Today in Johnson City History, Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Milligan's charter, short news accounts, Johnson City's charter date, and a unique way to "Get Involved!"
Monday, December 10, 1866: East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia Christian Churches met to secure a charter for the Buffalo Male and Female Institute, now known as Milligan College. (Source: Archives of Appalachia, Mary Hardin McCown Collection.)
Milligan College is now known as Milligan University.
Sunday, December 10, 1899: One hundred and twenty-five years ago today, The Chattanooga Sunday Times reported short accounts of mainly social news in several communities in upper East Tennessee. Some of these news accounts follow.
With a dateline from Johnson City and a date of December 9, readers learned that “The first snow of the season fell last Monday.”
“Hon. C. C. Collins, of Elizabethton, was in the city Tuesday.”
“Harry R. Parrott made a business trip to Bristol Tuesday.”
“Chas. P. Cass came down from Elizabethton Tuesday on a business mission.”
“Gen. J. T. Wilder visited his son, Stewart, at Chestoa, this week.”
From 1884 to 1892, Gen. John T. “Wilder helped promote and construct the Charleston, Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad while living in Johnson City, Tennessee. While in Johnson City, Wilder developed the booming industrial suburb of Carnegie, named in honor of fellow industrialist Andrew Carnegie, and a host of iron-making and railroad-related manufacturing facilities. Iron ore was brought to Johnson City via the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad, and Wilder constructed a popular 166-room hotel near Johnson City named the Cloudland Hotel near the summit of Roan Mountain to serve tourists via this scenic narrow gauge railway line.” (Source: Wikipedia.)
Chestoa is a community in rural Unicoi County.
“J. Hopwood, president (sic for President) of Milligan college (sic for College), spent Tuesday in the city.”
“Embree Easley has returned from a ten days visit to Nashville and Chattanooga.”
“Miss Alleen Galloway, of Flourville, visited relatives here several days this past week.”
Flourville is a community in rural Washington County.
“Charles L. Taggart, of Elizabethton, spent Wednesday in the city with his sister Mrs. F. W. Dulaney.”
“Miss Laura Swadley, of Marbleton, was the guest of her aunt, Mrs. T. J. Galloway, this past week.”
Marbleton is a community in rural Unicoi County.
“W. W. DeVault, of Austin Springs, spent Sunday with friends in the city.”
In 1899, Austin Springs was a community in rural Washington County.
“G. W. Sutton made a business visit to Knoxville Thursday.”
“Thomas Kirkpatrick has returned from North Carolina and has accepted a position here.”
“Hon. A. B. Bowman spent the week with homefolks, but leaves in a day or two for Philadelphia, Tenn.”
Philadelphia, Tennessee is about 143 miles from Johnson City. It is located in Loudon County.
“Clerk and Master E. A. Shipley, of Jonesboro, attended chancery court here Monday.”
Jonesboro was spelled that way in 1899.
“Walter Lindamood, who lost a leg in a railroad accident, is improving as rapidly as possible.”
“Gilmer King has gone to Bristol to accept a position as salesman in a store.”
The Wilder family continued to be in the news. “Miss Lottie Rogers, who was the guest of Gen. Wilder’s family at Chestoa, during the summer, has returned to her home in Cincinnati, O.”
“The M. E. church (sic for Church) has purchased a most desirable lot on the corner of Roane (sic for Roan) and Cherry streets (sic for Streets), and will build a parsonage thereon.”
“The First Presbyterian church (sic) has purchased a new pipe organ and expects to furnish music on it at the services next Sunday.”
“Barney Burleson, locating engineer on the extension of the Ohio River and Charleston railroad (sic for Railroad), was in the city Sunday and Monday.”
“Judge H. T. Campbell has returned to Elizabethton from holding court at Rutledge, Grainger County.”
Rutledge, Tennessee is about 89 miles from Johnson City. It is almost due west of Johnson City.
“George S. Allen has returned from a visit to relatives at Prospect, Va. His nephew, Cleveland Osborne, accompanied him home for a short visit.”
Prospect, Virginia is about 269 miles from Johnson City. It is northeast of Johnson City.
“Mrs. J. M. Erwin, and daughter-in-law, Mrs. W. T. Erwin, nee Swadley, have gone to Chicago to join Mr. Erwin, who has a position with the Pullman Car company (sic).”
“Prof. and Mrs. J. R. MacMillan are now residing at corner of Spring and Locust streets (sic). They are quite additions to Johnson City’s musical talent. Mr. MacMillan being a celebrated violinist and Mrs. MacMillan a highly accomplished pianist.”
“The ‘Garrett Concert company (sic) of Knoxville, will appear at Jobe opera (sic for Opera) house (sic for House) with a minsteal (sic for minstrel) programme on Tuesday evening, Dec. 12.”
“Jerry Lowe, a small boy, lost three fingers on his left hand by coming in contact with the knives of a buzz planer at T. J. Galloway’s factory Saturday.”
The Chattanooga Sunday Times was published as The Chattanooga Daily Times the other days of the week. It is now published online as the Chattanooga Times Free Press. I do not have access to any newspapers that may have been published on a daily basis in Johnson City in 1899; The Comet was published weekly.
Wednesday, December 10, 1924: A century ago today, the Johnson City Staff-News reported that “Johnson City’s 55th birth date is to be observed here Thursday morning at the chapel hour in the high school. A historical pageant will feature the special program which is being arranged, under the direction of Miss Margaret King, of the Science Hill faculty.
“The date, December 11th, is the anniversary of the granting of the first charter to the town of Johnson City by the state legislature in 1869. In addition to the valuable historical facts woven into the program, its presentation promises to be one of unusual interest not only to the students of the school, but to people of Johnson City as a whole, many of whom are expected to attend.”
J. D. Banks, a Telford resident, tells me that a History Harvest is a community event that involves collecting, interpreting, and digitizing historical artifacts to preserve local history for the community. They are collecting and preserving photographs, stories, documents, or anything anyone would like to share about the "good old days" of Telford. He is especially interested in the old train depot, post office, general stores, mills, public events, and/or prominent citizens.
J. D. also said, “We will have a laptop and scanner on location at the Telford Ruritan Club at 101 Telford School Road in Telford, where we can scan pics and return them immediately. My end goal is to use shared history to produce a current historical reference document to share with the community by the end of 2025."
The event will be on Saturday, December 14 from 9 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon. Consider yourself invited!
For more information, email J. D. at banksjd@etsu.edu
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Truly, it takes several people to put together something like you’ve just read. I express profound appreciation to Heidi Dulebohn and Stephanie McClellan Houk for their thoughts and encouragement.
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