brick orphanage was erected, with a capacity for the

accommodation of thirty children. There are now twenty-five in the institution.

Children are taken at from three to eight years of age and supported until they

are grown, or until suitable permanent homes are found for them. The rector of

St. John's Church is the president of the board of trustees. W. S. Mead,

treasurer, and Otis A. Brown, secretary. There is an executive board of lady

managers, of which Mrs. S. Ringgold is president, Mrs. A. K. Selden, treasurer,

and Mrs. Emma Sanford, secretary. The orphanage is free from debt and its

property is valued at $10,000. During the year 1898 seven children were admitted

to the orphanage and good homes found for two. The expenses for the year were

$1,100.



  Mount Rest Home, for homeless, aged women, was organized in October, 1893. It

is located at the corner of Second street and Forest avenue. Under its charter

it provides a home for destitute women of good moral character, not under sixty

years of age. Application for admittance must be made to the board of directors,

be referred to a committee for investigation, upon the favorable report of which

the applicant is admitted by a vote of the board. No admission fee is required.

Applicants may be admitted who are under the required age, who may be suffering

from physical infirmity; but those afflicted with chronic ailments who require

special attention are not received.



  The institution is supported largely by the churches and individual

contributions, although the county makes annual appropriations of small sums for

its benefit. The supporters of the Home elect annually the directors, consisting

of fifteen members: from the directors thus chosen the officers for the year are

elected. The first officers were: Miss Annie Richardson, president; Mrs. John L.

Hudiburg, vice-president; Mrs. M. G. McWilliams, secretary; Miss Mary

Richardson, treasurer. The present officers are: Mrs. Charles E. McTeer,

president; Miss Annie Richardson, vice-president; Mrs. Andrew P, White,

secretary: Miss Alicia Rule, treasurer.



  Since its organization thirty-three aged women have been cared for in the

Home, as permanent inmates, while temporary shelter has been furnished many

others. During the year 1899 the Home family has numbered sixteen members. There

have been two deaths in the year, and one admission. Under existing

circumstances the capacity of the Home is thirteen.



  The Florence Crittenden Home was established in 1896 as the Rescue Mission,

after many years of unsatisfactory efforts to do something for unfortunate women

by which they might be enabled to lead upright lives. The movement thus started

in May, 1896, to establish a rescue home was looked upon as a response to a

long-felt need. It was started and maintained by the good women of Knoxville,

members of the Woman's Council, a society composed of representatives from a

majority of the women's clubs of the city. This council, on May 14, 1896,

appointed a rescue board to have charge of the work of establishing the proposed

rescue home, this rescue board being composed of one representative from the

several clubs of which the Woman's Council was composed, and which had been

previously appointed by the respective presidents thereof. The rescue board,

designed to be permanent, was composed of fourteen women, who effected an

organization May 14, 1896. On June 28, 1896, a public meeting was held at

Staub's Theater, presided over by James Maynard, for the purpose of devising

plans for the work, many of the clergy of the city, as well as other prominent

gentlemen, being present. Rev. Martin Luther Berger delivered an address, as

also did Hon. T. A. R. Nelson, Police Matron Right, and Rev. P. M. Fitzgerald,

after which S. C. Roney urged that subscriptions be made toward the movement,

and in a short time there was subscribed $536.30.



  The Florence Crittenden Rescue Home was opened for the reception of inmates

August 30, 1896, and was located on the old Branner property, at the corner of

Hardee and Florida streets. The building contained ten large rooms and was

surrounded by a spacious yard, and when opened was in charge of Miss Carlisle of

Baltimore. The formal opening of the Home occurred September 3, 1896. Major E.

C. Camp, to whom the property belonged, donated its use to the Home for a year.

The Home was managed by a committee of which Mrs. Frank L. Fisher was chairman.



  Charles N. Crittenden, on the death of his young daughter, Florence, in 1883,

began the work which this mission was designed to carry on, and by January,

1898, when he visited Knoxville, there were fifty-three of such homes in

different cities of the United States, which he visited once each year,

traveling in his private car, "Good News." February 3, 1898, Mrs. J. C. Tyler

resigned as president of the board of directors and was succeeded by Mrs. Barney

Braine. The Home was then situated on Central avenue, for which reason the best

results could not be obtained. An attempt was therefore made to secure a new

building in a more favorable location, the Pastors' Union pledging its support

to the erection of a Crittenden Home, and Major Camp, in March, 1898, donated a

lot on Fifth avenue, upon which to erect a building, and offered to donate $500,

provided the other $1,500 necessary to erect the building should be raised

otherwise. This new building has not, however, as yet been erected, and the Home

is located in a frame building at the corner of Florida and Hardee streets.



  During the year 1898 this Home cared for thirty-three young women, giving them

every possible care and attention, and instructing them in every department of

housework. And in addition to these thirty-three several girls coming in from

the country were lodged, fed and protected until such time as places could be

found for them. Of the thirty-three, twelve went out to work and three were sent

to their parents or friends, and from all favorable reports have been received.

The average number in the Home for the year was thirteen, and the expense of

conducting it was $692.12, including matron's salary. The support of the Home

comes from voluntary subscriptions, the county of Knox for the year 1898

appropriating $100 and for 1899, $75, which should have been larger, for the

reason that there are in the Home several wards of the county. The board of

management hopes soon to see a new building erected on the lot so generously

donated by Major E. C. Camp, for then they will have a comfortable home for

their noble work, in a retired locality favorable in every respect for the work

to be done. Of the board of managers Mrs. Frank Fisher is president and Miss

Ellen Rhea, secretary and treasurer.



  Knoxville Hospital, located at the corner of State and Cumberland streets, and

standing flush with each street, was established several years ago. The building

was erected for residence purposes and taken for a hospital because that was the

best that could be done. The necessity for a new building for this worthy

institution has been felt for years; but it was not until 1896 that any

determined effort was made to raise money with which to erect such a building,

and even since then funds have accumulated slowly. A movement looking to this

end took definite form April 1 of the year named, when a board of officers was

elected as follows: Mrs. W. M. Ashmore, president; Mrs. W. C. McCoy,

vice-president; Mrs. T. ap R. Jones, secretary, and Mrs. W. L. Roberts,

treasurer. All favored the erection of a hospital building at as early a day as

practicable. Dr. T. ap R. Jones thought a building such as the city needed could

be erected for 830,000, and in order to start the ball rolling a committee of

ten women was appointed to prepare plans for the future of the organization that

day effected, as above related, the committee consisting of the following

persons: Miss Pauline Woodruff, Mrs. S. B. Luttrell, Mrs. H. G. Bayless, Mrs. W.

A. Henderson, Mrs. W. G. Williams, Mrs. Lucy Finnegan, Mrs. J. M. Black, Mrs. T.

J. Peed. Mrs. D. L. Ross, and Mrs. J. H. Frazee.



  April 8 following, a constitution and by-laws were adopted, by which the

organization was named The Hospital Building and Promoting Board, and the object

being to secure funds with which to erect a hospital building in Knoxville. The

matter was presented to the city council at its next meeting. July 28, 1896, a

meeting of the advisory board was held, this advisory board consisting of the

following individuals: S. G. Heiskell, W. L. Welcker, M. L. Ross, James Van

Deventer, S. B. Luttrell, Rev. E. A. Elmore, R. S. Hazen, Rev. M. D. Jeffries,

S. C. Roney, Rev. Thomas Campbell, W. H. Collett, J. W. Borches, Walter S.

Roberts, Dr. A. A. Francis, and Jonathan Tipton.



  In order to further this project there was held on September 4, 1896, what was

called a "Hospital Day," the cars of both the street car companies being on that

day turned over to the ladies or to the hospital board at noon, each car being

run by young ladies, Mrs. Frank Post being the treasurer of the day, and the

receipts for the afternoon and evening being donated to the hospital fund. In

July, 1897, the Southern Railway Company contributed $500 toward the fund, and

by November 11 of that year there had been raised $3,402.37.



  A hospital Christmas festival was held in December, 1898, for the benefit of

this work, which netted $1,000, and in January, 1899, the project was so far

along that Baumann Bros., architects of Knoxville, were selected to prepare the

plans for the new hospital building. The architects having, been selected the

following sub-committees were appointed to labor in connection with them, who

were instructed to keep within the amount mentioned above as suggested by Dr.
Jones:



Committee on General Hospital Arrangements—Drs. W. L. McCreary, T. ap R. Jones.

J. M. Black and S. R. Miller.



  Committee on Heating, Ventilating and Plumbing—Dr. C. E. Wait and H. O. Nelsen.



  Committee on Finance—J. T. McTeer, Mayor William Rule and S. C. Roney.



  The hospital building, as it is proposed to be erected, contemplates

accommodations for seventy-five patients, a corps of doctors and nurses twenty

in number, and all waiting rooms, operating rooms, laboratories and offices that

will be needed. The building will be erected on a lot purchased by the Hospital

Building and Promoting Board, located on Cleveland place, near Dameron avenue,

opposite the ruins of the old Tennessee Medical College building, the cost of

the lot having been $2,300. The hospital board has now on hand something more

than $2,000.



  The state legislature, at its session held in 1899, passed an act authorizing

the corporation of Knoxville to issue the bonds of the city to the amount of

$30,000, bearing interest at the rate of 4 per cent, the proceeds to be used in

the erection of a hospital building. The bonds were issued and sold for $32,000.

Thereupon the board of mayor and aldermen elected a building committee of five

to take charge of the funds and erect the building. The committee is composed of

J. T. McTeer, E. C. McMillan, F. K. Huger, C. C. Howell and Wm. Rule. Mr. Huger

afterwards resigned and H. O. Nelsen was chosen to fill the vacancy. Plans

prepared by the firm of Baumann Brothers, architects, were adopted, and they

were employed to supervise the work. Contracts were let and the work is now

going on to completion.



  It will be an elegant building, with all modern conveniences, and will stand a

splendid monument to the enterprising, public-spirited women of Knoxviile to

whose efforts the credit of the hospital building is due.



  The Children's Mission Home was founded July 10, 1890, by Rev. J. R.

Lauritzen, the incentive to found such an institution being in the necessities

of six young girls who went to his house on that day and applied for shelter and

a home. At that time Mr. Lauritzen was pastor of the German Lutheran Church, but

he at once gave up his pastorate and his salary to devote himself to the

necessities of poor children, and has had charge of the home ever since. At

first he rented a house on Locust street near Union street, the number of

inmates increasing rapidly and the necessity for larger quarters was soon

apparent, as well as the necessity for the separation of children from older

people. The Home of the Friendless was the result of this necessity. The

Children's Mission was removed in December, 1891. to the northeast corner of

Hill and State street, where it still remains and is still in charge of Rev. Mr.

and Mrs. Lanritzen. The Home is supported by private contributions to its

necessities, and by a small donation annually from the county court, the amount

thus donated by the court for 1899 being $450. Children are taken in at any age

up to fourteen and when they reach that age in the Home they are transferred to

the Home for the Friendless, if they can do no better. In 1898 there were

thirty-eight children in this Home, the average number being from thirty-five to

forty.



  The Knoxville Home for the Friendless was started in 1894, as a branch of the

Children's Mission Home, but it is carried on separately by five members of the

Mary T. Lathrop W. C. T. U., and is therefore a total abstinence institution. Up

to the time of its annual report made January 13, 1899, this Home .had received

and cared for 693 inmates, never refusing to receive any one needing aid. The

Home is located at 912 State street, and is under the direction of Mrs. J. R.

Lauritzen. The year 1898 was begun with eighteen inmates, and during the year

there were received 156 others. The classes received are poor, sick and homeless

women, widows and women separated from their husbands, and young girls seeking

work who have no home. Every one admitted promises to obey the rules of the

Home, and to live a useful and Christian life. Rev. Mr. Lauritzen conducts

religious services every evening, and there is also a Sunday-school in

connection with the Home. The Home is supported by private donations of money,

coal, food, clothing and other useful and necessary articles, and at the April

term the county court contributed $50 towards its support.



  The inmates average about nineteen, and the receipts for the year ending in

February, 1899, were $512.43, the expenses being $514.58, showing that the Home

is conducted in an economical manner: but the inmates aid to support it by doing

any kind of work of which they are capable.



  In 1897 the state of Tennessee held a Centennial Exposition at Nashville, to

celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of her admission to the Union, which

was, however, one year late, owing to the difficulties of preparing for the

great event. At first it was the design to have a county exhibit, but, although

county centennial commissioners were appointed, and though repeated efforts were

made looking to this object, all efforts failed, and the movement was abandoned.

This prospective condition of things was not at all satisfactory to the citizens

of Knoxville, and those favoring the erection of a building at the exposition by

the city of Knoxville appealed to the mayor, and petitions were circulated among

the citizens in favor of the city having a building of its own and the council

passed a measure in support of the proposition. But as under the charter no

appropriation could be made for the purpose. Mayor Heiskell went to the capital

of the state and secured a change in the charter, under which an appropriation

could be made, the bill being passed by the legislature March 11, 1897, and

approved the following day.



  Thereupon the mayor of Knoxville was authorized and empowered to appoint nine

commissioners to take charge of the movement, to provide for the erection of a

city building, and to install the exhibits therein. These commissioners were as

follows: Aldermen Alexander Allison, David G. Fuller, and George W. Brown, and

citizens John E. Chapman, W. L. Trent, J. M. King. M. L. Ross. J. E. Willard and

W. P. Chandler. An organization was effected by the election of John E. Chapman,

president, and W. L. Trent, secretary and treasurer. Baumann Bros, of Knoxville.

were selected as the architects of the proposed building and Galyon & Seldon,

the contractors. James E. Lipscomb was selected as custodian, S. B. Boyd,

assistant custodian, and Henry Parker, colored, janitor.



  The material for this building was furnished exclusively by Knoxville men, and

the work done on it was exclusively by Knoxville mechanics. The time employed in

its erection was fifteen working days, and a conservative calculation is that

from the time it was opened on Knoxville day, June 17, 1897, until it was

closed, there passed within its doors 372,000 persons, and that from first to

last there was distributed advertising literature to the extent of 25,000 pieces.



  Among the exhibitors were the Knoxville Woolen Mills, the East Tennessee Stone

and Marble Company, the Evans Marble Company, the Tennessee Producers' Marble

Company, and C. B. Atkin, dealer in furniture, all of whom received silver

medals on their exhibits; H. O. Nelsen, of the Knoxville Valley Forge and

Foundry Company, received a bronze medal, and the Knoxville Fire Extinguisher

Company received honorable mention.



  The building was completed and all exhibits installed by June 17. Knoxville

Day, the second floor being used as an assembly hall and picture gallery. The

three oil paintings exhibited were those of Mayor S. G. Heiskell, painted by

Miss Catherine Floyd Heiskell; of Mrs. Michael Campbell, wife of Dr. Michael

Campbell of the Eastern Hospital for the Insane, painted by Mrs. J. E. Lutz, and

of President John E. Chapman, painted by Lloyd Branson.



  The celebration of Knoxville Day was a pronounced success. Five hundred

citizens of Knoxville besides the Knoxville military company were in Nashville,

and the Legion Band was present to provide the music. The piano used on the

occasion was manufactured in Knoxville by Socin & Company. After music by the

band, a prayer by Rev. R. A. Young, D. D., and a second piece of music, Hon.

John E. Chapman delivered an address, which was replied to by Hon. S. G.

Heiskell. Then Miss Rosalie Gaut performed on the Knoxville piano and was

encored; William C. Saunders sang a bass solo: the Legion band played "Poor

Jonathan;" Hon. J. W. Caldwell delivered an address on "East Tennessee in the

State History:" Mrs. Mary Fleming Meek sang a solo; Edward T. Sanford spoke on

"Knoxville: Her History and Her Destiny;" President John W. Thomas delivered an

address, and after another piece of music by the Legion band there was a dress

parade by the Knoxville Legion on Capitol avenue, which closed the exercises of

the day.



  A movement was afterward set on foot for the removal of the Knoxville

Centennial building to Knoxville, in order that future generations might have

before them the monument placed at Nashville by the people of Knoxville, the

ladies of Knoxville taking the matter in hand and forming themselves into the

Knoxville Centennial Building Association, with Mrs. L. D. Tyson, president;

Mrs. Samuel McKinney, vice-president; Mrs. John Williams, secretary; Mrs. W. H.

Hague, treasurer, and Mrs. S. G. Heiskell and Mrs. W. B. Lockett, auditors. The

city council presented the building to these ladies on condition that they would

return it to Knoxville and there re-erect it. This condition they complied with,

and it now stands on Main street, directly opposite the court house, a thing of

beauty and a joy forever.



  For many years the people of Tennessee felt that the memory of John Sevier,

the first governor of the state, was being treated with great disrespect, in

that his remains were permitted to lie in an unmarked grave in the state of

Alabama. It was even stated by certain writers on historical matters pertaining

to the state that no monument had ever been ereced in commemoration of his

deeds; but this was not strictly correct, for in the old cemetery at Nashville

there stands a shaft erected to his memory, the date of the erection of which is

perhaps not now known. But the movement to transfer his remains to Tennessee

began at least as early as the first part of the year 1887, and was largely due

to Hon. E. F. Mynatt, member of the state senate from Knox county, through whose

influence a bill passed that body by a vote of 24 to 4 providing for their

removal, after it had been unanimously rejected in committee.



  But little was done, however, until the spring of 1889, when the board of

mayor and aldermen of Knoxville was informed by Col. Moses White that the

legislature had then recently passed an act appropriating funds for the removal

of the remains of the distinguished first governor of the state from Alabama to

Knox county for reinterment, and that the county court had agreed that they

should be buried in the court-house square at Knoxville. On May 7, 1889, the

Sevier Memorial Committee adopted a series of resolutions instructing its

chairman, Joshua W. Caldwell, to designate five or more citizens from each

county in East Tennessee to aid in raising the funds necessary to erect a

suitable monument to John Sevier, with which instructions the chairman complied,

those appointed for Knox county being as follows: M. M. Gaines, R. C. Jackson,

H. L. McClung, Perez Dickinson, Rev. Dr. T. W. Humes, Rev. James Park, Judge

George Brown, John J. Craig, Judge O. P. Temple, Judge S. T. Logan, Robert

Armstrong, R. R. Swenson, John M. Fleming, William Rule, Alexander Summers, John

T. Hearne, W. P. Washburn, J. M. Thornburgh, George L. Maloney, J. R. McCallum,

W. A. Henderson, H. H. Taylor, Alexander Allison, J. C. J. Williams, Martin J.

Condon, A. J. Albers, S. B. Luttrell, C. E. Luckey, B. R. Strong, E. E.

McCroskey, James D. Cowan, Frank A. Moses, J. M. King, Joseph R. Mitchell, W. W.

Woodruff, John L. Rhea, R. S. Payne and Samuel McKinney.



  Preparations having all been made a special car left Knoxville June 14, 1889,

for Cole's Station, Ala., to transfer the remains to this city, and on its

return reached Knoxville at 1:15 P. M., June 19, being met at the station by a

large concourse of people, the streets being full of people from all parts of

the surrounding country, to the estimated number of 30,000. Col. S. B. Crawford

was marshal of the day, and the pall-bearers were the Hons. E. F. Mynatt, W. L.

Clapp, J. L. Weakley, H. Clay Jarvis, A. J. Patterson, A. McNabb and J. W.

Andes. Hon. Robert L. Taylor, governor of the state, made the first address at

the grave, and was followed by W. A. Henderson. J. R. McCallum read a poem

composed for the occasion, and the closing religious exercises were conducted by

Rev. James Park. The pageant was probably the most imposing ever witnessed in

Knoxville, and the occasion was one never to be forgotten by those in attendance.



  At a meeting held June 21 at the office of Luckey & Yoe an executive committee

was appointed consisting of C. E. Luckey, Frank H. McClung, Hon. O. P. Temple.

W. W. Woodruff, and John M. Fleming, to secure the erection of a suitable

monument over the remains in the court-house square, and subscriptions came in

from all over East Tennessee. Up to the close of June 22 there had been received

$1,898, quite a share of the amount being in one dollar subscriptions,

Cleveland, Tenn., leading the list with more than fifty subscriptions of this kind.



  Frank H. McClung was chairman of the committee appointed to secure the

erection of the monument, and by the close of the year 1892 sufficient funds had

been subscribed to warrant a contract for the monument. Ground was broken for

its erection in the northeast corner of the courthouse square December 3, 1893.

the remains of the first governor being taken from their resting place

temporarily to permit of the laying of solid foundations for the small but

elegant monument now standing in the spot indicated. The cost of this monument,

according to Mr. James R. McCallum, who was secretary and treasurer of the

committee, was $2,200. Appropriate inscriptions were placed on each of its four

sides, that on the north side being as follows:



  "First Governor of Tennessee, Nolachucky Jack. September 23. 1744: September

24, 1815: Pioneer. Soldier. Statesman, and One of the Founders of the Republic."



  The date of the completion of this monument was early in 1893.



Additional Comments:
From:



STANDARD HISTORY

OF

KNOXVILLE TENNESSEE



WITH FULL OUTLINE OF THE NATURAL ADVANTAGES, EARLY SETTLEMENT, TERRITORIAL

GOVERNMENT, INDIAN TROUBLES, AND GENERAL AND PARTICULAR HISTORY OF THE CITY DOWN

TO THE PRESENT TIME



EDITED BY

WILLIAM RULE

GEORGE F. MELLEN, PH. D., AND J. WOOLDRIDGE COLLABORATORS



PUBLISHED BY

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY

CHICAGO 1900

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